Welcome back to an abbreviated version of the MLB Fanduel: Pitching Focus column. This is for the Early Only MLB FanDuel slate on Thursday, June 29th. We’ll break down the pitching match ups for your MLB FanDuel Early Only lineups today.
For the Early Only slate, MLB FanDuel is only providing the three games starting between noon and 2pm EDT. With such limited options, only six pitchers, we’re going to go through each game and discuss the viability of each pitcher for your lineups, and talk about which pitchers to target for hitting.
I typically don’t focus on the Early Only slates, but this early afternoon schedule gives us some intriguing match ups, obvious plays at pitcher, and exciting stacking options. Here’s the limited schedule of games we’re targeting for this afternoon’s Early only slate:
TEX Andrew Cashner at CLE Corey Kluber (12:10pm EDT)
KC Jake Junis at DET Michael Fulmer (1:10pm EDT)
OAK Daniel Gossett at HOU Brad Peacock (2:10pm EDT)
We’ll start with the Rangers vs. Indians match up…
Top MLB FanDuel Pitching Play of the Afternoon
If you can afford him, and this afternoon shouldn’t have many expensive hitters, Corey Kluber ($11,200) is easily the top pitching play of the day. Like Strasburg and Scherzer over the last two days, Kluber has the best SIERA, 2.99, among the starting pitchers in his slate, by a wide margin. Corey also has an awesome 32.4% strikeout rate and rock bottom 6.6% walk rate.
Kluber is averaging over 44 MLB FanDuel points-per-game, and recently has been on a tear. Over the last five games, Kluber had 10, 8, 10, 11, and 13 strikeouts against teams including the Dodgers and Twins. During that run, Corey averaged 56.8 MLB FanDuel points-per-game, one of the best in baseball.
While the Rangers bats have been hot, they cooled off last night, and are not performing well against RHP’s away from home. The Rangers have a low 66 wRC+, 26th in baseball, a high 31.3% K rate, and low 7.6% walk rate in this scenario. Kluber is a must play in cash games, and hard to avoid in GPP.
MLB FanDuel Stacking Target
On the mound for the Tigers, Andrew Cashner ($6,200), is another reason Kluber is a great play, he’ll get the win. Cashner is coming off the disabled list with an oblique strain and has been widely inconsistent throughout the year.
Andrew has a 5.76 SIERA, the worst among all pitchers in this slate. Cashner has a low 11.2% strikeout rate so far this season, and a high 10.5% walk rate, second worst among the starters this afternoon.
The Indians only have a 19.8% strikeout rate against RHP’s at home, and decent 9.4% walk rate in this scenario. Also, the Tribe has a 107 wRC+, 11th in baseball at home against righties. With a .795 OPS and .457 slugging percentage in this scenario as well, the Indians are a clear stack against a struggling Tigers right-handed pitcher this afternoon.
MLB FanDuel Contrarian Pick of the Afternoon
Another inconsistent pitcher this season, Detroit Tigers hurler Michael Fulmer ($9,600), takes the mound this afternoon against a Royals lineup struggling to gain traction. The Royals are tied with the Giants with an 81 wRC+, 6th worst in baseball, against RHP’s away from home.
The Royals are one of the few teams with a sub-700 OPS in this scenario, have a 23% strikeout rate, and low 6.3% walk rate. Matching the Royals with a hot right-handed pitchers away from home is a good recipe for an under-the-radar pick at Pitcher.
Fulmer has been all over the place with MLB FanDuel points this season, so he’s a risky pick. But in San Diego, against a similar Padres lineup, he fanned eight batters and grabbed the quality start for 46 points. This afternoon presents a similar scenario, and he could be a $1.6K cheaper way of getting 40+ points out of this position today.
MLB FanDuel Stacking Target
So far we love stacking the Indians against Cashner, and now we have a cheaper stacking target. The Tigers have feasted off of RHP’s in Detroit, especially righties who have struggled this year.
The Royals 25-year old 29th round pick from the 2011 draft, Jake Junis ($6,200) is off to a so-so start for his career. In seven starts, Junis only has two quality starts. However, two of those quality starts came in the last three games. However, his only decent game was a six strikeout win against the Padres, in San Diego.
Jake’s strikeout rate is only 17% so far, and he’s struggling to avoid self-inflicted wounds, walking batters near a 10% rate. Junis may progress during the season, but with a 5.19 SIERA and 1.62 WHIP, he’s a definite hitting target this afternoon against the Tigers.
MLB FanDuel Value Play of the Afternoon
Likely because of his 13% walk rate, Brad Peacock ($7,600) is a very cheap option against the Oakland A’s this afternoon, at home in Houston. The Astros hurler has an awesome 35.7% strikeout rate, the highest among all starters before the Main slate today. But he’s struggled to keep runners off the base-path, walking almost four per game this month.
However, Peacock struck out ten batters against the Rangers in Houston, and most recently eight hitters in Oakland. While Brad had a zero point game against the Angles on June 9th, three of his last four games resulted in 40+ MLB FanDuel points.
The A’s have a 94 wRC+ away from home against RHP’s, not great but near league average. The attractive part about the A’s facing Peacock is their high 25.4% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, they also have a decent 8.6% walk rate. So there’s obvious risk with this play, but of the six starters this afternoon, Brad is a fantastic value if you’re looking for big hitters and can’t afford Kluber.
MLB FanDuel Pitching and Hitting Fade
It’s hard to decide if you should play Daniel Gossett ($6,600), or fade him. Which leads me to fading Gossett as both a pitcher play and hitting target. With only three starts against mediocre teams, there’s too much risk in either scenario.
Daniel had a solid six strikeout, 36 MLB FanDuel point game against the Astros in Oakland. But the Astros are the 4th best offense against RHP’s at home, and have a low 17.6% strikeout rate. And while Gossett is coming off a 43 point result in Chicago against the White Sox, he was also steamrolled by the Marlins in Miami on the 14th, dropping a negative five points. So on all accounts, fade Gossett today.
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