Angel Pagan Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Noah Syndergaard has already made four postseason appearances (three starts), even though this just his second season in the majors. Last year, he posted a 3.32 ERA with 26 strikeouts in only 19 innings of work during the Mets insane playoff run. Syndergaard has been dominant for the better part of the season, boasting a 2.95 SIERA with a 29.3% strikeout rate and a walk rate of 5.8%. It’s always tough to predict ownership in these situations, but it's possible the masses lean more towards the more proven commodity of Bumgarner. However, based on a pure run suppression standpoint, we're going to have to give the smallest of edges to Syndergaard here, as the Giants’ offense has been much worse than the Mets’ offense of late. In fact, over the final month of play, San Francisco had the fourth lowest team wOBA in MLB. This matchup has an over/under of just 6.0 runs, which is significantly lower than any other game on either slate. Optimally, we would prefer to fade the Giants’ offense altogether, but if targeting someone in this matchup, give an edge to those that hit from the left side of the plate like Brandon Belt (136 wRC+, .370 wOBA, .193 ISO vs RHP) or Brandon Crawford (.180 ISO vs RHP). Speedy, contact hitters, Denard Span and Angel Pagan, are also in consideration solely due to Syndergaard's woeful ability to hold runners on base.

Welcome to the 2016 MLB Playoffs! The Wild Card round kicks off tonight with the Orioles taking on the Blue Jays in the Rogers Centre, followed by the Giants squaring off with the Mets in New York tomorrow evening. On microscopic-sized slates such as this, we need to be even more conscious about ownership percentages and utilizing leverage plays off of those projections in large-field tournaments. This is especially important in a sport like MLB where variance is so drastic slate-to-slate. The Blue Jays have the best matchup, they are playing in the best hitting ballpark, and they have the highest implied team total in the slate. They are going to be the chalk in both cash games and tournaments and it’s hard to stomach a Toronto fade in any format. However, fading the Blue Jays stack in tournaments is something that we need to seriously consider if we want any shot at shipping a large-field tournament on this slate. Possibly the most optimal strategy is to not stack any offense in tournaments, as there is a much lower chance that any of them go off to an extent that we would need them to win. This also gives us some built-in lineup differentiation with a majority of players choosing a stack of some kind. In addition, don't be afraid to use leverage plays, such as Chris Davis (119 wRC+, .352 wOBA, .264 ISO) against a right-handed ground ball pitcher in Stroman or speedy contact hitters like Denard Span (11.5% K% vs RHP) and Angel Pagan (12.1% K% vs RHP) against Noah Syndergaard and his woeful ability to hold base runners. These are just a few options to consider in an effort to differentiate ourselves from all the Stroman and Toronto stacked lineups in tournaments for this two-day, two-game MLB Wild Card slate.

Rubby De La Rosa is returning from an elbow injury to make a brief start tonight due to a strict 50-pitch limit, and Braden Shipley is expected to follow him out of the bullpen. De La Rosa has only made eight starts this year, but he allowed hard contact at a 32.8% clip and will likely not have his best stuff in his return. De La Rosa has also struggled mightily against left-handed batters in his career (4.67 xFIP, .366 wOBA allowed). It’s also a tough matchup against the resilient, patient Giants offense in a hitter-friendly park in Arizona. As for Shipley, he has allowed hard contact at a 41.7% rate and has a 5.52 SIERA in his eight starts. In other words, feel free to load up all the Giants left-handed batters in tournaments. Brandon Belt (128 wRC+, .359 wOBA, .188 ISO vs RHP), Angel Pagan (115 wRC+, .339 wOBA, .142 ISO vs RHP), and Brandon Crawford (.193 ISO vs RHP) would be our top targets.

Jorge de la Rosa is not a terrible pitcher, but he’s also not a good pitcher. He posts below average strikeouts (17.0%) and above average walks (10.2%) with just above average ground balls (48.2%). These numbers add up to a 4.88 ERA and 4.90 SIERA. This matchup would be much more appealing if the Giants weren't ranked 26th in wOBA and 27th in ISO over the past month. But Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Eduardo Nunez, and Angel Pagan are all in play despite the recent rough stretch at Coors Field against Jorge De La Rosa. Of course it is viable to fade a cold team when they’ll be popular, but this is not a spot that should be overlooked. Posey is the top catcher on the slate by a huge margin with his elite plate discipline and .396 OBP against lefties, and Pence brings a .284 ISO and 36% hard hit rate to the table making him one of the top outfield options.

Seth Lugo makes his first major league start tonight for the Mets at San Francisco. He has actually looked pretty good in 17 bullpen innings and had decent numbers in the minors. This isn't a spot where we should be super high on the Giants, but certainly they have enough talent and are a pesky enough offense to make life tough on rookie pitcher. This would be a full stack or nothing situation, as we don’t really know what to expect from Lugo, and we're really hoping for a blow up that turns this into a bullpen game with production up and down the Giants lineup. Brandon Belt (136 wRC+, .367 wOBA, .194 ISO vs RHP), Buster Posey (119 wRC+, .343 wOBA vs RHP), and Angel Pagan (122 wRC+, .346 wOBA vs RHP) are the top options to consider.

Corbin (4,51 SIERA) is surrendering entirely too much hard contact this season (38.6% Hard%). He is had major problems with right handed batters particularly (4.68 xFIP, 5.5% K-BB%). The Giants get a major ball bark bump escaping AT&T Park in a matchup against Corbin at hitter-friendly Chase Field. The Giants also have some bats that can take advantage of Corbin and his hard contact problems. Buster Posey (150 wRC+, .387 wOBA, .213 ISO vs LHP) gets the nod as the top overall play in the Giants lineup. Brandon Belt (153 wRC+, .391 wOBA, .256 ISO vs LHP) is a great secondary play but gets knocked down a notch due to Corbin being more than competent versus LHBs. Mac Williamson (107 wRC+, .323 wOBA, .214 ISO vs LHP) gets a decent spot in the lineup and makes for a solid OF value play. Angel Pagan (108 wRC+, .325 wOBA vs LHP)) is a little pricey for his skill-set but can definitely be considered in Giants stacks.

We don't have a lot of information to go on with Overton (5.60 SIERA) with him only making one career MLB start. Based on his peripherals and minor league statistics, he looks to be an average major league LHP. This is enough for us to target some Giants righty bats in tournaments, including the lefty-swinging, Brandon Belt (153 wRC+, .390 wOBA, .259 ISO vs LHP). We can also look to Buster Posey (147 wRC+, .382 wOBA, .184 ISO vs LHP) as great catcher pivot in tournaments. Mac Williamson (122 wRC+, .345 wOBA, 231 ISO vs LHP) is also a great outfield punt option getting the bump up to sixth in the batting order. Perhaps even Angel Pagan is an option batting in the two-hole for the Giants tonight.

Jeff Locke has allowed a wOBA just above .330 to batters from both sides of the plate since last season, though RHBs have hit the ball much harder (30.9 Hard%) than LHBs (17.7 Hard%). Despite that, the Giants are going with a mostly left-handed lineup in a park that kills RH power. Angel Pagan (108 wRC+ vs LHP this season) bats leadoff and may be a better value for $2.6K on FanDuel tonight, as both Denard Span and Matt Duffy are OUT. Buster Posey (142 wRC+, .186 ISO vs LHP since 2015) is the top bat in this lineup, but may be unaffordable if paying up for pitching. Ramiro Pena is your punt play, eligible at 2B, 3B, and or SS depending on your site of choice for just $2.2K batting 6th.