Fansided

MLB DFS Picks and Pivots: July 22 – I wanna talk to Sampson!

By Brian Tulloch

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JUNE 08: Adrian Sampson #52 of the Texas Rangers reacts after being doused with sports drink after pitching a complete game in the 3-1 win against the Oakland Athletics during game two of a doubleheader at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 08, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JUNE 08: Adrian Sampson #52 of the Texas Rangers reacts after being doused with sports drink after pitching a complete game in the 3-1 win against the Oakland Athletics during game two of a doubleheader at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 08, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) /
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MLB DFS
HOUSTON, TEXAS – JULY 20: Yuli Gurriel #10 of the Houston Astros receives high fives from Michael Brantley #23 of the Houston Astros after hitting a three run home run in the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park on July 20, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

MLB DFS – Building Our Bats:

With cheap pitchers in our build to start, get ready to spend all that salary with our bats and there is no team I would rather start with tonight than the Houston Astros against Homer Bailey who are one of the hottest team in baseball in the last two weeks, scoring 67 runs and blasting 22 HR’s which are both top 5 marks in the league during that time.

The Astros projected line-up has a massive .224 ISO mark against RHP this season with 6 hitters sporting marks over .200 including George Springer and Yordan Alvarez who lead the team with .310 and .346 marks.

Bailey’s 44% HC rate is the second-highest on the slate, behind only Mr. Sampson, but this Astros line-up in Houston is the kind that could make him pay as this line-up has a 41.7% HC rate against RHP in 2019, with 5 of their top 6 having 39% or higher marks combined with only a 17% K rate. So, a team that does not whiff and makes a ton of hard contact against a pitcher who has a mediocre K rate and gives up a ton of HC – seems like a bad spot for old Homer.

It will be interesting to see if the Astros open the roof up for this one with 89 degree temperatures and the wind blowing out but even with the roof closed, this 6 man Astros stack including Springer, Altuve, Bregman, Brantley, Alvarez and the hottest hitter in baseball – Yuri Gurriel – who has a league-high 13 HR’s in the last 30 days of action – become a high upside stack that those who pay up for Cole/Clevinger etc. will not be able to afford.

With all those high end bats now locked in, the crazy part is, we still have well over $10K per batter to pay up for our last two one-off’s. Christian Yelich ($10.3K) just continues to be red-hot at the plate and he can take his .415 ISO mark against RHP to the batter’s box today against RHP Sonny Gray in Milwaukee.

One benefit of this build is you can pay up for the bats nobody else will – perfect example – Mitch Garver ($10.6K). On a site like FantasyDraft where you do not need a catcher, who is going to spend the second-highest price for a batter on the slate on Mitch Flipping Garver? Take the name out of it for a second, what if I told you that there was a guy who is facing a lefty and has a .446 ISO, 46% FB rate and 67% HC rate against southpaws this season?

Wouldn’t you have some interest?

Garver’s opponent, CC Sabathia is giving up a .245 ISO to RHB this season so this could be a spot where you get a home run from Garver at less than 5% ownership and can really help differentiate you in GPP’s.