We are almost three full months into the 2023 MLB and fantasy baseball seasons. With the halfway point of the season inching closer, it’s a good idea to start look for reinforcements, if needed. With a new week upon us, let’s take a look at five readily available hitters that can help fill our your team in fantasy.
Ji Hwan Bae
Pirates infielder Ji Hwan Bae returns for a second straight week. Bae stole his 20th base of the season on June 16, and that figure gave the Pirates utilityman a tie for fifth on the stolen base leaderboard as of June 18 alongside O’s shortstop Jorge Mateo.
As we mentioned last week, don’t expect much power from Bae. On the other hand, the 23-year-old can provide sneaky value thanks to his versatility and ability to swipe bags.
Brendan Donovan
Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan made this list three weeks ago, based in large part on the fact that we love his contact ability and stolen base potential. The 26-year-old racked up plenty of hits over the past week — ten in fact. The 2022 NL Rookie of the Year finalist went 10-27 (.370) with two RBI and five runs scored this past week, highlighted by a three-hit game against Carlos Carrasco and the Mets on June 18.
The Cardinals infielder/outfielder already surpassed his home run total from 2022, and while one shouldn’t expect Donovan to be a power threat, his versatility and potential to accumulate hits and runs should remain high moving forward.
Luis Matos
Earlier this week, Giants OF Luis Matos was summoned to the Majors after Mitch Haniger went down with a fractured forearm. The 21-year-old tore up AAA prior to his promotion, and he’s done well thus far with the Giants. Through his first four games in the Majors, Matos went 4-12 (.333) with a stolen base, two runs batted in, and seven runs scored for a scorching San Francisco offense.
In our recap of Matos’ fantasy potential, we mentioned that the young outfielder has the potential to be a 15-20 home run hitter in the Majors and snare bases here and there. The power has yet to come for Matos at the MLB level, but his contact ability should net fantasy owners a fair amount of hits.
Jake McCarthy
After a rough start to the 2023 season and a demotion to Reno (AAA), Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy is back on track. From June 11-17, McCarthy was one of just ten players — fellow D-Back Christian Walker is among those ten, for what it’s worth — in the league to record ten or more hits in that span. The former Virginia star swiped two bags for Arizona in that stretch, and belted his second home run of the season on June 18 against Shane Bieber.
Like Donovan, McCarthy isn’t a power hitter. However, the 25-year-old can be valuable in fantasy, especially for those in need of stolen bases. And if McCarthy can continue to hit or around the .318 clip he posted between May 26-June 17, he should have plenty of opportunities to get steals.
Jack Suwinski
Pirates outfielder Jack Suwinski’s season has been rather peculiar. The 24-year-old entered play on June 18 as one of 19 MLB hitters to amass at least 15 home runs, and one of 53 players to record at least 10 home runs, 30 RBI, and 30 runs scored. However, Suwinski has been quite streaky in 2023. The Pirates outfielder hit just .207 in May after a strong April, but he did belt four home runs in his first 13 games of June.
Fantasy players in need of some power could look towards Suwinski, but his tendency to go cold every now and then needs to be taken into consideration.
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