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.
Pitcher
Andrew Heaney- There are a lot of intriguing pitching options tonight, but none stick out more than Andrew Heaney. I’ve been attacking the Texas Rangers with left-handed pitching nightly this season, and that won’t change on Tuesday. Heaney comes into this slate in top form having posted 35 and 28 DraftKings points over his last two starts. This Rangers offense ranks second-worst in team wRC+ vs lefties this season (65) with a top-ten strikeout rate (25%). Despite having one of the top matchups on the board, there are six pitchers priced ahead of Heaney on DK tonight. I will be locking him in as my SP1.
After Heaney, there are a few ways to go. The one that sticks out the most to me is Mike Clevinger. He draws one of our favorite matchups against the #RoadRockies and could be under-owned due to his poor performance in his Padres debut last week.
Building Blocks
Ben Gamel- With tons of interesting pitching, we are left with few good “full stacks” meaning you can go a ton of ways on your main team tonight. I always like to start with value, and tonight we have that in Ben Gamel, expected to lead off for the Brewers at $2,300. Gamel doesn’t possess massive power but he has a good matchup vs Spencer Turnbull and we aren’t being asked to pay for such. I’m actually a fan of Turnbull in real-life, but he has struggled with his control this season. Over the last season and a half he’s allowed a .330 wOBA to left-handed batters with the ground balls dropping below 50%. Gamel is actually second in hard hit rate against right-handed pitching in the Brewers projected lineup, and he couples that with over 40% line drives this season. At this price, all he needs to do is get on base one time.
Todd Frazier- Another value play I’m focused on tonight is Todd Frazier in the cleanup spot for the Mets. I liked what I saw from John Means in his first few outings, but since then it has been a nightmare. He’s coughing up a .350 ISO with over 40% fly balls and hard hits to right-handed batters in 2020. Frazier has the highest wOBA on this team against southpaws this season (.430) and that comes with 28% line drives. The Mets are one of my favorite stacks tonight.
Cody Bellinger- Right next to the Mets in terms of top stacks are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who match up with Luke Weaver. Weaver has seen a steep decline from 2019, with his xFIP jumping by over a run and his ground ball rate dropping by nearly 10%. He’s allowing a .416 wOBA to left-handed batters which could spell trouble against this potent Dodgers lineup. The entire Dodgers team crushes fast balls which is Weaver’s most used pitch — over 50% of the time. His second-most used offering is his changeup, a pitch that Bellinger owns a .230 ISO against for his career.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
