MLB Grind Down: Friday, April 25th
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
Kansas City at Baltimore
| Kansas City | Baltimore |
| Yordano Ventura | Vegas Moneyline | Ubaldo Jimenez | Vegas Over/Under |
| RIGHT | KCR (-108) | RIGHT | 8.5 |
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
| SP vs. Left | 0.187 | 0.607 | 0.274 | 20.2% | SP vs. Left | 0.226 | 0.668 | 0.300 | 27.8% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.239 | 0.691 | 0.305 | 26.0% | SP vs. Right | 0.273 | 0.753 | 0.336 | 20.0% |
| Batter Splits | KCR BvP  | KCR vs R | Batter Splits | BAL BvP | BAL vs R |
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window |
What’s up Grinders! We have a huge night in the industry. DraftKings is hosting their $400,000 Sweet Spot, FanDuel is hosting their $100,000 Monster as well as a $25 DFBC Qualifier, and DraftStreet is hosting their $100,000 Pick ‘Em Big Score. With all of these great tournaments going on, let’s jump right into the Grind Down.
Pitcher Grind Down
- Yordano Ventura – Ventura now has 6 major league starts under his belt. In those 6 starts, he has an ERA just over 3.00 and has struck out 30 batters in 32 innings pitched. He is a high strikeout pitcher that provides plenty of upside as a GPP play. He draws a tough matchup tonight against the Orioles whose offense has come alive over the last few games. That said, he could make a nice tournament play tonight. Rating = 5
- Ubaldo Jimenez – This is not the Ubaldo that the Orioles were hoping to get. So far this season Ubaldo has looked eerily similar to the Ubaldo of 2012. Through 4 starts, he has a 6.75 ERA with a 1.89 WHIP. He’s only managed to pitch 21 innings combined in those 4 starts. Tonight he faces a Royals offense that has struck out fewer times than any other team in baseball. He has limited upside and more downside than upside. Rating = 4
Batter Grind Down
Kansas City
- Salvador Perez – Ubaldo is a reverse splits that has given up a much higher wOBA and OPS to RH batters over the last two years. This season Ubaldo is giving up a 1.16 OPS to RH batters. Perez is a cheap option at Catcher that makes a terrific play in both cash games and GPP’s.
Baltimore
- Chris Davis – Ventura is holding opponents to a .190 batting average and a .589 OPS this season, but he hasn’t faced a lineup as powerful as the Orioles yet. Davis is finally starting to find his swing and even though he only has 1 HR on the season, he has 4 hits in his last 2 games.
LA Angels at NY Yankees
| LA Angels | NY Yankees |
| C.J. Wilson | Vegas Moneyline | Hiroki Kuroda | Vegas Over/Under |
| LEFT | NYY (-117) | RIGHT | 8.5 |
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
| SP vs. Left | 0.173 | 0.501 | 0.232 | 29.7% | SP vs. Left | 0.257 | 0.735 | 0.325 | 16.6% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.268 | 0.735 | 0.333 | 18.8% | SP vs. Right | 0.240 | 0.604 | 0.269 | 19.9% |
| Batter Splits | LAA BvP | LAA vs R | Batter Splits | NYY BvP | NYY vs L |
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window |
Pitcher Grind Down
- C.J. Wilson – Through 4 starts this season, Wilson has a 4.21 ERA with a 1.35 WHIP. He has pitched well against the two bad offenses that he has faced and he struggled with the Tigers and Mariners. Tonight he takes on the red hot Yankees’ offense in Yankee Stadium. This years’s Yankee lineup is much different in that they have quite a few batters that hit LH pitching well. Wilson is over-priced for this matchup. Rating = 5
- Hiroki Kuroda – Kuorda has a 4.07 ERA on the season, but only has a WHIP of 1.24. Last season Kuroda posted a 2.35 ERA at Yankee Stadium with a K/9 of 7.1. While I would typically target Kuroda at home, I don’t love the matchup tonight against the Angels who have scored the 4th most runs of any team this season. There are better options at pitcher tonight with more upside. Rating = 5
Batter Grind Down
LA Angels
- Albert Pujols – Even though Kuroda is good against RH batters, Pujols is on fire right now. Over the last week he is batting .333 with a 1.30 OPS. Pujols is one of those streaky batters that you want to target when they are hot. Keep using him tonight in the hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium.
NY Yankees
- Carlos Beltran – C.J. Wilson is dominant against LH batters (.232 wOBA last season), but has been pretty average against RH batters (.333 wOBA last season). Beltran has been a perfect fit in this Yankees lineup and has 7 hits over his last 4 games.
