MLB DFS Picks and Pivots: Aug. 19 - Some Bauer hour brews

MLB DFS Picks and Pivots: Aug. 19 – Some Bauer hour brews

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 17: Eric Thames #7 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates with Ryan Braun #8 after hitting a two-run home run against the Washington Nationals during the fourteenth inning at Nationals Park on August 17, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

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WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 17: Eric Thames #7 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates with Ryan Braun #8 after hitting a two-run home run against the Washington Nationals during the fourteenth inning at Nationals Park on August 17, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

MLB DFS – Building Our Bats:

One of the reasons I think you can pay up for pitching tonight, and almost every night on FantasyDraft, is that you can almost always find under-priced six-man stacks that allow you to chase upside without punting arms. Tonight, despite a mediocre 4.52 IRT which is the 4th lowest on the slate, the Milwaukee Brewers are standing out to me as a team with the potential to do some serious damage.

I am simultaneously perplexed at the low run projection from Vegas and the pricing on some of these Milwaukee power bats and frankly, it could be Vegas and the FantasyDraft algorithms way of telling me to stay away, but I just don’t see it.

Dakota Hudson will be pitching for the Cardinals, an arm with only a 17% K rate with a bloated 10% walk rate, a SIERA at 5 which is well over a run higher than his ERA and a serious issue with left-handed hitters – as they have a .223 ISO and 1.75 HR/9 rate against him in 2019.

Do you know what the Brewers have a lot of? Yeah, left-handed power.

In fact, the Brewers projected line-up tonight has a .263 team ISO mark against RHP this season with 6 batters all sporting .200+ ISO marks against RHP including Christian Yelich, Keston Hiura, Mike Moustakas, Yasmani Grandal, Eric Thames and Trent Grisham.

Take it a step further, Hudson is a sinkerball pitcher, throwing that offering as his primary pitch, with a 41% mark to LHB and 58% mark to RHB.

Now, take a look at the ISO marks for the Brewers against sinkers from RHP: Grandal (.378), Thames (.305), Yelich (.300), Hiura (.290) and Moustakas (.244).

So we have a power-packed lefty line-up against a pitcher who struggles with lefty power, due for regression and who will face a team that routinely hammers his primary offering.

Now, why again are guys like Grisham ($6.3K), Moustakas ($7.2K) and Grandal ($7.3K) priced like they are?

This is the kind of six-man stack that allows you to build around upside at price points which simultaneously allows you to pay for pitching that maybe others will not.