Happy Wednesday! We’ve got a nine-game slate with minimal weather concerns. So, expect lineups to post early with plenty of time to build lineups.
This slate looks like there will be an abundance of scoring since it has so many lesser-known pitchers taking the mound. However, we’ve also got a few aces that will cost a small fortune to roster. Either pay up for pitching, and down for the stacks; or, get a little wilder in your pitching and find a robust stack.
Baseball is a game of high variance, and today’s as good as any to try something new. Good luck!
Starting Pitchers
The tiers are broken down by price buckets. Note: The price ranges are somewhat skewed to DraftKings.
GREEN Tier
This is your cash games tier. Both arms are capable of taking the slate over by going deep into the game and striking out over ten batters. They’re pricey but proven commodities in DFS.
- Shane McClanahan ($10.4K DK, $11.4K FD) is building a case for this year’s Cy Young. All the metrics scream he’s taken the leap into ace-dom and there’s no looking back. In all likely scenarios, he’s going to score a ton of points but it’ll cost a pretty penny.
- Corbin Burnes ($10.2K DK, $10.9 FD) gets a tougher matchup than McClanahan and could see his name on fewer builds. I’d happily take the smaller salary and less roster%, for a player with equally as much potential for a slate-breaking performance.
- Pivot Play! Nestor Cortes ($9.9 DK, $10.4K FD) wasn’t effective in his last outing, and the field could be running away after he left a bad taste in their mouths. Additionally, since the calendar flipped to June, the Rays haven’t been a top-notch offense (98 wRC+, 22% K-rate, and .132 ISO).
YELLOW Tier
Don’t want to pay all that salary for pitching? I don’t blame you, especially if you want to build a healthy-sized stack with a stout offense. That’s where this tier comes into play. Both can offer you ace-like quality of innings but come with some warning flags. These two options would be who I’m targeting in single-entry contests.
- José Berríos ($8.9K DK, 8.7K FD) might be one of the more popular pay-down options in FanDuel. While the K-rate hasn’t been exactly what many expected, he put up a 13-K performance just two starts ago. Additionally, there aren’t many scary bats in the Baltimore lineup once you dance around the top.
- Spencer Strider ($7.7K DK, $7.5K) looks like one of the top arms from a statistics standpoint. However, some of his limited work came in a bullpen role. Still, he’s throwing over 90 pitches in a start and showcasing high-strikeout upside. Much like Berríos, he’ll get rostered in plenty of lineups.
RED Tier
This is the land of GPP pitching options. If you want to smash an enormous amount of salary into all your hitters, these two will save you the money needed. However, they’ll come with plenty of risk.
- Roansy Contreras ($6.9K DK, $8K FD) won’t get the easiest of matchups but St Louis isn’t quite a top-10 offense either. Although, Contreras features the stuff to mow down any lineup. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another option this cheap with as much potential.
- Erick Fedde ($6.1K DK, $6.7K FD) is not an elite pitcher, heck, he may not even be an above-average one. But, he’s an intriguing GPP play because Atlanta strikes out a ton vs. RHP (25.6% K-rate, third-highest in MLB).
Hitting Stacks
Toronto Blue Jays (vs. Bruce Zimmermann)
- Toronto’s bats have awoken and they are demolishing starting pitchers, and that’s precisely why I’m targeting them. Besides their loaded lineup, the SP matchup is enticing. Zimmerman’s early-season shine has worn off and we are starting to see he’s only striking out 13% of RHB. Furthermore, they’re also putting up a .240 ISO. This is an extremely right-handed heavy lineup with power for days.
- Blue Jays’ Core Stack Targets: Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Teoscar Hernández.
Cleveland Guardians (vs. Austin Gomber)
- Normally I hate grabbing a stack from a game in Coors Field. Typically, the roster% is higher than usual and if we’re trying to win a GPP, we can’t be like everyone else. However, I can’t help but fall in love with the salaries for Cleveland. From a matchup standpoint, Austin Gomber is not striking out batters from either side of the dish at a high rate, and right-handed bats are tattooing baseballs against him. Lastly, the additional salary savings makes it much easier to grab your SP from the Red Tier.
- Guardians’ Core Stack Targets: José Ramírez, Oscar Gonzalez, and Owen Miller.
Los Angeles Dodgers (vs. Reid Detmers)
- With a game in Coors, roster% tends to slide towards that matchup. That’s the time I like to avoid the crowd and stack an elite offense. Furthermore, Detmers is striking out batters at an underwhelming rate (11% vs. LHB, 18% vs. RHP). If you choose to stack an expensive offense like the Dodgers, you’ll surely need to get crafty with pitching or go with a cheaper mini-stack like Cleveland.
- Dodgers’ Core Stack Targets: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Trea Turner.
Value Hitters
Here are some of the best value hitters not mentioned above. Also, the value hitters are players under $3500 on DK and under $3300 on FD—just a step below my cash players. Use these players to smash into your lineup when you need to save some salary.
Design by J.R. Caines (@JRCainesDesign on Twitter and @caines_design on Instagram)