Brady Singer Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Royals vs. Guardians has been postponed Wednesday due to inclement weather.

Each of the top two projected pitching values come from the Kansas City/Tampa Bay game. While Shane McClanahan is also the most expensive and top projected pitcher on the board in a protected, negative run environment, Brady Singer may have the superior matchup. He has utilized the highest CStr rate on the board (21%) to turn a 10.1 SwStr% into a 25.5 K% this season. A 45.5 GB% is far lower than it’s ever been at the major league level, but walking just 6.0% of batters has helped him keep the damage from 10% Barrels/BBE in check. Singer has gone at least six innings in seven straight starts (six Quality Starts) with a 3.29 ERA that’s only slightly below most estimators ranging from a 3.16 DRA to a 3.82 xERA. Singer throws either a sinker or a slider over 90% of the time, while the Rays are a bottom seven offense against both pitches this year. They also have a 101 wRC+, but with a 24.6 K% vs RHP. Costing within $200 of $8.5K on either site, Singer may be a pitcher players can consider using on a single pitcher site like FanDuel in this spot.

Despite facing a lot of the tougher offenses in the American League, Kansas City was the only Kutter Crawford struggled most against with Quality Starts against the Yankees, Astros and Blue Jays also among his last five starts. Since making the first of his nine starts in June, Crawford has impressed with a 16.9 K-BB%, while allowing six home runs, but on just eight barrels (5.5%). Estimators are a bit above his 3.30 ERA over this span, but still in league average pitcher territory, similar to where they are on the season, hovering around four. Crawford is in a marginal spot (Orioles 96 wRC+, 22.3 K% vs RHP), but Baltimore now plays pitcher friendly. Costing less than $8K on either site, Crawford is tonight’s third best projected value on either site and first perfectly in your SP2 slot for $6.4K and may even be considered on FanDuel, if the desire is to load up on expensive bats, for $7.7K.

Patrick Sandoval currently projects as the fifth best value on either site for less than $9K, but there are some drawbacks here. Since striking out 19 of 51 Astros and Orioles, Sandoval has just a 6.4 K-BB% over his last five starts. Walks (11.0%) have been an issue all season, but the strikeout rate is down to 23.8%, pushing all non-FIP estimators more than half a run above his 3.42 ERA, despite a .338 BABIP. He’s suppressing barrels well (6.3%), but only five of 18 have left the yard (5.6 HR/FB). The walks have kept Sandoval from completing six innings in seven of his last eight. Sure, he’s facing the Tigers, but they’ve been a competent offense against LHP (98 wRC+, 22.2 K%). Sandoval probably fits better in a DK lineup ($7.2K) than as your sole FanDuel pitcher for $1.5K more.

Kevin Gausman has allowed five earned runs over 4.2 innings twice in over his last four starts (Guardians & Cardinals), but totaled 11 strikeouts with just two walks in those efforts. Gausman has struggled with BABIP issues in the past and has a .314 career mark, but a .372 rate this year is easily the worst of his career. It’s actually pretty amazing he’s registering a 3.16 ERA carrying that around, but that’s where a 23.6 K-BB% helps a lot. Gausman has only completed six innings in consecutive outings twice over his last 15 starts, while there’s some disagreement between his xERA (3.58) and remaining estimators at 3.01 (SIERA) or below. He doesn’t project incredibly well in a tough matchup in New York (115 wRC+, 22.1 K%, 15.1 HR/FB vs RHP), but the Yankee offense has been tame enough recently (63 wRC+, 28.6 K% last seven days) that may play better than projects expect here and costs only $8.2K on DraftKings.

