FantasyDraft MLB Expert Survey: Wednesday, August 28th

by RotoGrinders Last Updated 2019-08-29 00:14:45

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.

Wednesday, August 28th

Who is your favorite hitter for cash games?

meansy53: Mookie Betts
Pepsi7: Mookie Betts
stevietpfl: Rafael Devers
BigT44: Rafael Devers

Who is your favorite hitter for tournaments?

meansy53: Nelson Cruz
Pepsi7: Nelson Cruz
stevietpfl: Nelson Cruz
BigT44: Charlie Blackmon

Who is your favorite pitcher for cash games?

meansy53: Gerrit Cole
Pepsi7: Gerrit Cole
stevietpfl: Gerrit Cole
BigT44: Gerrit Cole

Who is your favorite salary saver on the board?

meansy53: Seth Brown
Pepsi7: Seth Brown
stevietpfl: Seth Brown
BigT44: Seth Brown

Who is your top contrarian play on the board?

meansy53: Kyle Schwarber
Pepsi7: Yasiel Puig
stevietpfl: Franmil Reyes
BigT44: Yoan Moncada

Which player are you most afraid of having little to no exposure to?

meansy53: Max Scherzer
Pepsi7: Anthony Rendon
stevietpfl: Anthony Rendon
BigT44: Cody Bellinger

Which high-priced pitcher will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?

meansy53: Max Scherzer
Pepsi7: Max Scherzer
stevietpfl: Max Scherzer
BigT44: Max Scherzer

Which high-priced hitter will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?

meansy53: Bo Bichette
Pepsi7: Howie Kendrick
stevietpfl: Bo Bichette
BigT44: Max Muncy

What’s your sneaky home run call of the day?

meansy53: Mitch Garver
Pepsi7: Yasiel Puig
stevietpfl: Franmil Reyes
BigT44: Abraham Toro

What’s your favorite overall team stack?

meansy53: BOS
Pepsi7: BOS
stevietpfl: BOS
BigT44: BOS

What’s your favorite sneaky team stack?

meansy53: CLE
Pepsi7: WSH
stevietpfl: MIN
BigT44: HOU

Which useful trend or statistic stuck out most during your research?

meansy53: In 500 plate appearances at AAA this season, Seth Brown had a .337 ISO and 47.7% FB%. He hit 28 of his 37 home runs against RHP, posting a 1.017 OPS in the split.

Pepsi7: Anthony DeScalfani absolutely owns right-handed hitters (allowing a .266 wOBA, while producing a 26.2% strikeout rate and a 3.4% walk rate) and the Miami Marlins are not only awful, they are also predominately right-handed.

stevietpfl: Since the start of 2018, Nelson Cruz has a .368 ISO with a .415 wOBA and a 341.1 average air distance against left-handed pitching.

BigT44: Houston has been streaky all year and has all the talent in the world. With Coors and other good spots on the slate, they will go largely ignored and they are way too talented for that

What is your hot take of the day?

meansy53: Seth Brown hits a grand slam in the first inning off of Jake Junis for his first Major League home run.

Pepsi7: Yasiel Puig hits his 25th homer and steals his 17th base.

stevietpfl: Nelson Cruz has yet another 3 home run game.

BigT44: Houston scores 13 behind 7 bombs

Who is your top overall pitcher (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?

meansy53: Anthony DeSclafani – It would be easy to put the 37.3% K% of Gerrit Cole here, but DeSclafani sticks out as a tremendous option in the mid-tier. He gets a great park shift in his favor going in to Miami to face a terrible, right-handed heavy Marlins lineup. Here are the numbers DeSclafani has allowed this season to righties (265 plate appearances): .272 wOBA, .147 ISO, 26% K%, 3.4% BB%, 47.8% GB%, 22.6% LD%, 29.6% FB%, and 36% Hard%. The strikeout upside is high, and the risk of the Marlins scoring a bunch of runs is low. As a result, he is my favorite tournament pitcher on the slate considering what he lets you do with your bats.

Pepsi7: Anthony DeScalfani – Obviously Gerrit Cole is by far the most talented pitcher on the slate, and he should lead all pitchers in raw points, but when we consider the price tag and matchup for Anthony DeScalfani, he instantly becomes my top point per dollar play on the entire slate. DeScalfani has dominated right-handed hitters all season long, allowing a .266 wOBA, while producing a 26.2% strikeout rate and a 3.4% walk rate. The Miami Marlins are downright awful versus right-handed pitching (sitting 29th in wOBA and dead last in ISO, while striking out the sixth-most in Major League Baseball), and they are mostly right-handed, which is the perfect scenario for the discounted Reds right-hander this evening.

stevietpfl: Anthony DeSclafani – For the third straight day, I’m picking on Miami at home. I really like Gerrit Cole, but I also like this mid-tier a lot. DeSclafani has a .272 wOBA with a .147 ISO and a 26% strikeout rate against right-handed hitters. His fastball, sinker, slider combo is so much better against righties, and he continues to struggle with a strikeout pitch against left-handed hitters. The good thing for him tonight, he’s likely only going to face two to three left-handed hitters. If we get the same kind of game from DeSclafani as Castillo, the price will play a much larger role.

BigT44: Verlander pitched a gem last night and I expect Cole to follow the lead tonight. He has some of the highest K upside in all baseball and also Tampa isn’t the type of team that scares me even remotely. He is expensive so you can definitely go a cheaper direction like Desco Stu going into that gem of a matchup in Miami against a team that strikes out a ton and best field in baseball for pitchers. Cole is definitely my favorite on the slate but not sure he is a lock.

Who is your top overall hitter (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?

meansy53: Nelson Cruz – Nellie is priced in the same range as the chalky Boston outfielders (Betts and JD), but ownership should be way lower on him. Call it small sample size if you want (105 plate appearances), but Cruz has mashed LHP this season to the tune of a .455 wOBA and .489 ISO. Is it fluky if your hard-hit rate in those plate appearances is 63.5%? I’d have to say no. Even last season, he was at a .400 wOBA and .294 ISO in 170 plate appearances against LHP. Maybe he is on that TB12 Method? Who knows. What I do know is that Ross Detwiler stands little chance against him tonight.

Pepsi7: Mookie Betts – We have a loaded offensive slate with many bats to consider as the top one, but I will go with Mookie Betts leading off on the road in the best hitting environment in Major League Baseball. Colorado Rockies starter Peter Lambert is as hittable as they come and the ball park will not do him any favors. Not ot mention, the Rox bullpen should also be very kind to Betts and the Red Sox hitters. Betts can do it all offensively and he he should get five at-bats in this plus matchup, and I expect him to do plenty of damage in those at-bats.

stevietpfl: Nelson Cruz – Cruz continues to crush left-handed pitching, and he draws an amazing matchup against a bad lefty tonight. Detwiler has a .414 wOBA with a .291 ISO and a 17.6% strikeout rate against right-handed hitters this season. Nelson Cruz has a 63.5% hard-hit rate with a .489 ISO and a .627 CXwOBA against left-handed pitching. I love his chance for a home run in this spot, and I hope he’s a little overlooked because of Boston in Coors.

BigT44: Devers has been one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball and now falls into a tasty approaching 8 total at Coors Field. Boston has let us down a ton this year but man it is going to be tough for them to tail in this park and matchup. On top of an already great spot Colorado has basically folded the season and could get beat up on a bunch the rest of the year.

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