2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 5 Start/Sit: Nolan Arenado, Brent Rooker, More (5/1/23)
Welcome to Week 5. We’ve officially moved into May – which means we’re starting to see players start to settle into the season while the pretenders begin to fall by the wayside. As we set our weekly lineups, it’s going to be important to target players on hot streaks, avoid players on cold streaks, and as always, maximize games played – especially with two-start pitchers.
I’ll be back later in the week to look at Trade Values (Wednesday) and to dive into the Closer Report (Friday), but for today, we’re going to take a look at who we should start and sit this week.
I’m not going to waste anyone’s time giving you the obvious “start Shohei Ohtani” takes here, so the list you’ll see below is going to be filled with more borderline players you might be waffling on.
And with that, let’s go position-by-position and identify the right (or wrong) players we should have in our fantasy baseball lineups for the week of May 1.
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Catcher
Start
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
Digging deep here, Raleigh is a great player to pick up (and start) if you need help at catcher. While he’s hitting just .233 on the season (and very likely may be a player you drop in a few days), he hit .263 with three home runs last week. Might as well see if we can catch the wave and surf it while we can.
Sit
MJ Melendez, Kansas City Royals
I want to like Melendez as a fantasy asset. And I still do. But he’s scuffling and needs to be benched. Hitting just .174 with two home runs on the year, Melendez was 3-for-19 last week and is unfortunately a drain on fantasy lineups right now.
First Base
Start
Isaac Paredes, Tampa Bay Rays
Paredes doesn’t have an everyday position for the Rays, but he more or less has an everyday spot in their lineup. While he’s not superb in any category offensively, he has four home runs on the season and is coming off a week where he had 11 hits in 26 at-bats. With the multi-opposition eligibility he provides, Paredes is a great guy to slot into your fantasy lineup this week.
Sit
Ty France, Seattle Mariners
France has been dealing with an illness so that hasn’t helped things, but he was 0-for-16 last week and is now hitting .245 with just one home run on the year. If you don’t decide to drop him (I wouldn’t for the record), I’d drop him into a bench spot until he can turn things around.
Second Base
Start
Jazz Chisholm, Miami Marlins
Chisholm was one of my pre-draft favorites, so it’s making me happy to see him finally starting to pay off as a fantasy asset. While he’s still only hitting .245 on the year, he’s hit five home runs and is second in the league with 11 stolen bases. Coming off a week where he hit .333 with two home runs and four steals, Chisholm looks to be locked in.
Sit
Nolan Gorman, St. Louis Cardinals
While Gorman has had a nice start to the season (.267 with six home runs, 22 RBI, and two steals), he’s been striking out almost a third of the time he comes up to bat and only had three hits in 23 at-bats last week. If possible, I’d find another option for Gorman this week as he figures out how to get back on track.
Shortstop
Start
Jorge Mateo, Baltimore Orioles
Mateo has been a pleasant surprise this season and is now hitting .347 on the year with six home runs and 10 steals (wow!). He’s coming off a .318 week with three home runs and should be cemented into your lineups until further notice.
Sit
Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies
I’m trying to game the system a bit here, but Turner might be better off on your fantasy bench this week. He’s had a solid start to the season (.260, 16 runs, two home runs, seven RBI, four steals), but he hasn’t quite been the Trea Turner we all know and love just yet. After hitting .125 with zero runs, home runs, RBI, or steals in his last seven games, I think Turner is very bench-able if you’re setting a weekly lineup.
Third Base
Start
Brandon Drury, Anaheim Angels
Drury is coming off two bad games in a row, but more importantly, he’s coming off a great week during which he hit four home runs with 10 hits in 27 at-bats. He also provides multi-position eligibility so should most definitely find a way into your lineup this week.
Sit
Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals
Am I really saying to sit Arenado? I guess I am! Arenado has had a really slow start to the year (.239 with two home runs and 14 RBI) and had a rough week with just 2 hits in his last 25 at-bats. I wouldn’t blame you if you keep him in your lineup this week, but I’ll be letting him figure things out on my fantasy bench this week.
Outfield
Start
Brent Rooker, Oakland A’s
Rooker is absolutely on FIRE right now. He’s hitting .353 with nine home runs on the season and is coming off a week during which he hit .417 with five home runs. Will he continue that torrid pace all year? Very likely not. But there’s no reason he can’t continue it this week – and that’s all we’re looking for in this column.
Sit
Luis Robert, Chicago White Sox
I had Robert here last week and I’m keeping him here this week. He’s hitting just .213 on the year and was 2-for-18 last week – which included a benching for not running out a ground ball. Is there a chance he uses the benching for motivation? Sure. But I’d rather let him work things out on my fantasy bench.
Pitcher
Start
Grayson Rodriguez, Baltimore Orioles
After a rough start to the year, Rodriguez looks to be back on track and gets two starts this week – one against a bad Royals team and another against a good Rays team. While the Rays don’t make me feel great, Rodriguez is coming off a 5-inning start against the Tigers in which he only allowed two hits and struck out nine while allowing zero runs and walking just one. That’s his second-straight start of allowing zero runs (full disclosure: both were against the Tigers), so I’m more than comfortable locking him in this week.
Sit
Joe Musgrove, San Diego Padres
While Musgrove is worth holding onto as he gets fully healthy after missing the first few weeks of the season, you should let him do so on your fantasy bench. He currently carries an ERA of 10.80 through two starts with a whip of 1.68 and nine strikeouts in 8.1 innings. Better days will come for Musgrove, but he only has one start this week (against a tough Dodgers team) and shouldn’t be in fantasy lineups.
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