You may have noticed on Wednesday that I wrote an article detailing which shortstops should be expected to have a good weekend. Fantasy baseball is a tricky thing, since any player can have a bad weekend and any player can have a good weekend.
Here are three shortstops who face tough matchups this weekend against pitchers they have struggled with in the past.
Alexei Ramirez - Chicago White Sox
Ramirez is always a consistent fantasy shortstop and is off to a great start, hitting .364 with two RBI and two steals over his first three games. This weekend, however, expect him to struggle a little against the Kansas City Royals.
Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for Kansas City on Friday, and he has had a tremendous amount of success against Ramirez, holding him to only a .167 average over 36 career battles between the two. Ramirez's numbers against Bruce Chen, Saturday's Kansas City starter, are almost identical: .162 average over 37 at-bats against Chen.
Despite Ramirez's struggles agaisnt Guthrie and Chen, he has been very successful against Sunday's starter James Shields. He has hit .400 over 40 at-bats against the Kansas City ace, including a home run.
Slot Ramirez into your lineup for Sunday's game if you so desire, but definitely keep him on the bench for Friday and Saturday's contests.
Hanley Ramirez - Los Angeles Dodgers
The other shortstop named Ramirez has struggled mightily off the bat this season, hitting safely in only two of his nineteen at-bats in five games. Hanley was projected to be possibly the best fantasy shortstop this season, but he has yet to show anything of substance and things may not get better this weekend against the San Francisco Giants.
Ramirez has only one hit in eleven career at-bats against Friday's opponent Ryan Vogelsong and is only a .176 lifetime hitter in seventeen at-bats against Madison Bumgarner: the Giants' starter on Saturday.
Things do not get any better for Hanley, as he faces San Francisco ace Matt Cain on Sunday. Ramirez hits only .200 against Cain and has faced him 30 times.
Ramirez has never homered off of any of the three starters he will face this weekend.
Jimmy Rollins - Philadelphia Phillies
Rollins hit a grand slam on Opening Day, but failed to do much more against a weak Texas Rangers pitching staff, getting only two hits in ten at-bats in the series.
This weekend, Rollins will face the Chicago Cubs, and three pitchers he has had issues with over the course of his career.
Rollins is only two-for-ten against Cubs hurler Travis Wood, who he will see on Friday. He has two hits against Saturday's starter Jeff Samardzija as well, in nine at-bats. The trend continues with Sunday's starter Carlos Villanueva, as Rollins has only hit safe against hit twice; this time in eight battles between the two.