FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Saturday, May 5
Astros at Diamondbacks
Astros Probable Starter – Charlie Morton, RHP
1.72 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 11.05 K/9
Vs LHH – .091 average, .159 wOBA and 20.7 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .240 average, .320 wOBA and 25.0 hard contact rate
Welcome to Charlie Morton Chalk Night! On a 10 game slate with none of the big aces available, Morton is going to be highly owned I suspect. Players are going to look at the eye-popping Gerrit Cole performance from Friday night and hit that submit button with Morton locked and loaded. While that’s reasonable, it is worth pointing out that Arizona is capable of putting out a lineup with all righties against Morton. Good old “Ground Chuck” as he was known in Pittsburgh can overcome those righties but Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock make for good leverage plays in tournaments.
Diamondback Hitters to Target
Elite Options – None
Secondary Options – Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock in GPPs
Diamondbacks Probable Starter – Zack Grienke, RHP
4.50 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 10.50 K/9
Vs LHH – .277 average, .359 wOBA and 39.6 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .227 average, .273 wOBA and 40.0 hard contact rate
Grienke hasn’t been the ace he’s been in the past, but I have a healthy respect for the wily veteran. Even in difficult matchup, I won’t go nuts with the Astros. There’s two plays that do stick out like a sore thumb. The first is Jose Altuve, who is inexplicably under $4,000 (seriously FanDuel, get your pricing together on second base). Players like Brian Dozier and Jose Altuve should really never be this cheap. The other is Josh Reddick. There’s one reason Reddick gets a ton of playing time and that’s because he hits righty pitching. The last four seasons have seen Reddick accumulate at least a .356 wOBA and he’s on pace to do it again. At $3,100, he’s a real bargain that could get overlooked.
Astros Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Jose Altuve, Josh Reddick
Secondary Options – George Springer, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman
Home Run Pick – Josh Reddick