FanDuel MLB: Rob Whalen at only $3k on FanDuel – should we play him?
Looking over the Wednesday Main FanDuel pitching options and digging through the statistics, there was no pitcher on the slate I felt compelled to go all in on. In my Picks and Pivots column, I landed on Rick Porcello due to his consistent ability to put up 40 points, hitting that mark in 6 of his last 8 outings. Porcello felt like the safest play on the board but still, was he worth spending 26% of my budget on when building my FanDuel MLB lineup?
Going back over the slate today, I came across Robert Whalen, an Atlanta Braves pitcher who is being called up to start against the Pirates on Wednesday in his MLB debut. Whalen is by no means a “buzzy” high-end prospect, dealt last season from the Mets to the Braves in exchange for Juan Uribe & Kelly Johnson however at only $3,000 on FanDuel, he makes for an intriguing option and worth a deeper look.
Whalen has pitched well across AA and AAA this season, pitching to a 2.40 ERA over 21 starts, striking out 112 batters and only surrendering 4 home runs.
"FanSided’s Tomahawk Take did a deep dive into Whalen a few months back which I highly recommend you read noting “Whalen has a solid inning-grinding repertoire with a 92-94 MPH four-seam fastball that he uses infrequently, a sinker that sits around 89-92 that is his primary pitch, a tremendously effective slider that has some arm side run, a 12-6 curve ball, and a change up that sits in the 83-85 mph range. Whalen’s sinker has great effect in getting ground balls, as evidenced by his zone percentage of 77% strikes and ground ball percentage of 42%. His best starts were even more drastic with ground ball percentages over 55% and strike percentages over 80%.”"
Look at Whalen’s average start this season in the minor leagues – 5.71 IP, 5.33 strikeouts/game and 1.52 ER allowed per game. Now apply the FanDuel point system to those averages and we come out with a 28.56 point total which would exceed 9.5x value at this price point nto factoring any impact of a potential 12 point win!
With Jeff Locke on the hill opposing him, the win is certainly not out of question and if Whalen can deliver a performance consistent with his track record, utilizing his sinker to induce ground balls, this could be a steal of a deal on FanDuel tonight!
Next: FanDuel Picks and Pivots August 3
With the savings we get from rostering Whalen we can put together a lineup with an average price of $4k. From a GPP perspective, I want to roll Whalen out tonight not just because of the price, but his track record says he should pay it off easily and allow us to get a potentially huge advantage!