Welcome into the Tuesday edition of the FanDuel daily fantasy MLB column! We have a sprawling 14 game slate so let’s dig in.
Monday night was quite the sweat to see if we would hang on to the cash line and we barely survived. Stephen Strasburg wasn’t as good as I thought he would be but he was also major chalk so it didn’t really matter. We didn’t have enough Mets exposure and they almost ruined our night but Leonys Martin and Odubel Herrera saved the day. Let’s get right into the huge slate we have on our hands tonight.
Red Sox at Yankees
Red Sox Probable Starter – Drew Pomeranz, LHP
6.14 ERA, 1.70 WHIP and 8.59 K/9
Vs LHH – .286 average, .253 wOBA and 41.7 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .333 average, .447 wOBA and 42.4 hard contact rate
Pomeranz has only pitched 14.2 innings so far this season and he’s yet to give up any less than three earned runs in any start. He’s giving up fly balls almost 40 percent of the time and that’s less than ideal when you’re headed into Yankee Stadium. The hard contact is spiked, regardless of the handedness of the batter. Even on a 14 game slate, the Yankees might wind up being popular. I wouldn’t pay up for a lefty Yankee in this matchup but any righty could be well worth the price tag. I wouldn’t talk you out of any Yankee hitter tonight.
Yankee Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres
Secondary Options – Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andujar
Yankees Probable Starter – Luis Severino, RHP
2.11 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 9.96 K/9
Vs LHH – .175 average, .251 wOBA and 35.1 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .168 average, .208 wOBA and 22.7 hard contact rate
For whatever reason, I don’t find myself using Severino all that often. He’s a great pitcher and there’s no doubt that his 2017 season was not a fluke. I won’t be breaking that streak tonight as he gets the Red Sox offense at home. Severino has already faced the Sox once this year and he had his worst start of the season. He’s capable of dominating literally any lineup in baseball and Severino is a great GPP play since many won’t play him. I won’t be targeting this side of the game in cash games.
Red Sox Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Mookie Betts
Secondary Options – Hanley Ramirez, J.D. Martinez
Home Run Pick – Gary Sanchez
Royals at Orioles
Royals Probable Starter – Danny Duffy, LHP
5.63 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and 7.98 K/9
Vs LHH – .200 average, .235 wOBA and 39.1 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .286 average, .400 wOBA and 41.4 hard contact rate
This matchup couldn’t set up much worse for Duffy. First, the Orioles can throw a lot of righty hitters at him which has been his Achilles heel so far this season. Secondly, pitching in Camden Yards is much more difficult than Kauffman Stadium. Baltimore is kind of just average across the board against lefties but Duffy is a bad pitcher. They should be able to rock Duffy without much issue. Any Orioles righty really stands out this evening while I would leave the lefties on the sidelines.
Orioles Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Manny Machado, Trey Mancini, Danny Valencia
Secondary Options – Mark Trumbo, Adam Jones
Orioles Probable Starter – Dylan Bundy, RHP
3.76 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 10.62 ERA
Vs LHH – .338 average, .378 wOBA and 30.2 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .202 average, .300 wOBA and 34.0 hard contact rate
It’s been a tale of two seasons so far for Bundy. In his first five starts, he was dominating any in front of him. In his past two starts, he’s given up 12 earned runs in nine innings pitched. I’m not sure how heavy I want to take a run at Bundy because he has plenty of upside. However, he’s shown the ability to implode in any given start. The best way to attack Bundy is with lefties and the Royals only have a couple worth targeting. They’ll be listed as secondary options just because of Bundy’s talent.
Royals Hitters to Target
Elite Options – None
Secondary Targets – Mike Moustakas, Lucas Duda, Jon Jay
Home Run Pick – Mark Trumbo