MLB Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks April 12

Oct 30, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; (EDITORS NOTE: multiple exposure) New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard throws a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning in game three of the World Series at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /

MLB Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks April 12

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy column focused on providing analysis for the upcoming MLB FanDuel slate. The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big pay day!

Follow me on Twitter @2lockSports and feel free to pose questions each day as you work to construct your DFS roster on FanDuel!

Although the day has two afternoon games on the schedule, the main slate kicks off at 7:05PM EST with 10 games. Now on to the picks….

Next: Top Starting Pitchers

Apr 7, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Kendall Graveman (49) throws a pitch during the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox at the Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kenny Karst-USA TODAY Sports /

Starting Pitcher

Noah Syndergaard ($11,000) – After a flat out dominating performance his first time out on the road against the defending World Champion Royals, Thor heads back to Citi Field in the premier pitching matchup of the night against Jose Fernandez and the Marlins. In his first start of the season, Syndergaard pitched 6 innings with 9 strikeouts only giving up 3 hits and did not allow a run on his way to the first win of the season. Watching this performance against the Royals, one of the hardest teams to strike out in all of baseball, Syndergaard routinely sat at 100MPH and utilized a devastating 93 MPH slider to rack up strikeouts which had the Royals commenting publicly about how unhittable he was after the game. Syndergaard checks all the boxes for picking your starting pitcher in FanDuel, as he is favored to get the win and has double digit strikeout upside. Syndergaard’s ERA at home last year was a dominant 2.46, nearly 2 full points lower than his road ERA and the fact that the Marlins have never faced him I believe gives Thor a tremendous advantage with the raw stuff he has in his arsenal.
Kendall Graveman ($5,000) – The pitching slate is very top heavy tonight with Syndergaard, Fernandez and Corey Kluber but it will be tough to fit in the Coors Field bats if you opt to pay $10k or more for your starting pitcher. Graveman is the cheapest pitcher on the slate and gets a home start against the Angels who are tied for the fewest runs scored in the early going of this MLB season. In 2015 in 2 starts against LAA, Graveman pitched 11 innings, gave up 3 runs and struck out 9 so you are not likely to get length or tons of strikeouts but the salary relief allows you to stack the best bats of the evening. Graveman put up 22 FanDuel points in his first start this year against the White Sox in a 5 inning no decision. If Graveman can put up similar numbers to that start and manage to pull out a win, a 30-35 point outing from this price point would be a tremendous pivot option off the top starters.

Next: Top Hitters

Apr 6, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano (22) celebrates a two run home run with right fielder Nelson Cruz (23) in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /

Hitters

Mariners Stack: With a game in Colorado, I expect that game with the Giants to be a popular stacking option so one potential pivot is to utilize the Mariners who will be home for the Rangers and Derek Holland.
- OF – Nelson Cruz ($4,200) is always a top target for me anytime he faces a LHP as last season he homered once every 12 plate appearances against LHP. Cruz is normally very popular in these righty/lefty matchups however with the game in Coors, I am hoping this drives his ownership down and gives us the ability to roster a player with multi HR upside.
- 2B – Robinson Cano ($3,700)– The lefty/lefty narrative here may drive some owners away, but the Batter Versus Pitcher statistics for Cano versus Holland frankly jump off the page. Cano is 15 for 37 in his career against Holland (.405 average) with 6 extra base hits, 2 home runs and 9 RBI’s. I love the idea of pairing up Cano and Cruz on a night where folks may look elsewhere giving us a great multi HR lineup differentiator.
- C – Chris Iannetta ($2,600) / 1B – Adam Lind ($2,200) – Two additional lower cost additions to this stack and great BvP plays are Iannetta (7 for 19 with 1 home run) and Lind (6 for 15 with 1 homerun). By utilizing some of the cheaper options in the stack, you can pair up the big Mariner bats while still picking your spots with exposure to the game in Coors and/or some of the higher priced pitchers.

Rockies/Giants Stack – With an over/under of 11 runs, this is going to be a popular stack and rightfully so. Let me point out a few of my key plays and a few guys I intend to fade and pivot away from:
- 2B Joe Panik ($3,600)/ OF – Gerardo Parra ($3,400) – Two hitters that both hit in the heart/top of the order in the best matchup of the day and find themselves at very reasonable price points. Both players allow you to get exposure to this game and make for great plays if you are using the top end starting pitching options.
- SS – Trevor Story ($4,700) – I will be honest, I have not played Story one day yet as even though he continues to play at a scorching hot pace I keep thinking that fading him is the right option. However, the young SS keeps plugging along and is averaging 25 points per game. The reason I am considering him tonight is that he sits at an identical price point to Carlos Correa who plays a home game against the Royals and Kris Medlen. If players opt to pay up at SS I would expect more gamers to opt for Correa and I will hope that the non-believers stay off the player with my new favorite nickname – “The Trevor-Ending Story.”
- OF – Angel Pagan ($3,800), C – Buster Posey ($4,900) and OF – Hunter Pence ($4,300) – When I first starting building my Graveman/Coors stack I went after many of the Giants bats initially however the BvP stats indicate that Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood may have these 3 players number!
  - Pagan – 3 for 17 (all singles)
  - Posey – 2 for 11 (both singles)
  - Pence – 1 for 16 (single)

Next: MLB DraftKings Picks 4-12

So here is an example where blindly spending up for the Coors bats may actually hurt us and a strategic fade of these players and pivots to some of the other big bats may be the best way to separate yourself from the pack!

Make sure to review the lineups as they are announced before locking in your lineups! Have a great day gamers!