Pitcher
Chalk DK Pairing- We are awarded the ugliest pitching slate of the season on Monday night, which can be good and bad for DFS players. The lack of options is going to push massive ownership onto the likes of Josh James and Tyler Glasnow. Mainly throwing out of the bullpen, James struck out well over 30% of batters faced a season ago and draws the Mariners abysmal offense. He was stretched out to over 80 pitches in his last camp start, so we shouldn’t have any glaring concerns heading into this game. Glasnow on the other hand, will probably only throw a maximum of four innings. However, those four innings could provide the highest scoring pitcher on the slate give his strikeout ability. I would be locking these two into my cash game team and moving on, while James looks the part on FanDuel at sub-$7,000.
In tournaments, pivoting off of either chalk option would make some sense. Adrian Houser and Mike Montgomery fit that mold for me, however neither have the strikeout ceiling that the aforementioned two do.
Trent Thornton (FD Only)- Thornton is only available on FanDuel, but I think he is my second favorite option there aside from James. He’s made some changes to his pitch mix this off-season and is expected to throw his changeup more, a pitch that held batters to a sub-.300 expected wOBA in 2019. This is not the Nationals lineup of old with Anthony Rendon in LA and Juan Soto sidelined due to coronavirus. They still have pop, but it’s not nearly as intimidating and I don’t see Thornton garnering much attention.
Building Blocks
Michael Brantley- The FanDuel move of the day by DraftKings is pricing Michael Brantley at just $3,300 against a righty. I don’t know what to expect of Kendall Graveman tonight, but I do know that Brantley shouldn’t be this cheap. He struck out just 8.6% of the time in 2019 and his .388 wOBA vs RHP is third-best on this Astros team. I’ll take the savings in cash and move on.
Jonathan Schoop- Our second building block is another salary saver, this time at second base in Jonathan Schoop. I expect Keston Hiura to feature heavy ownership at his price tag, but I don’t quite see why he is a better play than Schoop. Let’s look at the numbers:
Hiura vs LHP 2019- .298 wOBA, .120 ISO, 32.5% strikeouts
Schoop vs LHP 2019- .383 wOBA, .286 ISO, 28.3% strikeouts
Both strike out a lot, but it’s clear Schoop is in a better spot. He’s cheaper, and I am comfortable locking him into my optimal build.
Pete Alonso- Saving at the first two spots allows me to spend up somewhere, and that will be with Pete Alonso against Zack Godley. Alonso had the highest ISO on the team against right-handed pitching in 2019, and Godley’s lack of strikeouts boosts his floor. His biggest weakness was a near 25% strikeout rate, while Godley was able to punch out just 17% of batters faced last season. He’s gotten off to a slow start this season, and this could be the matchup to get him back on track.
Stack Rankings
1. White Sox (Moncada, Edwin, Eloy, Robert, Grandal)
2. Astros (Springer, Bregman, Brantley, Altuve, Correa)
3. Reds (Suarez, Castellanos, Aquino, Ervin)
4. Indians (Hernandez, Ramirez, Lindor, Santana, Reyes)
5. Cubs (Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Contreras, Souza)
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
