Pitcher
Josh Lindblom- And we thought yesterday’s pitching was bad? Sheesh! It appears that Patrick Sandoval is going to be decently owned facing off with the Mariners. I will be choosing to fade him, he’s allowed the highest hard-contact rate on this slate and I just don’t think he is worthy of any sort of ownership. Lindblom could certainly feature some heavy-ownership as well, but at an even cheaper price tag and a safer pitch count I will side with him every time. He projects for around eight strikeouts per nine according to Steamer, but is largely an unknown coming back from the KBO. We can’t really expect a ton of strikeouts from any of these guys, so I’m not worried as much about this disciplined Pirates team. He’s my favorite option on all sites when baking in price.
Jeff Samardzija- This is where I expect most to go with Sandoval, but I just can’t trust him. Not that Jeff Samardzija is a trustworthy arm, but he rivals him in terms of matchup. These are not the Padres of old, but they are still projected to strike out 27% of the time against right-handed pitching. Factor in a cheap price tag, and the best pitching environment on the slate, and you can at least see why I’m willing to take a stand on Shark for Tuesday night.
Building Blocks
Salvador Perez- Perez was incredibly under-priced on DraftKings last night, and comes in sub-$3,000 again after even after hitting a homerun. Even if he hadn’t gone yard I would most likely be listing him here against Rony Garcia and the Tigers bullpen. The last time we saw Perez for a full season he had a near .200 ISO and is locked into the heart of the Royals order. I’ll take the savings and move on in cash games.
Pete Alonso- Alonso was our cover player last night, and he responded with a huge homer. He draws a date with southpaw Matt Hall, and had the highest ISO on the team against left-handed pitching in 2019. Fastballs and curve balls made up over 90% of the pitches Hall threw to righties, two pitches Alonso has success against.
Mike Trout + Anthony Rendon- With the egregious pitching on tap, and a legitimate free square in Salvy Perez, we should have plenty of room to spend up on whatever stud bats we want. Mike Trout will definitely see ownership against the left-handed Justus Sheffield, so I like the idea of pairing him with new teammate Anthony Rendon. People might be quick to forget Rendon as this should be his first game of the season, but he managed better numbers than Trout against southpaws in 2019. His 41% fly balls should counteract Sheffield’s ground balls, and the high price tag will keep ownership in check.
Stack Rankings
1. Minnesota Twins (Kepler, Donaldson, Cruz, Rosario, Buxton)
2. New York Mets (Alonso, Cespedes, Rosario, McNeil, Conforto)
3. Kansas City Royals (Whit, Soler, Mondesi, Perez)
4. Oakland A’s (Semien, Olson, Chapman, Laureano, Canha)
5. Boston Red Sox (JD, Devers, Xander, Pillar, Chavis)
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
