Anthony Banda Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

While the three rookies (Anthony Banda, Jaime Barria, and Jack Flaherty) are the only three arms to average less than five innings per start over the last two calendar years on today's board, those are very small sample sizes. The Rays have an average bullpen behind Banda and Matt Andriese on a couple days rest, likely available for multiple innings tonight. The St Louis Cardinals also have a league average pen (3.96 FIP) behind Flaherty. Barria has completed six innings in just one of four starts and is unlikely to do so a second against Houston. The Angles have a 4.19 FIP that's towards the bottom of the board, but a 13.6 K-BB% in the middle. These are the bullpens perhaps most likely to see the most work tonight. However, Miami, Kansas City, and Detroit could get in some work behind pitchers who haven't gone deep very often lately. Kansas City, of course, has the worst bullpen in the majors with a negative fWAR and a 6.2 K-BB% that's the only single digit mark in the majors. The Marlins have a nearly identical 4.19 FIP and 13.5 K-BB% as the Angels, neither a strength or a great source of weakness. The Detroit pen has a 4.08 FIP, but 4.62 xFIP (second worst) with an 11.0 K-BB% that's fourth worst in the majors. Francisco Liriano has averaged just over five innings per start the last two calendar years and has failed to complete six innings in three of his seven starts this year.

While the highest priced guys are probably the best pitchers tonight, there doesn't mean there's no value below $10K. It just comes with more risk. Eduardo Rodriguez takes on an Oakland offense that hits the ball hard in the most positive run environment on the board at Fenway, but his 29.8 K% is second best on the board and his reverse split might actually help against a predominantly right-handed lineup. A pair of rookies (Anthony Banda, Jack Flaherty) could be useful at low prices tonight. Both have some swing and miss ability. Banda has had at least a 21 K% at every stop above Rookie ball since 2014. Flaherty has a 32.5 K% at AAA this season. Masahiro Tanaka and Gio Gonzalez face each other in a dangerous matchup for both sides, but both are below $9K. The Yankees have 17.6 HR/FB, but 23.7 K% vs LHP and Gonzalez has a 52.4 GB%. Tanaka has had a rough run of starts that includes Boston twice, Houston and LA (AL). It doesn't get much easier tonight, but his SwStr rate remains elite despite a drop in strikeouts, leading one to believe he may now be under-valued. Nick Pivetta is in a dangerous spot in Baltimore (both due to home team power and the threat of rain), but has dropped his wOBA against RHBs by 150 points this year and costs less than $8K. For those with substantial risk tolerance, Mike Leake has a 19.5 K% (10.3 SwStr%) over the last month. He's facing a Texas offense with a 79 wRC+ and split high 27.2 K% vs RHP tonight. His opponent, Mike Minor, costs $6.5K or less. His only two starts outside Texas this season have been in Toronto and Houston, not exactly great spots. Players may need one of these lower cost arms to pair with Gerrit Cole.

The Dodgers have a 116 wRC+ against LHP (third) and 113 sOPS+ against fly ball pitchers (fifth). Arizona would appear an excellent spot to load up on Dodger RHBs against a rookie lefty who has allowed RHBs a 42.9 Hard% and 30.8 GB% through two starts. Player should certainly consider Kike Hernandez (116 wRC+, .261 ISO vs LHP since 2016) and Austin Barnes (142 wRC+, .265 ISO vs LHP since 2016) on either site and Logan Forsythe (133 wRC+, .182 ISO vs LHP since 2016) on DraftKings if looking to pay up for high priced pitching tonight, but there's a high risk, potentially profitable contrarian way to view this matchup as well. While several players will be on this side tonight, Anthony Banda was ranked a top 100 prospect by Fangraphs with an above average strikeout rate at almost every stop of the minors. Yu Darvish has massive upside, but has been inconsistent this year and generates a lot of fly balls. LHBs have a 33.6 Hard% against him since last season, RHBs have just a .275 wOBA and 29 Hard%, but 37.5 GB%. Five times in 23 starts, he's allowed multiple HRs this year, including twice in his last three starts. The fact that Arizona bats are not priced down will make this more difficult, but they are likely to have nearly no ownership. Paul Goldschmidt (163 wRC+, .286 ISO), J.D. Martinez (126 wRC+, .285 ISO) and Jake Lamb (148 wRC+, .293 ISO) have all been torching RHP this year. Arizona, as a team, is tied for sixth with a 110 sOPS+ against fly ball pitchers. All three of those batters have an sOPS+ above 130 against fly ball pitchers this year (Baseball-Reference), while the two RHBs have a hard hit rate above 60% over the last week. Yu Darvish can still have a great game, striking out 12 while allowing two or three HRs. He did exactly that three starts back. While most players will be on Dodger bats in this matchup, there's a potential argument to be made for going the other way for those with high risk tolerance.

