Welcome everyone to Ben’s Pitching Preview! This season I will be getting back to my roots and focusing on my top SP options for each slate. After all, a SP breakdown was my first ever regular article on this site when I started providing content many years ago.
Our Core Plays have been great to start the season, you can pick up a package here.
Let’s get into it!
Jacob deGrom
deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball, and is matchup-proof in my eyes. Since the start of 2020, he owns an insane 2.40 SIERA, with video game-like 41% strikeouts. This is a neutral matchup as the Washington Nationals lineup only projects for 21.5% strikeouts. deGrom’s stuff is nasty enough to play against anyone, however, and that shows in the PvB. I’m not a huge BvP guy, but we have over 220 PA of deGrom vs this Nats lineup resulting in a .250 xwOBA allowed with 32% punch outs. He is my highest graded pitcher every time he toes the rubber, and I won’t be overthinking it in cash games on Friday night.
Tyler Glasnow
Glasnow is below deGrom in price, but still expensive. I do think the presence of clear number one deGrom will lower Glasnow’s ownership. Early OWN% projections have Glasnow coming in under 20%, which I love. His strikeouts have also been on another level since the start of 2020, and he has been even better this season. He added a new slider heading into 2021, and is throwing it nearly a third of the time. This new pitch makes it really hard for offenses, especially when his fastball and curve are so good. Since the start of 2017, only Lourdes Gurriel has a wOBA north of .310 vs sliders. This lineup also struggles with curveballs. Over his last 60 PA vs this Jays lineup, he owns a strikeout rate of 33%. I love Glasnow in all formats tonight, and could even see pairing him together with deGrom.
Sandy Alcantara
This is someone that I used to actively stack against in DFS. Once a raw pitcher, it looks like the Sand Man has turned a corner and really figured out how to pitch at the major league level. The question was never his stuff, but if and when he would put it all together. He boasts career-highs in both swinging strike rate and strikeout rate this season, and went without a walk in his last start. Even when his strikeout stuff isn’t working, he can combat a lineup with strong groundball ability. He faced the Giants in his last start, and turned in just 16 DK points after allowing four runs. I hope the game log keeps him low-owned, because I don’t think that tells the full story. Alcantara was dominating for six innings, and just ran out of gas his last trip to the mound. The Giants will pack the lefties in vs him tonight, but I think he is $1,000 too cheap. He’s my favorite mid-tier play today and I expect him to come in lower-owned than Alex Wood in this same game.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
