DFS Alerts
Start of tonight's WAS-COL game will be delayed due to rain
The start of tonight’s Washingon Nationals-Colorado Rockies game will officially begin in a rain delay. The tarp is currently on the field and there is currently no estimated timeframe for play to begin. This weather delay was expected if you took the time to read Kevin Roth’s latest weather forecast approximately an hour before the lock time of the main slate. Kevin believes that there is a greater chance of the game playing through than not, but he can not entirely rule out the possibility of a postponement.
As reported by: Official Twitter Account of the Colorado Rockies
Erasmo Ramirez scratched Tuesday; Austin Pruitt will start
Ramirez has officially been scratched from Tuesday’s start against the Baltimore Orioles due to poor weather conditions. Austin Pruitt will now draw the start in his place in what will likely turn into a bullpen game for Tampa Bay this evening. Outside of potential weather concerns, the Baltimore hitters now become a much more intriguing offense to target as a pivot away from Coors Field ownership given Pruitt’s inexperience and the likely extended usage of the Rays front-end bullpen arms.
As reported by: Mark Tompkin
Phillies-Marlins postponed Tuesday
No makeup date has been announced as of yet. Make sure to remove all players from this game from your DFS contests!
As reported by: Ryan Lawrence Manuel Margot (102 wRC+, .200 ISO vs LHP) among just a few potential salary savers at top of lineup tonight
With Clayton Kershaw on the mound and a Coors game on the slate, players are going to be looking for some cheap bats and on DraftKings, they’re rightfully going to gravitate towards Mike Moustakas (132 wRC+, .291 ISO vs RHP since last season) for $3.2K in a great spot, leading off tonight. Jaff Decker has done nothing of merit with the bat (58 wRC+, .070 ISO vs RHP career), but is the rare minimum priced (or close to it) leadoff option tonight, facing a career reliever in JC Ramirez. Mitch Haniger (144 wRC+, .214 ISO vs RHP) is still under-priced on DraftKings ($3.4K), while Manuel Margot (102 wRC+, .200 ISO vs LHP) is just $2.6K on FanDuel, leading off in Arizona. Tyler Collins (95 wRC+, .149 ISO vs RHP since 2016) might be a league average bat for $2.6K or less on either site, batting second against Felix Hernandez. It’s otherwise slim pickings when looking for cheap top of the lineup hitters that will offer you something at least close to a league average bat.
Other tagged players: Mitch Haniger, Mike Moustakas, Jaff Decker, Tyler Collins
Marlins @ Phillies could follow two previously PPD games in Kevin's late update
With two games already post-poned, players are still not out of the woods yet, with increased risk of another PPD in Philadelphia (vs Miami) and the potential for at least a delay (and even some snow) in Colorado (vs Washington). This is the worst forecast of the season so far. Players in the Marlins/Phillies game hardly seem worth the risk at this point, while a Coors fade might be tougher, but potentially merited considering conditions that have led to Kevin coding it ORANGE/YELLOW. Tampa Bay Baltimore is the other spot with less serious rain potential, while Kevin also details some unusually strong wind conditions around the league. Players can read the full report on our Weather page and be sure to follow Kevin on Twitter (KevinRothWx) on this incredibly busy night.
Michael Wacha has induced a career-high 12.3% SwStr% through three starts
Michael Wacha has been excellent to start his 2017 campaign, pitching a quality start in each of his first three outings while striking out at least six batters on two occasions. He looks to have put his porous 2016 season behind him and is set to face off with an exploitable Toronto Blue Jays lineup that is a shell of its former self. Toronto obviously lost Edwin Encarnacion to free agency in the offseason but are now also without arguably two of their best hitters in Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki, who are currently on the disabled list. Wacha has seen an increase in his strikeout numbers (23.3% K%) in 2017 over his career 20.6% strikeout rate, and while those are not elite numbers, they are still very solid and may even have some room for improvement if he is able to maintain anywhere close to his current 12.3% SwStr% through three starts. He’s also been inducing a ton of soft contact, evidenced by a minuscule 21.6% hard hit rate, and even though that figure will likely normalize closer to his career mark, Wacha has always been average to slightly above-average in the hard contact department. Adding to that already solid foundation is the fact that the Blue Jays come into this game ranked in the bottom-five in the Majors in wRC+, ISO, and wOBA while striking out 24.1% of the time to right-handed pitching. Toronto will also lose their designated hitter in a National League ballpark, just increasing Wacha’s already high floor for a bargain price tag on DraftKings and a still affordable salary on FanDuel, where he is relegated to a tournament-only option since Clayton Kershaw should be in any and all cash game lineups.
