MLB Grind Down: Friday, May 2nd - Page 2
Milwaukee at Cincinnati
| Milwaukee | Cincinnati | ||||||||
| Wily Peralta | Vegas Moneyline | Mike Leake | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | CIN (-122) | RIGHT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.255 | 0.717 | 0.324 | 17.0% | SP vs. Left | 0.264 | 0.730 | 0.324 | 13.7% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.266 | 0.688 | 0.317 | 16.0% | SP vs. Right | 0.253 | 0.673 | 0.304 | 16.5% |
| Batter Splits | MIL BvP  | MIL vs R | Batter Splits | CIN BvP | CIN vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Wily Peralta – Peralta has a 2.56 ERA on the season and has been a very effective pitcher since right before the All-Star Break last season. He keeps his WHIP down and has a decent K/9 of 7.2. He draws a tough matchup against the Reds in Great American Ballpark tonight though which really hurts his fantasy appeal. The Reds hit RH pitching well and Great American is a very hitter-friendly ballpark. Rating = 5
Mike Leake – Leake has given up at least 3 earned runs in each of his last 3 starts, but still owns a 3.82 ERA on the season. I’m not sure what it is, but I just have a hard time targeting Leake in cash games. He’s only struck out 20 batters in 35 innings pitched this season which also hurts his value as a GPP play. I think he’s just an average starting pitching option tonight. Rating = 5
Batter Grind Down
Milwaukee
Scooter Gennett – Scooter is batting .325 against RH pitching this season and is cheap across the industry. He makes a nice punt play at 2B tonight against Leake who gave up a .324 wOBA to LH batters last season.
Additional Plays: Aramis Ramirez
Cincinnati
Joey Votto – Once again, I like the LH bats from the Reds against the RH pitcher from the Brewers. Peralta gave up a .324 wOBA to LH batters last season and Votto has been on fire at home this season. He’s batting .400 at Great American with 9 of his 16 hits going for extra bases.
Additional Plays: Jay Bruce
LA Dodgers at Miami
| LA Dodgers | Miami | ||||||||
| Josh Beckett | Vegas Moneyline | Tom Koehler | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | LAD (-135) | RIGHT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.274 | 0.773 | 0.353 | 21.3% | SP vs. Left | 0.224 | 0.664 | 0.301 | 13.7% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.231 | 0.714 | 0.320 | 23.3% | SP vs. Right | 0.277 | 0.775 | 0.350 | 17.0% |
| Batter Splits | LAD BvP | LAD vs R | Batter Splits | MIA BvP | MIA vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Josh Beckett – Don’t look now, but Beckett has been pitching very well for the Dodgers. He is boasting a 2.45 ERA with 22 K’s in 22 innings of work. The only issue is that he is facing a Marlins offense that just tore the cover off of the baseball in the series against the Braves. This Marlins offense has been terrific at home this season and even though the total is only set at 7.5 runs, I won’t be using Beckett as a main cash game play. Rating = 5
Tom Koehler – Koehler is one of those pitchers that nobody ever seems to target in daily fantasy baseball. He has a decent ERA of 2.97, but he doesn’t strike out a ton of batters. I don’t like his matchup against the deadly trio of Han-Ram, A-Gon, and Puig. Rating = 3
Batter Grind Down
L.A. Dodgers
Yasiel Puig – Puig is really seeing the ball well right now. He has 12 hits in his last 6 games and has drawn 3 walks during that stretch as well. It’s tough to hit HR’s in Marlins Park, but Puig certainly has the power to do it.
Additional Plays: Adrian Gonzalez
Miami
Giancarlo Stanton – I like Stanton in both GPP’s and cash games tonight. Stanton is batting .323 at home this season with 11 of his 20 hits going for extra bases including 5 HR’s. He is facing Beckett who gave up a .320 wOBA to RH batters last season.
Additional Plays: Christian Yelich
Oakland at Boston
| Oakland | Boston | ||||||||
| Dan Straily | Vegas Moneyline | Clay Buchholz | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | BOS (-125) | RIGHT | 9.0 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.244 | 0.731 | 0.326 | 18.3% | SP vs. Left | 0.211 | 0.583 | 0.267 | 22.7% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.224 | 0.613 | 0.284 | 22.1% | SP vs. Right | 0.258 | 0.660 | 0.295 | 19.7% |
| Batter Splits | OAK BvP | OAK vs R | Batter Splits | BOS BvP | BOS vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Dan Straily – Straily is off to a rocky start this season. He has a 5.14 ERA and has only managed to last 28 innings in his first 5 starts. That’s less than 6 IP’s per start. Straily has given up at least 3 earned runs in each of his last 3 starts and is an underdog in a game that features a total of 9.0 runs. He should be avoided in all leagues. Rating = 3
Clay Buchholz – In his last start, we saw glimpses of the old Buchholz, but at this point he is just to risky to use. He has a 6.66 ERA (which is bad enough without the 666) and has only struck out 19 batters over his first 5 starts. He just doesn’t have that same upside that he did last season. Rating = 4
Batter Grind Down
Oakland
Yoenis Cespedes – Buchholz is giving up a .389 batting average and an OPS of 1.00 to RH batters this season. Cespedes has been nursing an injury, but is under-priced across the industry and is one of my favorite values in the OF tonight.
