MLB Daily Grind Down: Sunday, June 23rd
The RotoGrinders MLB Grind Down article will give you an in-depth analysis into the MLB schedule. This article will break down the numbers for every single game and give you analysis on which trends you can exploit. While matchups are a major factor in daily fantasy baseball, there are plenty of other factors to consider such as injuries, weather, and salaries.
The analysis should point you in the right direction, but it is still up to you to decipher the information and make your own selections. No sport has more variance than baseball. The best choice is not always the right choice but following the trends will win you money over time.
Note: Any Fantasy Point Average Listed Uses FanDuel Scoring. For more info on FanDuel’s MLB Scoring System, check out the scoring systems section of our FanDuel Review
- FPAB – Fantasy Points Per At Bat
- K% – Strikeout Percentage
- K/9 – Strikeouts Per 9 IP
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Minnesota vs. Cleveland
| 1:05 PM | Minnesota – ROAD | Cleveland – HOME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM BATTING | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | |
| SEASON | 0.244 | 0.700 | 20.50% | 0.55 | 0.253 | 0.742 | 22.50% | 0.65 | |
| VS. LEFT/RIGHT | 0.241 | 0.700 | 20.70% | 0.44 | 0.263 | 0.765 | 21.10% | 0.51 | |
| SP STATS | Hernandez – LHP | Carrasco – RHP | |||||||
| WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | ||
| SEASON | 1.68 | 5.85 | 4.77 | 4.51 | 1.80 | 8.40 | 4.20 | 2.67 | |
| LAST 14 DAYS | 1.62 | 5.56 | 4.05 | 4.55 | |||||
| BATTER SPLITS | Note: Batter Splits Below Open in Pop Up Window | ||||||||
MIN vs R  | MIN BvP | CLE vs L | CLE BvP | ||||||
What Vegas Says
- Over/Under Total Runs – 9 Runs
- Favored Team – Cleveland (-142)
Pitcher Grind Down
Home – Carlos Carrasco – Carrasco tossed a cute little 7 inning 4 K performance against Kansas City in his last start and was good enough to earn himself another chance in the rotation. I don’t think he’s worth considering today though, as the Twins are sporting one of the hotter offenses over the last 7 days. The Twins actually have the highest OPS of any team in that span.
Away – Pedro Hernandez – UPDATE Pelfrey has gone on the DL and Pedro Hernandez is now starting avoid him as a daily play
Batter Grind Down
Minnesota – The Twins bats are hot right now and Carrasco doesn’t really scare me away from anyone. Mauer and Morneau are the two big lefties in the Twins lineup that can touch up Carrasco but Clete Thomas and Oswaldo Arcia are two lesser-known outfielders seeing the ball extremely well for the Twins and can be had at a cheap price point. You also have to consider Brian Dozier who has 4 homers in the last week alone.
Cleveland – Jason Kipnis fell a HR short of the cycle on Saturday and continues to be one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now. Hernandez is not going to scare anyone, making Kipnis even more viable. Brantley, Bourn, Santana and Giambi are all also in consideration batting left handed. All-in-all, you should definitely be targeting Cleveland hitters.
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Boston vs. Detroit
| 1:05 PM | Boston – ROAD | Detroit – HOME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM BATTING | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | |
| SEASON | 0.268 | 0.784 | 21.40% | 0.71 | 0.281 | 0.775 | 16.70% | 0.64 | |
| VS. LEFT/RIGHT | 0.280 | 0.826 | 20.60% | 0.61 | 0.284 | 0.788 | 18.50% | 0.53 | |
| SP STATS | Doubront – LHP | Verlander – RHP | |||||||
| WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | ||
| SEASON | 1.49 | 4.38 | 9.00 | 9.85 | 1.35 | 3.72 | 10.37 | 12.80 | |
| LAST 14 DAYS | 1.04 | 2.89 | 7.42 | 9.07 | 1.32 | 3.79 | 9.00 | 11.33 | |
| BATTER SPLITS | Note: Batter Splits Below Open in Pop Up Window | ||||||||
| BOS vs R | BOS BvP | DET vs L | DET BvP | ||||||
What Vegas Says
- Over/Under Total Runs – 8.5 RUNS
- Favored Team – DET (-171)
Pitcher Grind Down
HOME – Justin Verlander – Verlander is averaging about 12 FPPG at home this season and is one of the heaviest favorites on Sunday. I think he’s a nice GPP play because the Red Sox have shown they can strikeout in bunches, but don’t be surprised if he gets touched up a bit. He faces a high-powered offense that can rip the fastball. For anything other than GPP’s, I’d say he’s not worth the price of admission.