Only four teams have an implied run line above five runs on a 10 game slate with one additional one above 4.61 runs on a slate with several high priced arms and a lot of high strikeout rates. Nine out of 20 pitchers, almost half, have a strikeout rate above 23%. Another issue is that Arizona is the only extremely positive run environment in play tonight and that features Yu Darvish against a top 100 prospect. While there are few poor overall pitchers, there are areas that players can attack. Carlos Rodon is vulnerable to RHBs (.341 wOBA since last season), but with just a 28.3 Hard%, it's mostly due to poor control and while the Astros have the highest implied run line on the board (5.29) and will be popular, he's come on of late, striking out nine or more in three straight. RHBs have a .367 wOBA against Wade Miley (33.3 Hard%) since last year. All batters have a 40 GB% and 38.8 Hard% against him over the last month, but the A's have just one really potent bat against LHP and Ryon Healy (190 wRC+, .315 ISO) has been struggling (53 wRC+ last seven days). The Mets have an implied run line of just 4.36 and likely won't be very popular against a pitcher with a strong reputation in Vince Velasquez. However, Philadelphia is a bandbox and LHBs have hit him hard since the beginning of last year (.347 wOBA, 34.3 Hard%). Jay Bruce may be gone, but Michael Conforto (164 wRC+, .285 ISO vs RHP this season) and Curtis Granderson (112 wRC+, .240 ISO vs RHP this season) remain. Lastly, Dan Straily may be a pitcher to attack tonight with same handed batters. While RHBs have just a .320 wOBA against him since last season, that comes with a 35.5 Hard% and 31.5 GB% with 33 of his 50 HRs allowed. Ryan Zimmermann (132 wRC+, .256 ISO) and Anthony Rendon (136 wRC+, .231 ISO) are both much improved against RHP this year.

Both Anthony Banda (#88) and Brandon Woodruff (#80) cracked the top 100 prospects list on Fangraphs this pre-season, both carrying a 50 FV (Future Value) grade on the 20-80 scale. Banda has the stuff to dominate major league hitters according to a recent scouting report. In 190 AAA innings he had a modest K-BB above 12%. In his first major league start a couple of weeks ago, he lived in the mid-90s and struck out five of 23 Nationals at home, but was hit rather hard (44.4 Hard%) at home (Arizona). The secondaries (curve, change) weren’t thrown often (30% combined) and still may need a bit of work, but he’s an arm worth considering in a great spot in San Francisco tonight. While the Giants make contact, they do so with very little power (77 wRC+ & 5.7 HR/FB at home, 83 wRC+ & 8.2 HR/FB vs RHP). He costs $6.9K on DraftKings, but just $5.5K on FanDuel and generally gets in five to six innings, going fewer in none of his 13 minor league starts since the beginning of May. Brandon Woodruff was the pre-season 6th best prospect for the Brewers. He led the minor leagues in strikeouts in 2016 (27 K%), though issues with his secondary pitches make scouts uncertain about his future. He ran a 14.8 K-BB% in 14 AAA starts this season, which could translate to a league average pitcher immediately if things break right. He debuts in a completely opposite situation to Banda, against a high strikeout offense in Tampa Bay (25 K% vs RHP), but a high power one (17.7 HR/FB vs RHP). He cost the same on FanDuel ($5.5K), but just $4.8K on DraftKings. The issue here, at least on FanDuel (quality starts) is that he’s gone six innings in just one of his last ten starts.