Ryan Mountcastle DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle will take a seat in game one of their doubleheader on Saturday against the Detroit Tigers with Casey Mize on the mound. Both Orioles hitters have been struggling lately; however, the decision by manager Brandon Hyde not to start them in Game 1 is due to the nature of the doubleheader, so fantasy managers should not look too much into it. In the meantime, Gary Sanchez will start behind the plate and bat eighth in place of Rutschman. Ryan O'Hearn will start at first base because of Mountcastle, moving Jordan Westburg into the designated hitter spot while Ramon Urias starts at third base.

Baltimore Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle is not in the starting nine on Saturday afternoon when the Orioles continue a series against the Cincinnati Reds. Mountcastle has been in the starting lineup in each of the past seven contests. During this stretch, he has held a modest .167/.200/.333 line. He will get a chance to recover and will likely rejoin the lineup on Sunday. Instead, the Orioles will give Ryan O'Hearn the starting nod at first base. He will bat in the cleanup spot. Mountcastle has held an overall .242/.227/.339 slash line. However, he has generated an elite 55.3 percent hard-hit, which suggests he should see positive regression. O'Hearn is not worth targeting in DFS this afternoon as he will face Cincinnati ace, Hunter Greene.

Baltimore Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle hit his first home run of the season on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore. His solo shot in the second inning gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead at the time, but the O's ultimately lost 7-6 in extra innings to split the rain-shortened two-game series with the Blue Jays. Mountcastle finished the day 2-for-4 and is hitting .271 in his first 15 games, matching his batting average from last season. This was his first home run of the season, and he now has four RBI to go with eight runs scored and a .300 wOBA. His barrel rate and hard-hit rate are up this year, per Statcast, and that could result in positive regression as the season continues if he keeps hitting the ball so well. Next up for Mountcastle and the Orioles is a three-game home series against the Guardians, which begins Tuesday after a scheduled off-day Monday.