AWAY – Felix Doubront – I love the stuff that Doubront brings but he works way too deep into counts and consistently struggles to get batters out of at bats. Veteran hitters like Miguel Cabrera will feast on that and I’d be surprised if Doubront makes it past the 5th inning. He’s an avoid today.
Batter Grind Down
Detroit – Detroit boasts one of the best left handed hitting offenses in baseball but I’m not sure this is the best place to find monster stat lines today. Like I said with Doubront, he struggles mostly with walks and getting himself into jams. Miggy is always in play and Matt Tuiasosopo is crushing left handed pitching this season so I’d say start with those two from this offense (check on Tuiasosopo though I’m not sure if he is back after being scratched the other night UPDATE Tuiasosopo was just placed on the DL).
Boston – Big Papi is hitting well and has 2 HR and 8 hits in 24 AB’s against Verlander but other than that I just don’t see anyone worth risking it on. The BoSox are an avoid for me today.
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Baltimore vs. Toronto
| 1:07 PM | Baltimore – ROAD | Toronto – HOME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM BATTING | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | |
| SEASON | 0.274 | 0.780 | 17.60% | 0.66 | 0.252 | 0.734 | 19.00% | 0.61 | |
| VS. LEFT/RIGHT | 0.275 | 0.782 | 17.20% | 0.52 | 0.254 | 0.757 | 19.70% | 0.52 | |
| SP STATS | Garcia – RHP | Johnson – RHP | |||||||
| WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | ||
| SEASON | 1.24 | 4.89 | 4.21 | 6.36 | 1.51 | 4.38 | 9.00 | 8.43 | |
| LAST 14 DAYS | 1.77 | 8.16 | 5.11 | 4.37 | 1.32 | 2.19 | 10.41 | 11.55 | |
| BATTER SPLITS | Note: Batter Splits Below Open in Pop Up Window | ||||||||
| BAL vs R | BAL BvP | TOR vs R | TOR BvP | ||||||
What Vegas Says
- Over/Under Total Runs – NA
- Favored Team – NA
No line on this game yet as I write this, sorry!
Pitcher Grind Down
HOME – Josh Johnson – So Josh Johnson was absolutely incredible in his last start against the Rockies. He went 7 innings and struck out 10 batters at home. It’s a tougher test against the Orioles though but he still should be in line for the win with Garcia on the hill. I don’t know if he can get past some of the hot bats in the O’s lineup though and don’t expect another gem out of him today.
AWAY – Freddy Garcia – Everything is right again in the world. Freddy is pitching as poorly as he should with just 3 FPPG in his last 2 starts. Avoid, avoid, avoid against a Toronto team that’s reeled off 10 straight W’s.
Batter Grind Down
Toronto – Blue Jays bats are all in play. Garcia has a 4.96 ERA against right handed bats and a 5.06 ERA against lefties. Arencibia has been hitting well of late and Adam Lind is white-hot during their win streak as well. Fire away on all Blue Jay hitters.
Baltimore – I just don’t see Johnson shutting down the O’s at all today. Chris Davis has been on a tear but I’d target the righties for Baltimore like Adam Jones and JJ Hardy today. Johnson has an OPS-against over 1 against right handed batters this season and an OPS-against just over .500 against lefties. Some odd reverse splits but guys like that may be big upside plays in a GPP.