As reported by: FanGraphs Braves @ Mets rained out
The Braves @ Mets game has been post-poned due to rain.
As reported by: New York Mets Wacha and Kershaw projected to be most popular pitchers tonight.
Coors once again rules in popularity among Projected Ownership leaders tonight, but there are so many strong First Base options that players can pivot to potentially low owned options like Joey Votto or Paul Goldschmidt in favorable parks against opposite handed pitchers. Yasmany Tomas is a lefty-masher (144 wRC+, .259 ISO career) projected for less than 10% ownership on either site. Michael Wacha is surprisingly projected to be just as popular as Kershaw tonight, while Scott Feldman has struck out batters at a league average rate and is facing a highly strikeout prone Milwaukee offense (27.2 K% vs RHP) at around 1% projected ownership rates tonight. Premium subscribers can find ownership projections for all players on our Projected Ownership page.
As reported by: RotoGrinders Projected Ownership Other tagged players: Clayton Kershaw, Scott Feldman, Joey Votto, Paul Goldschmidt, Yasmany Tomas Potentially favorable hitting conditions in St Louis with 15 mph winds out to left
With several potentially severe weather issues around the league tonight, players may be looking for both safe and favorable conditions for both pitchers and hitters tonight. The best of those from a pitching standpoint, regardless of actual pitchers, may occur in Pittsburgh and Detroit. Both are slightly pitcher friendly run environments overall anyway and with temperatures expected to be in the low 60s in both spots with little to no risk of rain, this may be where pitchers get a bump tonight. Additionally, each appears to have a light wind of around nine mph blowing in from left field. Players looking for safe and favorable hitting conditions may want to stick to highly run positive domed environments in Milwaukee and Arizona, but St Louis, a traditionally power suppressing environment early in the season, is forecast for temperatures in the 70s with a wind blowing out to left around 15 mph. Players can find forecasted conditions for every major league game on our Weather page.
As reported by: RotoGrinders Weather Page Matt Carpenter scratched, Piscotty bats third
Matt Carpenter was in the original lineup, but has apparently decided to serve a suspension tonight. Stephen Piscotty has been moved up to third. Matt Adams will play First Base and bat sixth.
As reported by: Derrick Goold Other tagged players: Stephen Piscotty Mike Moustakas is a top value play on DK according to RotoGrinders Player Projections
Mike Moustakas is in the leadoff spot for the Royals tonight. He has a 132 wRC+ and .291 ISO vs RHP since last season and faces a rookie (Dylan Covey) with more strikeouts than walks through two major league starts. This is why the RotoGrinders Player Projections are calling him the top value play on DraftKings for $3.2K tonight (2.66 Pt/$/K). Bryce Harper is the top projected bat on either site with an unprecedented 13+ DK and 16+ FD points next to his name, totals we may not see projected for the rest of the season. He is rightfully followed by a bevy of Coors bats in terms of overall raw point total projections tonight, but 3B may be a spot players can consider pivoting away from Coors to save some money, considering Joe Ross has held RHBs on the ground 53.6% of the time in his career with just a .300 SLG. Royals teammate Eric Hosmer (110 wRC+, .165 ISO vs RHP since last year) shows up in the top value spot on FanDuel (3.78 Pt/$/K) for $2.7K, though pay up options at 1B are much more enticing tonight. On the pitching side, Clayton Kershaw blows all other pitchers out of the water in terms of overall point total, but Michael Wacha (23.3 K%, 12.3 SwStr%) projects as a top value on either site against the struggling and DH-less Blue Jays (76 wRC+, 24 K% vs RHP).
