FantasyDraft MLB Expert Survey: Sunday, August 18th
Want to know who Notorious is definitely paying up for in MLB DFS today? Wondering which value play STLCardinals84 is eyeing most? You’re in luck. Our daily fantasy baseball analysts will answer a handful of questions to help you make crucial lineup building decisions for tonight’s contests. NOTE: Surveys for early slates will be posted when there are four or more early games.
Sunday, August 18th
Who is your favorite hitter for cash games?
STLCardinals84: J.D. Martinez
MrTuttle: Hunter Renfroe
Naapstermaan: J.D. Martinez
a25smith: J.D. Martinez
Who is your favorite hitter for tournaments?
STLCardinals84: Michael Conforto
MrTuttle: Paul Goldschmidt
Naapstermaan: Paul Goldschmidt
a25smith: Christian Yelich
Who is your favorite pitcher for cash games?
STLCardinals84: Jack Flaherty
MrTuttle: Jack Flaherty
Naapstermaan: Jack Flaherty
a25smith: Jack Flaherty
Who is your favorite pitcher for tournaments?
STLCardinals84: Matt Boyd
MrTuttle: Zack Wheeler
Naapstermaan: Zack Wheeler
a25smith: Zack Wheeler
Who is your favorite cheap pitcher for cash games?
STLCardinals84: Trevor Richards
MrTuttle: Thomas Pannone
Naapstermaan: Thomas Pannone
a25smith: Thomas Pannone
Who is your favorite cheap pitcher for tournaments?
STLCardinals84: Jason Vargas
MrTuttle: Glenn Sparkman
Naapstermaan: Trevor Richards
a25smith: Trevor Richards
Who is your favorite salary saver on the board?
STLCardinals84: Trent Grisham
MrTuttle: Trent Grisham
Naapstermaan: Trent Grisham
a25smith: Trent Grisham
Who is your top contrarian play on the board?
STLCardinals84: Teoscar Hernandez
MrTuttle: Juan Soto
Naapstermaan: Manny Machado
a25smith: Hunter Renfroe
Which player are you most afraid of having little to no exposure to?
STLCardinals84: Ronald Acuna
MrTuttle: Cody Bellinger
Naapstermaan: Bryce Harper
a25smith: Ronald Acuna
Which high-priced pitcher will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
STLCardinals84: Mike Clevinger
MrTuttle: Tony Gonsolin
Naapstermaan: Alex Wood
a25smith: Joey Lucchesi
Which high-priced hitter will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
STLCardinals84: Aristedes Aquino
MrTuttle: Bryce Harper
Naapstermaan: Trey Mancini
a25smith: Aristedes Aquino
What’s your sneaky home run call of the day?
STLCardinals84: Randal Grichuk
MrTuttle: Eric Thames
Naapstermaan: Yasiel Puig
a25smith: Mike Moustakas
What’s your favorite overall team stack?
STLCardinals84: BOS
MrTuttle: BOS
Naapstermaan: BOS
a25smith: BOS
What’s your favorite sneaky team stack?
STLCardinals84: TOR
MrTuttle: MIL
Naapstermaan: STL
a25smith: BOS
Which useful trend or statistic stuck out most during your research?
STLCardinals84: Jack Flaherty has a 1.44 ERA since the beginning of July with 63 strikeouts over his last 50 innings.
MrTuttle: Trevor Richards is an intriguing target as the expected bulk starter against the Tigers but he’s likely to have a short leash. Richards topped out at 49 pitches in three AAA starts and hasn’t thrown more than 18 pitches in a Major League game since late July. 70 pitches seems like a realistic projection for Richards which keeps him in play in all formats.
Naapstermaan: This season Alex Wood has allowed a 50% hard contact rate to righties (just 8.3% soft) along with just a 16.4% K rate to righties. Goldschmidt and the STL righties are in a nice spot today in a hitter’s park with 90+ degree heat.
a25smith: We should expect lots of balls in play from the Red Sox, Mets and Brewers today as Ty Blach (12.3 K%), Glenn Sparkman (13.4 K%), and Erick Fedde (13.0 K%) have shown no strikeout ability. Ty Blach has only thrown 10 major league innings this season, but back in 2017 and 2018 he posted strikeout rates of just 10.6% and 14.7%.
