MLB Tool Analysis: Daily Pitcher Hub
If you’re reading this MLB Tool Analysis series, then you probably already know that RotoGrinders has some of the best free content in the industry. The free daily research tools being offered can do wonders for your bankroll. Every Thursday, I’ll be highlighting one of our free research tools and showing you how to you can use it to identify players that should be on your radar.
We started this series off with the Daily Batter Hub, so it seems fitting to transition to the Daily Pitcher (SP) Hub for the second installment. You can find pretty much any pitcher stat you could possibly need for your research in this tool. I’ll highlight a few of the main areas that I use on a daily basis.
I always start with the FPPG Analysis section. I use this tool to check money lines, park factors, bullpen ratings and opponent run predictions. On this particular day, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer are the top pitching options. I’ll point a few things that would lead me to rostering Scherzer over Sale. Hopefully you’ll be able to apply these same concepts to future slates.
As you can see from the chart, park factor, money line and opponent runs are very similar. The one factor that Scherzer has in his favor is that the Nationals’ bullpen ranks much better than the White Sox pen. It’s always a terrible feeling when a bullpen blows a chance for your pitcher to pick up the win. On a site like FanDuel, where the four points for a win can be critical, the Nationals’ bullpen will have me rostering Scherzer 100% of the time over Sale in this scenario.
The next section that I go to is the Daily K Predictor. After the win points, strikeouts are next statistical category or “event” that you should be focusing on in your pitcher selection. Again, Scherzer’s K/9 rating is over one full strikeout higher than Sale’s. This stat hammers home my personal analysis as Scherzer being the top cash game pitching option for this slate.
I also like to use the Daily K Predictor for my GPP pitchers. Tyson Ross and Drew Hutchison are the two pitchers with the best strikeout potential on this day. They also carry significant risk because of opponent and ballpark factors. This makes them great GPP plays. They will be low owned and have 16-20 point upside on FanDuel.
We can now jump into Daily Pitcher Splits to dig a little deeper into the Ross/Hutchison matchups. The league average fly ball rate for pitchers is 35%. Hutchison comes in at an extremely high 46.9% at home, while Ross had an incredible 21.3% rate on the road. With these stats in mind, Ross would be my GPP play of the day even though he is pitching in Coors. He will be extremely low owned but his ability to rack up strikeouts and keep the ball on the ground is a chance that I’m willing to take in a big tournament. Hutchison is still in play but his fly ball rate in Toronto is riskier than Ross in Coors and it could lead to an early trip to the showers for Hutchison. Hopefully, I can then use my process in the Daily Batter Hub to put together an optimal lineup of hitters to propel the lineup into a high GPP score.
Those are just a few of the ways that you can use the Daily Pitcher Hub to select your pitchers. Hopefully, this information will help you in your quest to build a profitable lineup. Have a great weekend and check back next week as I highlight another free RG MLB research tool. As always feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on twitter, @Socky21