MLB Expert Picks Preview: Tuesday, April 21st
Every day when the MLB schedule features four or more games, you can find expert picks for large-field tournament games on FanDuel below. These selections won’t be safe, but will be intended to provide the upside and differentiation needed to build a lineup that can take first place in a large contest. You can expect these picks and analysis to be posted every day by 2 PM Eastern, or 10 AM for early slates.
Tuesday, April 21
Remember, these are tournament-focused picks. Tons of players will be on the bats at Coors Field this evening after the Padres put up 14 runs a night ago. Guys like Derek Norris and Wil Myers will be extremely popular tonight. You can really take a stand in a GPP if you choose to fade them and hope for a reasonably low-scoring game. It’s a risk — and I definitely wouldn’t do it for cash games — but I’ll highlight my favorite non-Coors bats here.
STARTING PITCHER
Chris Archer – $9,000 – I’m all about the upside of Carlos Carrasco, but I just can’t shake the feeling that the line drive he took in his last start might bother him this evening. Carrasco is also likely to be very highly owned. Therefore, I’ll settle on Archer as a pivot. He was absolutely phenomenal in his last outing, and at least he gets to face the tough Red Sox offense at home for this start. It’s not the best matchup, but this is a potential high-reward play for your tournament lineups tonight.
Collin McHugh – $8,900 – Collin McHugh has been slipping through my grasp for the better part of the last 12 months. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more for regression. It just hasn’t happened. It’s finally time for me to admit that the guy may just be pretty darn good. While most will stay away from him tonight at the high price tag against a team that is hitting a bunch of home runs right now, McHugh is an interesting contrarian option here. Safeco Field is a pitcher’s park, and McHugh offers plenty of strikeout upside.
Michael Fiers – $8,000 – On a per dollar basis, Fiers is probably my favorite pitching option tonight. There are very few cheap guys that I would be willing to take a chance on, so I think you have to spend up at pitcher. Fiers has struggled through his first few outings, but his “stuff” looked pretty good his last time out. The Brewers desperately need a quality outing at home in this one, and Fiers should be able to find some success against a below average Cincinnati lineup.
CATCHER
Buster Posey – $4,000 – Again, the masses will be on Derek Norris. He’s a great play for cash games. I’ll pivot to Posey as my top GPP option, as the buzz around him is quiet right now and this seems like the right time for him to bust out. He’s always crushed LHP as he owns a .330 average and .409 wOBA against them for his career. Don’t sleep on him tonight against a mid-tier lefty in Brett Anderson.
Yasmani Grandal – $2,900 – On the other side of that game, we also have a potential high-upside catcher in Yasmani Grandal who gets a matchup upgrade against the struggling Tim Lincecum. The Giants righty no longer sports an MLB-caliber starting pitcher arsenal, and it shows in his results. The Dodgers are a solid contrarian stack tonight, so feel free to fire up any of their prime bats today.
FIRST BASE
Miguel Cabrera – $4,900 – Nathan Eovaldi is an improving young pitcher, but he has a tall task against the meat of the Tigers lineup tonight. Cabrera obviously gives you multi-HR upside any time he takes the field, and I’ll gladly take my chances with that in a GPP. If you fade the expensive Coors bats, you can afford Cabrera, and he could be the ticket to GPP gold this evening.
Lucas Duda – $4,000 – I do expect some improvement from Trevor Cahill, and it could come against a depleted Mets squad this evening. However, I can see this going the other way, too. Cahill has been bad, and he allowed a mediocre .402 wOBA to left-handed bats last year. Both Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy should be in the middle of the order with d’Arnaud and Wright on the shelf, so look to them as a solid mini-stack of Mets in tournaments today.
SECOND BASE
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