San Diego at Washington
| San Diego | Washington |
| Robbie Erlin | Vegas Moneyline | Stephen Strasburg | Vegas Over/Under |
| LEFT | WAS (-210) | RIGHT | 6.5 |
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
| SP vs. Left | 0.272 | 0.703 | 0.313 | 21.6% | SP vs. Left | 0.212 | 0.605 | 0.281 | 23.2% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.232 | 0.636 | 0.281 | 18.3% | SP vs. Right | 0.219 | 0.581 | 0.273 | 30.9% |
| Batter Splits | SDP BvP | SDP vs R | Batter Splits | WSN BvP | WSN vs L |
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window |
Pitcher Grind Down
- Robbie Erlin – Erlin has actually pitched much better than his ERA would suggest. While his ERA is over 4.00 this season, he has a WHIP under 1.00. While that’s good for Erlin going forward, he is going to have an extremely tough time picking up a win with Strasburg on the mount opposite him. Erlin could be worth a look as a deep tournament play, but should be avoided in cash games. Rating = 4
- Stephen Strasburg – Strasburg is the top ace on the mound tonight and is probably the safest cash game play that you are going to find. What have we learned about Strasburg in his last two seasons? To target him at home and to avoid him when he is on the road. Last season he posted a 1.73 ERA at home with a K/9 of 9.8. He should be able to mow through this Padres lineup and pick up 10+ K’s along the way. Rating = 10
Batter Grind Down
San Diego
- Strasburg has been equally effective against LH batters as he has RH batters so the fact that the Padres have a lineup littered with LH batters carries little weight here. If I were to enter 20 teams into a tournament tonight, maybe 1 of them would have Padres tonight.
Washington
- Jayson Werth – Over the last 3 seasons, Werth has an OPS over .900 against LH pitching. He is off to a hot start against LH pitching this season batting .357 with 2 XBH’s. He has nice power against LH pitching and he makes a great tournament play.
Boston at Toronto
| Boston | Toronto |
| Jake Peavy | Vegas Moneyline | Mark Buehrle | Vegas Over/Under |
| RIGHT | TOR (-130) | LEFT | 8.0 |
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
| SP vs. Left | 0.238 | 0.736 | 0.322 | 21.9% | SP vs. Left | 0.247 | 0.670 | 0.313 | 14.4% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.237 | 0.675 | 0.300 | 19.8% | SP vs. Right | 0.276 | 0.732 | 0.324 | 16.6% |
| Batter Splits | BOS BvP | BOS vs L | Batter Splits | TOR BvP | TOR vs R |
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window |
Pitcher Grind Down
- Jake Peavy – Last season Peavy really struggled on the road. In 14 starts away from Fenway he posted a 5.27 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. Tonight he faces a red hot Blue Jays lineup in the very hitter-friendly Rogers Centre that surrendered the 5th most runs and 5th most HR’s last season. If you saw any of the Orioles/Blue Jays series over the last few nights, you know that runs can be put up quickly in this ballpark. I’ll be avoiding Peavy tonight. Rating = 4
- Mark Buehrle – Buehrle is off to a terrific start this season. In 4 starts, he has a 0.64 ERA with a 0.93 WHIP. Over his career, Buehrle has posted an ERA close to 4.00 and I expect him to regress back to that here shortly. That could very well start tonight against a very talented Red Sox lineup that now has Shane Victorino back. Avoid both pitchers in this game. Rating = 4
Batter Grind Down
Boston
- Dustin Pedroia – Buehrle gave up a .324 wOBA to RH batters last season and Pedroia hits LH pitching extremely well. Last season he hit for a .354 batting average and a .930 OPS against lefties. Pedroia should be able to find some gaps tonight in the Rogers Centre.
Toronto
- Melky Cabrera – Cabrera is riding a 7 game hitting streak in which he has amassed 14 hits. Melky has been great against both LH and RH pitching and should continue to be targeted in cash games.
Miami at NY Mets
| Miami | NY Mets |
| Henderson Alvarez | Vegas Moneyline | Zack Wheeler | Vegas Over/Under |
| RIGHT | NYM (-110) | RIGHT | 7.0 |
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
| SP vs. Left | 0.262 | 0.703 | 0.318 | 11.7% | SP vs. Left | 0.281 | 0.819 | 0.365 | 18.5% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.231 | 0.566 | 0.263 | 15.9% | SP vs. Right | 0.233 | 0.622 | 0.285 | 20.7% |
| Batter Splits | MIA BvP | MIA vs R | Batter Splits | NYM BvP | NYM vs R |
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window |
Pitcher Grind Down
- Henderson Alvarez – Alvarez is a low strikeout pitcher that faces a Mets team that often struggles to score runs at home. That said, Alvarez struggles with batters from the left side of the plate and this Mets lineup will have plenty of LH batters in it. Alvarez has limited upside and should probably be avoided in all leagues. Rating = 5
- Zack Wheeler – Through 4 starts this season, Wheeler has a 4.63 ERA with a 1.52 WHIP. He has struck out 21 batters in 23 innings of work. At this point, he is giving up way too many hits and walking too many batters to be trusted in cash games, but he does have the potential to strike out 10+ batters and the Marlins offense hasn’t been great on the road. I’ll be using him in a few of my tournament lineups. Rating = 6
Batter Grind Down
Miami
- Christian Yelich – Wheeler’s biggest weakness is his command and pitching against LH batters. Yelich has a great eye on the plate and has been good against RH pitching. He’s a nice punt in the OF tonight.
NY Mets
- Lucas Duda – Alvarez struggles with LH batters and Duda has great power against RH pitching. Duda already has 4 HR’s off of RH pitching this season and 3 of those HR’s came at home. He makes a nice GPP play tonight.
MLB Grind Down Page 1 – Page 2
