MLB Daily Plays May 14
STARTING PITCHERS
Johnny Cueto – Cueto has been the best pitcher in baseball so far this season posting a 1.43 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and 68 Ks in 63 IP. Cueto has been dominant in all 8 starts and that trend should continue tonight VS the Padres. San Diego is batting an NL worst .220 VS RHP and has the 5th most strikeouts. Cueto has a juicy match-up and is by far the best pitcher on the board.
Masahiro Tanaka – Tanaka has made quite a debut and has exceeded expectations to this point. Tanaka is a strikeout machine with 58 Ks in 48 IP and will face the K Happy Mets tonight. The New York Mets are only batting .223 VS RHP and are striking out 22% of the time. Cueto may be the safer pick, but Tanaka has as much upside as any pitcher in baseball.
Garrett Richards – Richards has been outstanding this season (2.80 ERA, 1.11 WHIP with 46 Ks in 45 IP) and the most surprising thing may be his BAA. RHB are only hitting .222 off of him, while LHB are hitting a measly .168. Richards is hard to square up because he throws in mid to upper 90s, with movement. He may be best suited for a GPP, but I love his value today.
Others I like (Early) – Madison Bumgarner and Julio Teheran
Others I like (Late) – Michael Wacha, Wily Peralta and Nick Tepesch
CATCHER
Buster Posey – Normally I do not recommend hitters versus ace pitchers. However Posey is not only a stud, but is 6/9 off of Teheran with 2 homers. While the sample size is small, Posey has owned Teharan. At the very least he certainly makes a sneaky GPP play.
Miguel Montero – Montero is swinging a hot bat with hits in 8/10 games, including 3 multi-hit games. Fister did not look good in his first start and Montero is destroying RHP this season hitting with a .320 BA and a .441 OBP.
Others I like (Early) – John Jaso and Tyler Flowers
Others I like (Late) – A.J. Pierzynski and Josmil Pinto*
FIRST BASE
Jose Abreu – Abreu is another rookie who has completely exceeded all expectations so far this season with 44 hits in 41 games, including 11 doubles and 14 bombs. Milone has not looked good this season with a 4.54 ERA and I think Abreu takes him deep today.
Brandon Moss – Moss absolutely destroys RHP and faces RHP Andre Rienzo today. Rienzo struggles VS LHB giving up a .362 OBP and a .872 OPS. Moss has multi homer upside and makes a great value play today.
Others I like (Early) – Eric Hosmer and James Loney
Others I like (Late) – Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz and Mike Adams*
SECOND BASE
Ben Zobrist – I am surprised I got this far without picking on Brandon Maurer. LHB are hitting .412 off of Maurer with a .432 OBP. Zobrist should be in for a big game today.
Brian Dozier – Dozier has hit LHP very well in his career. In 2013 Dozier hit .328 with a .408 OBP off of LHP. Dozier is quietly having a nice season so far with 9 home runs and 12 stolen bases. He has a great match-up tonight VS Felix Doubront and his 5.09 ERA.
Others I like (Early) – Gordon Beckham and Danny Espinosa
Others I like (Late) – Dee Gordon, Dustin Pedroia, Skip Schumaker and Jeff Baker
THIRD BASE
Evan Longoria – Maurer is likely the worst pitcher going tonight. I mentioned earlier how LHB are destroying him, well RHB are doing just fine as well, with a .293 BA and a .333 OBP. You can play Longoria with confidence.
Juan Francisco – Francisco continues to crush RHP this season with a .364 BA, .470 OBP, 1.197 OPS and 5 homers in 55 at-bats. Kluber is having a great season, but still struggles with LHB, allowing a .297 BA and a .333 OBP.
Casey McGehee – RHB have been Maholm’s achiles heel throughout his career. This season RHB are hitting .290 off of him with a .367 OBP. McGehee has crushed LHP this season and is 8/25 (.320 BA, .433 OBP) with a double, triple and homer off of Maholm in his career.
Others I like (Early) – Josh Donaldson and Nolan Arenado
Others I like (Late) – Trevor Plouffe
SHORTSTOP
Troy Tulowitzki – Tulo continues to crush the baseball despite playing on the road. He is hitting .444 VS LHP with a .535 OBP. If you can afford him, he likely won’t disappoint.
Jose Reyes – Reyes is swinging a hot bat with hits in 8/10 games. During that stretch he has 4 doubles, a triple, 2 homers and 4 stolen bases. Reyes can contribute in so many ways and should continue to stay hot tonight.
Others I like (Early) – Jed Lowrie and Ian Desmond
Others I like (Late) – Asdrubal Cabrera, Xander Bogaerts and Jhonny Peralta
OUTFIELDERS
Giancarlo Stanton – Stanton has absolutely destroyed LHP throughout his career. In his career Stanton is 5/9 (.556 BA, .714 OBP, 1.603 OPS) off of Maholm with 3 doubles.
Carlos Gomez – Gomez has a great combination of power and speed and has hammered LHP throughout his career. Gomez is 9/18 (.500 BA, .571 OBP) off of Liriano with a double, triple and 2 homeruns.
Justin Upton – Many will not be on Upton due to his match-up VS Bumgarner today. Upton is hitting .333 VS LHP this season with a .500 OBP. In his career Upton is 9/23 (.391BA .481 OBP, 1.047 OPS) with a double and a homer off of Bumgarner. I think Upton makes a great GPP play.
Desmond Jennings, Wil Myers & Matt Joyce – Brandon Maurer has a 6.20 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP so far this season. He is getting smashed by everyone and I think a Rays mini-stack makes a lot of sense today.
Shane Victorino – Victorino has really heated up lately with hits in 7/10 games including 4 multi-hit games. Victorino faces Kevin Correia tonight who has a 6.34 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP so far this season. In his career Victorino is 8/17 (.471 BA .526 OBP) off of Correia with a double and a homerun.
Gerardo Parra – Parra is hot right now with hits in 9/10 games, including 4 multi-hit games. He has crushed RHP this season (.298 BA, .326 OBP) and makes a great value play today.
Others I like (Early) – Yoenis Cespedes, Jayson Werth, David DeJesus, Denard Span and Josh Reddick
Others I like (Late) – Yasiel Puig, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Holliday, Melky Cabrera and Carl Crawford