Tyler Anderson has just a 15.6 K% (9.9 K-BB%) over his last 10 starts, which is half his season, though he still continues to pile up Quality Starts (seven of his last eight), due to an elite contact profile (85.1 mph EV, 5.1% Barrels/BBE, 29.6% 95+ mph EV). His .260 BABIP is right in line with the .260 mark his defense allows this season. His 2.81 ERA is below all estimators, though within half a run of his FIP (3.30) and xERA (3.18) with contact neutral estimators much higher (6.5 HR/FB). He faces a Miami offense (71 wRC+, 28.4 K% vs LHP) with a ton of upside for less than $8K on DraftKings. In the less than $7K range, Jordan Lyles (11.6 K-BB%) has allowed just three home runs at home this year and faces an average Boston offense (96 wRC+, 21.6 K% vs RHP) and Matt Manning has also struck out 12 of his last 53 batters and gets the Angels (95 wRC+, 26.8 K% vs RHP) tonight.

Considering that seven pitchers cost at least $8.8K on both sites, you wouldn’t think there’d be much more to discuss on a 13 game slate, but that wouldn’t be true. We’ll break the remaining options down into two categories: those who can stand on their own and SP2s. Charlie Morton has thrown quality starts in eight of his last 10 and has a 20.4 K-BB% with just 5.4% Barrels/BBE on the year. Only a 3.07 DRA is more than a quarter run removed from his 3.53 ERA. The Braves need these home games against the Phillies (94 wRC+ on the road, 93 wRC+ vs RHP), but only three batters in the opposing projected lineup exceed a 20 K% vs RHP this year in a positive run environment. Considering the cost though ($8.6K on FD), Morton is a reasonable pivot for those looking to add offense to their lineups.

Brady Singer has had some BABIP problems this year (.346), leading to a 4.72 ERA that’s above all of his estimators, the highest being a 4.50 xERA. However, he’s allowed just 5.7% Barrels/BBE this year with half his contact on the ground (50.1%). Over his last six starts, he has a 16.1 K-BB% with just a .286 BABIP and 80.8 LOB% driving his ERA (2.97) below estimators over this span. None of that is great and neither team is playing for anything, but they haven’t been for quite a while. It’s a power suppressing, neutral run environment at a moderate cost (within $300 of $8K on either site) and the projected lineup for Cleveland includes five batters exceeding a 27 K% vs RHP this year. That last part is the key here.

Chris Bassitt & Jose Urquidy would be interesting options if we knew the workload would be there, but Bassitt emerged from his first start in over a month with a scoreless three innings (48 pitches), allowing just a single hit and walk, while striking out four batters. Urquidy has allowed nine runs over 18.1 innings in four starts since returning from the IL. From a positive standpoint, the A’s, Astros (and even Mariners) are still fighting for something, though that’s probably still not enough to get either of these pitchers deep enough into their games tonight.

The matchup in Texas between the Angels and Rangers may be most interesting for those looking for a cheap SP2. A.J. Alexy struck out one-third of the 57 batters he faced at AAA after 28.8% in 50.1 AA innings, but the transition to the majors has been a bit rougher. He’s struck out 15 of 78 with as many walks and just 22% of his contact on the ground. A 5.00 ERA is below all of his estimators, a 5.19 xERA the only one below six so far. However, Texas is a negative run environment with the roof closed and each of the first seven batters in the projected lineup for the Angels have at least a 24.4 K% vs RHP this year. Packy Naughton has struck out just 12 of 95 batters with one less walk. Even with a 48.6 GB% and 87.3 mph EV, ERA and estimators all exceed five. Similar story, but the Rangers have a 79 wRC+ vs LHP and four in the projected lineup have at least a 27 K% against them this year.

Kyle Freeland & Michael Wacha are cheap pitchers in much tougher spots, but with some upside. Freeland’s start to start performances have been very volatile this year, though he does have two straight quality starts, striking out 12 of his last 50 batters with a 52.8 GB%. Season estimators are all within half a run of his 4.50 ERA without any standout metrics. The Nationals still have a few bats who have hit LHP well in smaller samples and not a lot of strikeouts, but Freeland is a near average pitcher for just $5.7K. Wacha is facing the Astros and has some major contact profile problems, but costs $6.6K with a 30.6% and 3.3 BB% over his last 29.1 innings.