Fansided

MLB DFS pitching gems July 30: Thor set to hammer the White Sox

By Brandon Lauderback

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 05: Noah Syndergaard #34 of the New York Mets in action against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on July 05, 2019 in New York City. The Phillies defeated the Mets 7-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 05: Noah Syndergaard #34 of the New York Mets in action against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on July 05, 2019 in New York City. The Phillies defeated the Mets 7-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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DraftKings MLB
ANAHEIM, CA – APRIL 30: Griffin Canning #47 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitches in the first inning of the game in his major league debut against the Toronto Blue Jays at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

MLB DFS Pitching Plays

Griffin Canning – Griffin has had a very up and down first season. Well today he gets the Tigers who quite frankly, do not scare me in the slightest. They have a 25.5% K rate against RHP, 40% GB, and a .148 ISO. Canning has a 5.08 xFIP, 25% K rate, 38.7% GB, and 40% HC. Yes all of these numbers do not scream play Canning.

He does have some massive strikeout upside against the Tigers however. He will likely see an even number of righties and lefties, but he manages contact better to LHH. He is also pitching at home, and has a great chance at a win, if he can avoid giving up too many runs.

Pitch Mix – As I have mentioned on the other times I wrote up Griffin, he has one of the best fastballs in the league, and uses it around 45% of the time. It’s his secondary pitches that he needs to work on, using the Slider 25%, change 15%, and curve 12%. Outside of the slider and fastball he tends to struggle. The whiffs are a little down on the slider and fastball, but the GB rate is way up on his fastball at over 40% which is an interesting change.

The curve and change are getting over 50% GB, and the slider is also over 40%. The ISO is also way down on his fastball, at below .100 for the first time in months. I didn’t notice any major changes in the movement, or velocity of his pitches, so the improved numbers on the fastball could just be due to placement. Either way at below 7 K we have to consider him on FanDuel, and he is a viable SP2 on DK.