DRAFT MLB Value Watch: Thursday, April 19th
Aaron Hendrix will be bringing Premium subscribers his tiers for head-to-head, three-man, four-man (tournaments), and six-man drafts on DRAFT. Included will be strategy discussion and options for the day’s slate.
Thursday, April 19th
Good afternoon Grinders! Welcome to our MLB content for DRAFT Premium. Each day, I will go over the MLB slate with tier rankings for head-to-head, three-man, four-man (tournaments) and six man drafts. I’ll also provide a brief slate analysis as to how to attack drafts for the slate.
A couple notes to remember about DRAFT contests. One, there is no salary cap so you’re not worried about fitting players in on a budget. Raw fantasy points is what matters most, not the popular point per dollar. Second, while there is no late swap, if a player is ruled out, you will be able to swap them out. For more information on how this works, read the DRAFT Swap Rules Page – for this reason you can take some marginal chances in the later rounds on players that are questionable to play. It’s also important to note the scoring for DRAFT baseball contests is different than any other site with an emphasis on hitters and power (10 points for a home run) as opposed to traditional strong value for starting pitching (only one point for a strikeout). View the DRAFT MLB Scoring System here – last, roster requirements are one pitcher, two infielders, and two outfielders. All analysis and rankings will be based on that.
Slate Overview
This data is copied from the MLB First Look from Notorious.
| Away | Pitcher | Home | Pitcher | Vegas Line | Run Total | Ballpark | Time (ET) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | Alex Cobb – R | at | Detroit Tigers | Jordan Zimmermann – R | BAL-105 | 9.0 | Comerica Park | 1:10 PM |
| St. Louis Cardinals | Luke Weaver – R | at | Chicago Cubs | Jon Lester – L | CHC-108 | TBD | Wrigley Field | 2:20 PM |
| Houston Astros | Charlie Morton – R | at | Seattle Mariners | Marco Gonzales – L | HOU-160 | 8.5 | Safeco Field | 3:40 PM |
| Toronto Blue Jays | Aaron Sanchez – R | at | New York Yankees | CC Sabathia – L | NYY-148 | 9.0 | Yankee Stadium | 6:35 PM |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | Jameson Taillon – R | at | Philadelphia Phillies | Jake Arrieta – R | PHI-113 | 7.5 | Citizens Bank Park | 7:05 PM |
| New York Mets | Matt Harvey – R | at | Atlanta Braves | ATL-105 | 9.0 | SunTrust Park | 7:35 PM | |
| Miami Marlins | Dillon Peters – L | at | Milwaukee Brewers | Chase Anderson – R | MIL-200 | 8.5 | Miller Park | 8:10 PM |
| San Francisco Giants | Ty Blach – L | at | Arizona Diamondbacks | Zack Greinke – R | ARI-170 | 8.5 | Chase Field | 9:40 PM |
| Boston Red Sox | Eduardo Rodriguez – L | at | LA Angels of Anaheim | Nick Tropeano – R | LAA-100 | 8.5 | Angel Stadium | 10:07 PM |
It’s a pretty weak day pitching wise on this smallish eight game slate (DRAFT is not including the St. Louis at Chicago game thus removing two of the better pitchers on the slate). That said, Zack Greinke, Jameson Taillon, and Charlie Morton still have enough of a gap between the next group of pitchers to warrant being the top three picks in four and six man drafts. I’m fine waiting on pitcher in head-to-head and three man’s though. Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman top the projected values at hitter, followed closely by Mike Trout who I would never argue against as the top pick. Michael Conforto and George Springer round out the top five hitters.
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