Welcome to another edition of Ben’s Building Blocks! In this article, I will outline the players I’m looking to build my main lineup around for today’s slate. If you want access to my core plays for every main slate, as well as one of the best discord communities in the industry, click here.
Pitchers
Gerrit Cole- Cole is the top option on this slate, which is a fairly obvious selection. He was the best pitcher in the league last season when it came to strikeouts and he matches up with the lowly Orioles offense. He saw a limited pitch count in the Yankees first game due to the rain, and he should be set to throw over 90 pitches tonight especially if he is cruising. Only Austin Hays boasted a wOBA above .320 vs RHP in this lineup last season, and we have tons of savings to fit in his high price tag. Jacob deGrom is a fantastic tournament play, but Cole is the clear number one in cash game builds.
Andrew Heaney- Heaney is likely to be the chalk SP2 in cash games on DraftKings, but I unfortunately don’t see myself getting away from him. Not only are the Mariners one of the worst offenses in the MLB, I’m also a pretty big fan of Heaney’s stuff. He struck out 29% of batters he faced a year ago, and he has a curveball that’s used to generate 40% whiffs. The Mariners in particular have just two hitters with expected wOBA’s over .305 vs curve balls, and Heaney appears to be under-priced. I think Chris Paddack is equally as strong of a play tonight, but the savings of Heaney are likely the move in cash.
Joe Musgrove- DK simply forgot to price Joe Musgrove accordingly, which makes him a fantastic GPP SP2 at just over $5,000. He looked really good in his first start, pitching less to contact and mixing up his pitch mix from what we saw a season ago. This Brewers offense has not looked good to start the season, and Musgrove has the benefit of facing them in pitcher-friendly PNC park tonight. This lineup had a 23% strikeout rate vs RHP, and Musgrove can be used to fit in any of the top stacks in tournaments.
Building Blocks
Gleyber Torres- The Yankees are the clear top stack today, but you are going to need exposure to them in optimal builds and if I can only choose one it’s Gleyber Torres. His .251 ISO vs right-handed pitching last season was tied with Aaron Judge, and he occupies an ugly position tonight at Shortstop. He also found a home away from home at Camden Yards in 2019. He hit 12-30 in Baltimore with seven of those hits going for homeruns. Note that he hit 20 homeruns in New York…
Maikel Franco (DK)- The Royals as a team are going to feature heavy-ownership on Wednesday night given their cheap price tags, but none are worse than Franco who comes in at the minimum price of $2,000. He homered twice a few nights ago, and put up another .200+ ISO season vs lefty pitching in 2019. Matt Boyd’s Achilles heel has always been allowing homers, and while it’s an obvious choice I will take the savings and move on in cash games.
Favorite Pivot: Paul Goldschmidt- Goldy has always been a favorite target of ours vs left-handed pitching, but he gets a really strong matchup tonight against Rich Hill. Hill throws primarily fastball / slider to righties, two pitches Goldy crushes. Over the last few seasons he owns an insane .350 ISO vs curves, and we should see suppressed ownership on him tonight.
Stack Rankings
1. New York Yankees (Torres, Judge, Stanton, Hicks, LaMahieu)
2. Minnesota Twins (Arraez, Donaldson, Cruz, Polanco, Rosario)
3. Kansas City Royals (Soler, Merrifield, Perez, Franco, McBroom)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (MASSIVE LEVERAGE) (I want the full 1-5 in the order here)
5. Los Angeles Angels (Ohtani, Trout, Rendon, Fletcher)
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