Additional Plays: Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss, Coco Crisp
Boston
David Ortiz – Big Papi only has 25 hits on the season, but he has already drawn 16 walks which is impressive. His OBP is at .356 this season and he has always had great power against RH pitching. I’ll take him against a struggling fastball pitcher any day of the week.
Additional Plays: Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, A.J. Pierzynski
San Francisco at Atlanta
| San Francisco | Atlanta | ||||||||
| Tim Lincecum | Vegas Moneyline | Mike Minor | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | ATL (-140) | LEFT | 7.5 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.249 | 0.694 | 0.317 | 23.2% | SP vs. Left | 0.217 | 0.577 | 0.259 | 27.1% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.267 | 0.763 | 0.342 | 22.8% | SP vs. Right | 0.237 | 0.677 | 0.298 | 20.5% |
| Batter Splits | SFG BvP | SFG vs L | Batter Splits | ATL BvP | ATL vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Tim Lincecum – Lincecum is a shell of the pitcher that he used to be. While you can argue that he still has a K-rate above 9 per 9 innings, I’d argue that it doesn’t matter as much because he is only averaging 5 innings per start. His K/9 may be similar, but his K% and his ERA and WHIP are both up. I will not be targeting him against this Braves’ lineup that hits as many HR’s as anyone in the National League. Rating = 4
Mike Minor – Minor will be back in the rotation for the Braves which will likely send David Hale to the bullpen. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Minor, he is an extremely talented southpaw. His ERA last season was 4.15, but his WHIP of 1.15 suggests that he is a much better pitcher than his ERA might lead you to believe. I like Minor moving forward, but he could be on a pitch count and I like to give guys coming off of the DL a start or two before targeting them. Rating = 6
Batter Grind Down
San Francisco
Buster Posey – Posey is one of the best hitters in baseball against LH pitching. Over the last 3 seasons, he has a .357 average and a 1.03 OPS against southpaws. Tonight he faces Minor who gave up 4 HR’s in his rehab start last week.
Additional Plays: Hunter Pence, Michael Morse
Atlanta
Freddie Freeman – Freeman hasn’t recorded a hit or a walk in any of his last 3 games. Luckily for us, his price across the industry is starting to come down a bit. I love his matchup against the RH Lincecum tonight and I’m calling a HR shot from Freddie tonight.
Additional Plays: Justin Upton, Evan Gattis, Jason Heyward
Seattle at Houston
| Seattle | Houston | ||||||||
| Felix Hernandez | Vegas Moneyline | Brad Peacock | Vegas Over/Under | ||||||
| RIGHT | SEA (-200) | RIGHT | 7.0 | ||||||
| Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% | Stats | Avg | OPS | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP vs. Left | 0.245 | 0.653 | 0.291 | 25.6% | SP vs. Left | 0.279 | 0.867 | 0.384 | 17.1% |
| SP vs. Right | 0.222 | 0.592 | 0.265 | 28.0% | SP vs. Right | 0.207 | 0.640 | 0.289 | 25.7% |
| Batter Splits | SEA BvP | SEA vs R | Batter Splits | HOU BvP | HOU vs R | ||||
| Batter Split Links Above Open In Pop-Up Window | |||||||||
Pitcher Grind Down
Felix Hernandez – King Felix is coming off of a subpar start against the Rangers and will now get to take his frustrations out on the strikeout happy Astros. Even though this Astros’ offense has been scoring runs recently, Hernandez is my top ranked pitcher tonight and I will be using him in all of my leagues. I’m predicting 8+ innings and 10+ K’s for the King. Rating = 10
Brad Peacock – Peacock should not be targeted in any leagues tonight. He has an ERA close to 6.00 and will get little to no run support with King Felix starting opposite him. Rating = 2
Batter Grind Down
Seattle
Robinson Cano – Cano continues to rake this season and while he only has 1 HR, he is batting .313 against RH pitching. Cano is riding a 9 game hitting streak in which he has accumulated 13 hits. He makes a perfect play at 2B in cash games.
Additional Plays: Kyle Seager, Michael Saunders
Houston
I’ll make this easy for you: Avoid all Astros’ bats against Hernandez.