What is your hot take of the day?
STLCardinals84: Teoscar Hernandez hits for the cycle.
MrTuttle: Juan Soto goes yard twice.
Naapstermaan: Machado and Renfroe hit back-to-back HR’s twice today.
a25smith: SD finally gets to Jason Vargas, who has walked at least three batters in four of his last five starts, and puts up 8+ runs.
Who is your top overall pitcher (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?
STLCardinals84: Jack Flaherty – There are a lot of interesting options today, from the upside of Boyd to the safety of Wheeler to the red-hot Flaherty. I’ll take the St. Louis ace as my favorite arm today. He has been absolutely lights out over the last month and a half, and his 29% strikeout rate gives him as much upside as any other arm on the slate. The Reds have some dangerous bats, but this is still a lineup that can be beaten by a good arm. Flaherty is a fine option in all formats today.
MrTuttle: Thomas Pannone – I’m not in love with Sunday’s top tier pitching options which has me eyeing up Pannone as the slate’s top point-per-dollar option. Pannone has been solid of late and draws the top strikeout matchup of the slate with Seattle’s projected lineup combining for a 24.6% strikeout rate against left-handed pitching over the last two seasons.
Naapstermaan: Jack Flaherty – Flaherty has been absolutely dominant over his last 7 starts with just four total earned runs and 56 strikeouts. He’s had some tough matchups in that stretch including HOU, LAD, and CHC, so I’m not too worried about CIN whose lineup today is a career 7 for 31 with one extra-base hit off Flaherty. I expect the Cardinals to put up some runs off Wood setting Flaherty up nicely for a strong outing and a win.
a25smith: Jack Flaherty – He’ been on a roll posting at least seven strikeouts over each of his last six starts, including some tougher matchups against the LAD, HOU and CHC. The Reds’ lineup is banged up right now and they check in with the second-lowest implied Vegas total on the day at 4.13 runs, just ahead of the awful Detroit Tigers. In particular, Votto and Winker are banged up so if CIN rolls out more RHB then it’s a nice spot for Flaherty who has held RHB to just a .259 wOBA along with a 33.9% strikeout rate.
Who is your top overall hitter (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?
STLCardinals84: J.D. Martinez – An underwhelming lefty is starting for the Orioles today in Ty Blach, and give me Martinez all day, every day against a bad lefty plus the Baltimore bullpen. Martinez is hitting .394 against LHP this year with ridiculous advanced metrics, including a .527 wOBA, .459 ISO, and 1.334 OPS. Those numbers are off the charts. He needs to be the centerpiece of any cash game build this afternoon.
MrTuttle: Hunter Renfroe – Yes, Boston is the top team to target on Sunday which makes Mookie and J.D. two of the top overall options on the slate. It’s Hunter Renfroe, however, whose price tag I like the most. Renfroe draws an excellent power matchup against Jason Vargas and gets a huge park shift in his favor with this game being played in Philadelphia.
Naapstermaan: J.D. Martinez – I love all the BOS righties today but I have to go with Martinez as my top hitter as he has mashed lefties over his career and especially this year hitting .394 with a .459 ISO. Ty Blach owns a 13.94 ERA over 10.1 innings this year and has a career K% to righties of just 13.1%. I expect Blach to not last very long which is still fine for Martinez and the Boston stack as the Orioles bullpen is the worst in MLB right now with a 6.08 ERA and .280 AVG allowed.
a25smith: J. D. Martinez – I’ll give the slightest of edges to J. D. Martinez as he gets to face the awful Orioles staff, but I don’t think you can go wrong with Martinez or Yelich today as both are in elite spots. Martinez draws a bad LHP in Ty Blach, who as noted above can’t strike anyone out, and Martinez has just crushed LHP in his career. Yelich gets Erick Fedde who is allowing a .387 wOBA to LHB this season to go with a 12.3% strikeout rate to LHB. The Orioles and Nationals also feature the two worst bullpens in MLB based on xFIP.
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