Definitely Interesting, Possibly Helpful Team Preview: Boston Red Sox
Baseball is almost here! With an eventful offseason in the books and spring training underway, it’s time to preview all 30 teams in Major League Baseball. With the help of RotoGrinders PlateIQ Premium, DFS ownership trends from Chris Gimino, and our resident Premium MLB guru Dave Potts (aka CheeseIsGood), we take a look at some information that is definitely interesting and possibly helpful for the upcoming 2019 MLB season.
Editor’s Note: Premium members receive daily access to detailed MLB slate breakdowns via Dave Potts’ Million Dollar Musings article (which you can preview here for free), as well as the PlateIQ Premium Ratings mentioned in this article. Sign up now and experience all we have to offer for NBA, PGA, NHL, and more while we await the official launch of the 2019 MLB DFS season!
Preseason Overview
— Vegas Win Total O/U: 93.5
— World Series Odds: 7/1
— Key Additions: None
Other Noteworthy Players for DFS: Steve Pearce, Brock Holt, Eduardo Nunez, Sandy Leon
— Outlook: This team could easily win more games than their 93.5 Vegas total. It’s the same lineup that won 108 games in 2018, with essentially the same pitching staff. It’s wheels up for the 2019 Boston Red Sox.
Much of their team hit the ball really hard in 2018, and did so with ideal launch trajectory. Mookie Betts ranked 5th in Barrel %, Mitch Moreland 38th, Xander Bogaerts 54th, and J.D. Martinez out-smashed them all ranking 2nd overall. The PlateIQ contact scores above display seven dangerous hitters among their projected starters, and the powerful Steve Pearce (Rank 32nd in Barrel %) lurking for spot duty. They are all primed for another strong season.
On the mound, Chris Sale leads an experienced and capable rotation. David Price (can get hit hard but still has K upside), Rick Porcello (better in real life), Eduardo Rodriguez (injury plagued and inconsistent), and Nathan Eovaldi (contact quality issues) all have their flaws, but figure to be priced accordingly and should present us DFS value in spots. It’s one of the better rotations in baseball, and they figure to play a prominent role in DFS discussions this summer.
— DFS Ownership Trends: The Red Sox hitters were the second most rostered team on DraftKings in 2018. As noted, this is basically the same team and it would be insane to expect things to shake out much differently this season. If you’re looking for Red Sox exposure without the crowd, consider the bottom of this order. Mitch Moreland (Rank 107), Rafael Devers (Rank 80), and Jackie Bradley (Rank 329) are all interesting ways to get access to this high powered offense without the high ownership that accompanies the top of the order.
Definitely Interesting, Possibly Helpful Notes
— We all know about the Chris Sale otherworldly strikeout ability. Last year, he posted better than 30 percent strikeouts for the fourth season in his career, tying Pedro Martinez and Max Scherzer for second-most such seasons in the live ball era. But last season, he saw an 8.9% increase in soft contact rate from 2017, increasing from 18.5% to 27.4%, the best mark in MLB.
— Last season, Mookie Betts had a .922 OPS…in two-strike counts. Only seven other qualified hitters in MLB had a .922 OPS full stop, and Mookie reached that mark after spotting pitchers two strikes. His ability to hit for both average and power while rarely striking out is almost unparalleled – the only guys to post a .294 ISO with a sub-15.0% K rate in a season in the past 10 years are Pujols and Papi – makes him one of the elite in both MLB and DFS.