Pitchers
Justin Verlander- Verlander is the obvious choice when looking for the best pitcher on this slate, and he has a solid matchup at home with the Seattle Mariners. The M’s offense hasn’t struggled as much as you’d think since trading the likes of Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion, and over the last 14 days they are striking out over 24% of the time and they are going to have their hands full with Verlander on Saturday night. Mr. Kate Upton has been up to his old ways this season boasting a 3.16 SIERA with 31% strikeouts, numbers that get even better at home in Houston where this game takes place. He’s the clear highest floor/ceiling option on this slate and is the top option on this slate, you just need to decide whether or not there’s enough value to comfortably get him in your lineups.
Chris Paddack- Paddack was called back up by the Padres last week, after being sent down to the minors for over a week in an attempt to limit his workload this season. He has been great in his first major league season pitching to a 3.86 SIERA with 26% strikeouts, and is in the thick of the NL ROY race should he keep it up. He has a fantastic matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals tonight, who have been one of the biggest disappointments for me this baseball season. It seems that the Cards have hit an absolute wall, coming into tonight dead-last in wOBA, wRC+ and ISO for the month of June…they have literally been the worst offense in baseball the last calendar month and that simply should not happen. Paddack’s pitch count is a concern, but his price is also back down to a reasonable range and this offense has been so bad that I think he could easily get 6-7 innings on 90 pitches if he has his stuff working. He’s also been much better at home, where this game takes place, posting a 3.13 xFIP with 32% strikeouts in Petco this season. For the price, I’ll consider him in all formats on another packed offensive slate.
Drew Pomeranz- This is one that I don’t necessarily feel good about, but we are going to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel if we are going to get Coors Field or Astros exposure. The Diamondbacks have been great against left-handed pitching this season, but Pomeranz has also been great at home with a 3.65 xFIP and 30% strikeouts. There are not a lot of strikeouts in the Diamondbacks lineup, so I don’t expect a game like the one against the Rockies, but there is a severe lack of cheap pitching on this slate and I’m not taking a pitcher priced at $6,400 for strikeouts, I’m simply hoping for 14 or so DK points while I jam in any offensive stack I want.
Building Blocks
This slate is a bit weird with it being a small main slate due to the large amount of day games. I will be focusing on spending down at pitching, as I’m absolutely in love with the spot for the Astros, Dodgers and Rockies respectively. I will be overweight on all three of those teams as stacks, as well as Chris Paddack at pitcher.
Cash Game Core: George Springer, Jose Altuve, Nolan Arenado, Edwin Rios
Value Plays: Pat Valaika, Edwin Rios, Tyler White, Chad Pinder, Josh Naylor, Alex Dickerson
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
