Fantasy Baseball Week 5 Preview: Top 10 sleeper hitters highlight Ezequiel Tovar, Anthony Rizzo (2024)

The Orioles not only have the fourth-best hitter matchups this week but are also scheduled to face three lefties. Ryan Mountcastle is a certified lefty masher, having hit .338 with a 1.052 OPS against them last year, and is off to such a nice start this season that I'm surprised he's so available still.

Anthony Rizzo's grand return to form following last season's upsetting post-concussion situation hasn't materialized yet, and he'll need to deliver some results to keep us from throwing in the towel. Those results may be forthcoming with the Yankees scheduled to face the Athletics pitching staff for four games and the Brewers pitching staff (Freddy Peralta excluded) for three.

The Rockies finally have a full week of home games, and that's especially good news for Ezequiel Tovar, who's 11 for 24 (.458) at home so far this season. That's an unsustainable number, of course, but last year at home, he hit 47 points higher with an OPS 119 points higher.

Alex Verdugo is the sort of stable but unflashy hitter worth considering whenever the matchups are right, and they're certainly right this week. They're the best for any team, in fact, with the toughest pitcher on the schedule probably being Paul Blackburn.

Bryan De La Cruz is on a nice little run, batting .342 (14 for 41) with two homers in his past 10 games, and his expected stats are all about in the 90th percentile so far, according to Statcast. His matchups are decent this week, including a three-game series against the Nationals, and the four lefties on the schedule could also work to his benefit.

Ryan Jeffers has built off last year's success in a more regular role for the Twins, entering the weekend batting .414 (12 for 29) in his past eight games. It's good timing with the Twins having the fifth-best hitter matchups this week, going against the White Sox and Angels pitching staffs.

Perhaps no Rockies hitter benefits more from a full week at Coors Field than leadoff man Charlie Blackmon, who batted .309 with a .905 OPS there last year.

The Brewers' seven games against the Pirates and Yankees make for decent enough matchups, but Sal Frelick's placement here is more just a factor of him being undervalued in Fantasy. From April 3 on, he's batted .365 (19 for 52) with two stolen bases, living up to the batting average potential he showed in the minors.

The Yankees' matchups are so good this week that even the less heralded members of their lineup, like third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, are worth considering. He hasn't been a total pushover at the plate and will likely have a role to play if they run up the score against pitchers like Joe Boyle, Alex Wood, Joe Ross and Wade Miley.

We all know that Jurickson Profar's hot start ultimately ends in mediocrity, but if he can keep it going for just another week, he'll get to take advantage of a four-game series in Colorado. His high on-base rate will pay off nicely if the Padres have a couple of those patented Coors Field games wherein they score in double digits.