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Colorado vs. Washington
| 1:35 PM | Colorado – ROAD | Washington – HOME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM BATTING | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | |
| SEASON | 0.273 | 0.779 | 18.80% | 0.67 | 0.232 | 0.664 | 21.70% | 0.49 | |
| VS. LEFT/RIGHT | 0.269 | 0.745 | 18.30% | 0.45 | 0.212 | 0.609 | 21.70% | 0.33 | |
| SP STATS | De La Rosa – LHP | Detwiler – LHP | |||||||
| WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | ||
| SEASON | 1.26 | 3.21 | 5.90 | 9.40 | 1.41 | 3.34 | 4.64 | 7.22 | |
| LAST 14 DAYS | 1.29 | 3.63 | 7.37 | 8.03 | 1.18 | 5.73 | 4.91 | 5.00 | |
| BATTER SPLITS | Note: Batter Splits Below Open in Pop Up Window | ||||||||
| COL vs L | COL BvP | WSN vs L | WSN BvP | ||||||
What Vegas Says
- Over/Under Total Runs – 7.5 RUNS
- Favored Team – WAS (-123)
Pitcher Grind Down
Home – Ross Detwiler – I guess pitching at home has Detwiler as a favorite today but I’m not buying it. He’s averaging just 5 FPPG over the past 14 days and while the Rockies offense is way down of late, I don’t know if I can buy into him as a viable option. He is favored though with a low line so he may be a nice piece in GPPs.
Away – Jorge De La Rosa – De La Rosa is one of my favorite plays today, facing a Nats offense that has been one of the league’s worst against left handed pitching all season. He can K a bunch and while he hasn’t produced in his past couple of starts he is in a great spot today. It doesn’t hurt that the line here is really low.
Batter Grind Down
Washington – You can take a look at Ryan Zimmerman (4-12 off Jorge) or Jayson Werth (2-9) against the lefty De La Rosa but Jorge has been solid against both right and left handed batters. The low line and the two injury-hampered offenses makes Nats bats an avoid today.
Colorado – LeMahieu went deep on Saturday and has some decent pop in his bat. Righties overall have an 890 OPS against Detwiler so it definitely brings Cuddyer and Fowler into play as well. Both of them hit left handed pitching well and have decent history against Ross, albeit in a small sample size.
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NY Mets vs. Philadelphia
| 1:35 PM | NY Mets – ROAD | Philadelphia – HOME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM BATTING | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | AVG | OPS | K% | FPAB | |
| SEASON | 0.226 | 0.661 | 23.00% | 0.51 | 0.250 | 0.703 | 19.80% | 0.54 | |
| VS. LEFT/RIGHT | 0.220 | 0.644 | 22.00% | 0.38 | 0.254 | 0.705 | 19.20% | 0.42 | |
| SP STATS | Harvey – RHP | Lannan – LHP | |||||||
| WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | WHIP | ERA | K/9 | FPPG | ||
| SEASON | 0.90 | 2.16 | 9.95 | 14.53 | 1.30 | 5.49 | 5.16 | 4.55 | |
| LAST 14 DAYS | 0.86 | 2.14 | 11.14 | 15.33 | 1.40 | 3.60 | 7.20 | 7.00 | |
| BATTER SPLITS | Note: Batter Splits Below Open in Pop Up Window | ||||||||
| NYM vs L | NYM BvP | PHI vs R | PHI BvP | ||||||
What Vegas Says
- Over/Under Total Runs – 7 RUNS
- Favored Team – NYM (-134)
Pitcher Grind Down
HOME – John Lannan – Tough to think Lannan can outduel Harvey. The only upside is how bad the Mets offense has been but I still can’t talk myself into it. Avoid
ROAD – Matt Harvey – The Dark Knight tops my list today against a Phils offense that just doesn’t do it for me. They rank towards the bottom of the league in almost all major batting splits and Harvey has been in beast mode including a 21 FP performance in his last outing at Atlanta. Target Harvey heavily today.
Batter Grind Down
Philadelphia – Not much to say. If you think Harvey blows up like he did against the Marlins awhile back then toss some Philly hitters in there. I don’t see it happening though and will be avoiding.
NY Mets – I really like David Wright today. He’s 10-32 off of Lannan lifetime and crushes left handed pitching in general. He seems to be heating up again as well, with hits in his last 5 games. I’d also look at Marlon Byrd who has been destroying left handed pitching as well this season.
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