Garrett Richards Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Not of fan of paying an exorbitant price for pitching tonight? Ground ballers and contact managers comprise many of the other options. Garrett Richards (27.7 K%) has the highest strikeout rate of the non-$10K pitchers and the only one even above 25% otherwise. He's not in an ideal spot against a Seattle offense with a 106 wRC+ and 20.2 K% vs RHP, but he's had success against them this year (four ERs in 14 innings, striking out 18 of 53 batters) costs around $8.5K. Miles Mikolas misses $10K by $100 on DraftKings and has just a 13.4 K% over the last month, but has failed to complete six innings just three times this year and his 85.5 mph aEV is best on the board for those with more than six starts. He's in a great spot to increase his strikeouts against the White Sox (19.3 K-BB% at home, 19 K-BB% vs RHP). Joe Musgrove offers an average strikeout rate (20.3%) with only two pitchers with more than six starts beating his .295 xwOBA or 86.5 mph aEV. He costs $7.5K against the Nationals. Jeremy Hellickson was blasted by the Marlins last time out, but has been essentially league average (3.93 SIERA) even with that start, which may have been the product of illness, announced prior to that start. He now costs just $6K on FanDuel against the Pirates. Mike Leake and Marcus Stroman allow a lot of hard contact and both struggled last time out, but Leake has been regularly pitching deep into games with improvements in contact management recently, while Stroman did look better in his first two starts off the DL. When right, he'll offer an elite ground ball rate with league average strikeouts for less than $7K. Leake costs just $5.9K on DraftKings. Jose Quintana hasn't been pitching well (six HRs, 12 walks and just 17 strikeouts last four starts), but is in a nice spot in San Francisco for $7.2K on FanDuel. Rich Hill can't support his 24.4 K% with a 7.8 SwStr% and has only been above 8.2% once since his first start, but he gets the Padres tonight (16.9 K-BB% vs LHP) and has just an 86.6 mph aEV.

There are three pitchers reaching the $10K mark among the four late afternoon games today, led by Aaron Nola against the Orioles. He's a few hundred behind Jose Berrios on FanDuel, but $13.1K on DraftKings ($1K more than anyone else pitching this afternoon) in this great matchup (Orioles 75 wRC+, 25.6 K% on the road, 83 wRC+, 24.7 K% vs RHP). He may be the top overall arm on the board for the entire day, but DraftKings has made him virtually unaffordable. A 25.2 K% is nice, but there are pitchers higher. What he adds in contact management (50.9 GB%, 86 mph aEV, 4.2% Barrels/BBE) is what really makes him a top pitcher. His .268 xwOBA is best on the board for the entire day, even better at home since last season (.252). With the exception of the ground balls, Jose Berrios (40 GB%) has some very similar numbers (25.9 K%, 86 mph aEV, 5.9% Barrels/BBE), though his xwOBA (.298) is 30 points higher, they both have a SIERA within five points of 3.50 this year. The Brewers may have a great team record, but are below a 100 wRC+ with a 25% strikeout rate both at home and vs RHP. A slightly favorable run environment and very power friendly park somewhat neutralize the matchup. Sean Manaea (17.9 K%, 4.21 SIERA, .343 xwOBA) gets the Padres (70 wRC+, 20.2 K-BB% on the road, 88 wRC+, 17.4 K-BB% vs LHP). They do, however, have some power against southpaws (13.3 HR/FB) and RHBs have a .354 xwOBA with a 38.7 Hard% against Manaea since last season. He costs just $12.1K on DraftKings. Perhaps they'll let players work out a payment plan. If the high priced pitchers are too expensive later this afternoon, what are your other options? Not many. Luis Perdomo had been banished to AAA in April, but has fared well there in 11 starts (15.3 K-BB%, 55.6 GB%. He may fare well for at the minimum price DraftKings, allowing players to pay up for one of the above pitchers if they wish, but the A's have a 108 wRC+ and 25.5 Hard-Soft% against RHP this year. Garrett Richards is in Seattle (105 wRC+, 20 K% vs RHP), but hasn't pitched in the majors in three weeks, while his lone rehab start consisted of 17 batters in high A. He last exceeded 35 pitches in a major league game almost a month ago. Mike Leake costs $8.5K on FanDuel, but just $5.3K on DraftKings against the Angels (106 wRC+, 20 K% vs RHP). He has just a 14.9 K% this season with an ERA and estimators all above four, but he's completed at least six innings in eight straight starts, failing to record a seventh inning out just twice in that span. He'll also be facing a predominantly right-handed lineup. Batters from that side have just a .310 wOBA and 50.5 GB% against him since last year.

Garrett Richard has broken a stretch of four straight starts with four strikeouts or less with 16 over his last 47 batters. He still has a double digit walk rate (11.7%) and his aEV is an uncharacteristic 90.3 mph this season, but his 27.1 K% is behind only two pitchers on the afternoon board (minus the early game). He's faced the Mariners one time this year, striking out eight of 23 batters without allowing a run. He's held batters from either side to a .275 or lower wOBA since last season with a 54 GB% against LHBs. However, xwOBA pushes him up to .320 against RHBs with a 37.5 Hard% over that span, which makes a couple of red hot bats in Nelson Cruz (136 wRC+, .260 ISO vs RHP last calendar year) and Mitch Haniger (130 wRC+, .237 ISO) interesting. Both exceed a 150 wRC+ and 40 Hard% over the last week. On the other side, Marco Gonzales has been effecient (3.28 ERA, 3.77 SIERA, .329 xwOBA, 5% Barrels/BBE). He's missed completing six innings in nine straight starts by a single out, but is a left-handed pitcher with just a 16.5 K% and 7.5 SwStr% over the last month. It's going to be hard to stay away from Mike Trout (180 wRC+, .268 ISO vs LHP last calendar year) or Justin Upton (185 wRC+, .374 ISO) on a difficult slate. Both exceed a 180 wRC+ and 50 Hard% over the last week.

Extreme may be an accurate way to describe Wednesday night's five game slate, or at least the pitching choices available on it. Max Scherzer (40.4 K%), Justin Verlander (34.5 K%) and Chris Sale (34.2 K%) are all available between $11K to $12.8K on either site. FanDuel has a wider range of mid-priced options, but DraftKings only has one pitcher priced between $6.5K to $11.8K. That pitcher, Walker Buehler (31.4 K%) and Trevor Cahill (33.7 K%) puts 50% of the slate above a 30% strikeout rate. Garrett Richards (28.8 K%) is available for just $5.8K on DK against the Astros. Brandon McCarthy and Tyler Chatwood are the only two pitchers on the board (both in the same game) with an xwOBA above .311 this season. Remove Elieser Hernandez's three innings and that number drops to .302 and that game (Cubs @ Braves) carries some PPD risk according to Kevin's early forecast (as does the Yankees @ Nationals). If that game in Atlanta were to be washed out, it would leave the Boston Red Sox (5.06) as the only team with an implied run line above four runs.