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
Kenta Maeda- Greinke is the top pitcher on this slate from a real-life baseball perspective, but he is not someone I’m willing to spend up on in DFS. He just doesn’t get you the strike outs you’re looking for, so I’m willing to drop down a bit to Kenta Maeda against the Brewers. Maeda won’t blow you away with K’s either, but his 27% strikeout rate since the start of 2019 is much more appetizing. He also gets a strong matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers, who I have been looking to attack early on this season. They come into tonight 24th in wRC+ as a team with the third-highest strikeout rate. Every player not named Eric Sogard strikes out over 22% of the time in this lineup. Overall, I like the savings you get here and I will consider Maeda my ace of the night.
Jordan Lyles- SP2 is extremely tough on this slate, which is why I’m highlighting Jordan Lyles. I expect (barring rain) many could look at Zach Eflin vs the Orioles in this spot, but I have reasons to believe Lyles is a much better play. For starters, he gets a big boost with Bill Miller calling balls and strikes. Notoriously one of the most pitcher-friendly umpires in the MLB, Miller is usually good for a few added K’s per outing. He also has a strong matchup against the Seattle Mariners. This Mariners team projects to strike out a quarter of the time to right-handed pitching, and possesses minimal left-handed pop to fear. Lyles 24% strikeout rate isn’t as bad as some of the guys we normally target in this price range. As long as the roof is closed, I’m in on Lyles on both sites tonight.
Building Blocks
Nelson Cruz- I love any slate that we get Nelson Cruz against a lefty, and that happens to be today in Eric Lauer. Lauer has actually been pretty reverse-splitsy in the early goings of his MLB career. He’s allowed a higher ISO to left-handed batters, but that comes with over 41% hard hits and fly balls to righties. Cruz has a video game-like .400 ISO vs southpaws dating back to the start of 2019. He also owns a .380+ ISO vs fastballs and cutters, Lauer’s two most-used pitches.
Rhys Hoskins- Hoskins has yet to homer in 2020, but that *hopefully* will change tonight against Wade LeBlanc. LeBlanc is a soft-tossing lefty that has surrendered a near .230 ISO to right-handed batters dating back to last March. Hoskins advanced metrics all look good, he’s hitting the ball really hard (90.5 aEV) and perhaps has gotten a bit unlucky with power. There’s some extremely good hitting weather in Philly today, and if the rain holds off they will be one of the highest-owned stacks for good reason.
Gleyber Torres (FanDuel)- Torres has been frustrating to roster this season, but that has resulted in a $2,700 price tag on FanDuel. He’s still one of the best hitters in the American League, and has been affected by a .161 BABIP in addition to just not seeing the ball very well to begin the season. He boasted a .240 ISO against right-handed pitching in 2019, and now is the time to buy low on him before the price rises on both sites.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