As reported by: RotoGrinders Player Projections Other tagged players: Bryce Harper, Dylan Covey, Joe Ross, Eric Hosmer, Clayton Kershaw, Michael Wacha Jordan Zimmermann has a 2.3% K-BB% versus LHB through three starts
Jordan Zimmermann has essentially extended his porous 2016 season into the start of the 2017 campaign, giving at least five earned runs in two of his three starts. The struggles of Zimmermann have gotten to the point that it brings into question whether he is still even an average Major League starting pitcher. His numbers certainly don’t back up that sentiment, as he posted just a 14.7% strikeout rate last season and has dropped it to 13.7% through three starts while his walk rate has ballooned to 9.6%. This is not a good combination, especially if Zimmermann is unable to get the walks back in check. However, he allows so much contact, most of it hard thus far (43.6% HH%), that it’s difficult to envision him shutting down this Seattle Mariners lineup even sans Kyle Seager. As expected, Zimmermann does do a much better job of limiting hard contact to right-handed batters, but lefties have been pummeling him this season to the tune of a 51.4% hard hit rate. This should obviously normalize a bit over time, but Robinson Cano (155 wRC+, .394 wOBA, .265 ISO vs RHP since 2016) still finds himself in an excellent matchup Tuesday night. Unfortunately, with Seager out of the lineup, there are no other lefties in the Mariners that particularly stand out, though Mitch Haniger (201 wRC+, .442 wOBA, .246 ISO vs RHP), Nelson Cruz (135 wRC+, .365 wOBA, .224 ISO vs RHP since 2016), and Taylor Motter are all intriguing tournament options as part of a stack or even as contrarian one-offs.
As reported by: FanGraphs Other tagged players: Mitch Haniger, Nelson Cruz, Taylor Motter, Jordan Zimmermann Although in starting lineup, Cespedes may not play
Yoenis Cespedes is currently in the lineup for the Mets, though Terry Collins says he may not play under current wet conditions. Without much improvement expected, it’s unknown why Collins chose tonight for Cespedes to make his return in the first place. With a series of leg injuries since coming to New York, DFS players may not want to risk a lineup spot on a player with a balky hamstring, who stands a decent chance of being scratched before first pitch.
As reported by: James Wagner Nick Castellanos leads all of major league baseball with 12 Barrels (via Statcast)
Eric Thames is leading the majors with 10 HRs, while nobody else has more than seven, so he’s rightfully getting a boat load of attention right now. He is tied among a group of seven for second in the majors with 10 Barrels (via Statcast) and has averaged 98.5 mph on fly balls and line drives. However, the major league leader in Barrels is Nick Castellanos with two more than any other player (12), despite only three HRs. Barrels take into consideration both Exit Velocity and Launch Angle, so we’re not talking about hard hit ground balls. Castellanos is also the major league leader in batted balls with a 95+ mph aEV (32) by one over Wil Myers. He bats third tonight in a tough matchup against Felix Hernandez, but does have a 135 wRC+ and .217 ISO vs RHP since last season..
As reported by: Statcast Other tagged players: Felix Hernandez, Wil Myers, Eric Thames Chris Davis has two HRs with a 98 mph aEV (11 BBE) vs Erasmo Ramirez
Two players on tonight’s slate have homered more than twice against the pitcher they are facing tonight. Ian Kinsler has taken Felix Hernandez deep four times in 81 PAs, but their history coincides almost entirely with Kinsler’s time in Texas, as Statcast has not recorded a single BBE between the two. Mike Napoli has gone yard on Ervin Santana three times (29 PA) with seven extra-base hits in total. Although Statcast has recorded just four BBE in this matchup, the aEV is a lofty 102.1 mph. Among those with at least 10 BBE in head-to-head matchups, only Avisail Garcia (99.1 mph aEV – 15 BBE vs Danny Duffy) and Chris Davis (98 mph aEV – 11 BBE vs Erasmo Ramirez) exceed a 95 mph aEV. Davis has homered twice in those confrontations, while Garcia has somehow turned his efforts into just a single extra-base hit (double).
Other tagged players: Erasmo Ramirez, Mike Napoli, Ervin Santana, Ian Kinsler, Felix Hernandez, Avisail Garcia, Danny Duffy