Brock Stewart Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

The Phillies are the low team on the board at 3.81 implied runs, though Brock Stewart is difficult to roster because he hasn't faced more than 18 batters in any outing (majors or minors) since April 18th. The Phillies do have some dangerous bats in the lineup, but they'll likely be facing fresh arms throughout. Rhys Hoskins has a 138 wRC+ and the top ISO (.272) in the lineup against RHP over the last calendar year, but has been in a prolonged slumber with just a 52 wRC+ and 30.9 K% overall for the month of May. Odubel Herrera (139 wRC+, .197 ISO) and Carlos Santana (120 wRC+, .224 ISO) pose some threat.

Gerrit Cole (40.8 K%, 16 SwStr%, .255 xwOBA) and Chris Sale (34.9 K%, 16.2 SwStr%, .254 xwOBA) appear nearly interchangeable atop tonight's board. They're opponents each have a nearly identical 2.7 implied run line at the bottom of the board. Both are pitching in dome capable stadiums without weather concerns in negative run environments. Potential lineup surprises, an extreme umpire assignment and ownership projections (all three available to premium subscribers) would seem to make the difference tonight. The Rays have had some success against pitchers who feature fastballs and curveballs. Sale features sliders and changeups nearly half the time, two pitches the Rays, as a team, have had less success against via Fangraphs weighted pitch metrics. Cole has failed to pitch into the seventh inning for the first two times this season in his last two starts, but has remained consistent in his pitch counts. The Giants are not pushovers (104 wRC+, 23.2 Hard-Soft% vs RHP), but also have an 18.3 K-BB% vs RHP. Quite a bit behind those two is Trevor Bauer. His 27.2 K% this season is just outside the top five on tonight’s board, but improvements in contact management this season have driven him to a .290 xwOBA that ties for third. He’s gotten at least two outs in the seventh in six of his nine starts this year. The Cubs (10.7 K-BB% vs RHP) at Wrigley may be one of the toughest matchups on the board tonight. Other interesting arms include Trevor Cahill, who struck out just one Boston batter in his last start, but has struck out 20 in 12 innings at home this season and has the second best SwStr rate (14.7%) on the board. Jeremy Hellickson has doubled up on his curveball usage (24%) and has a career high 21.5 K% with a .296 xwOBA. Zack Wheeler has added a splitter that's been as inconsistent as he's been, but he has at least seven strikeouts in three of his last four and his best start of the season (7 IP - 2 H - 1 ER - 7 K) against the team he faces tonight (Marlins). Each of the last three pitchers cost between $7-8K on either site tonight. At the bottom of the board, Brock Stewart has elite strikeout rates in the minors that he's failed to reach in the majors and may be lucky to complete five innings, but he's near minimum price with the best park adjusted matchup on the board (Rockies 63 wRC+, 24.1 K% vs RHP). Brandon McCarthy rode increased velocity and 50% cutters to a season high eight strikeouts last time ou t and is in another high strikeout upside spot in Philadelphia (26.7 K% vs RHP) tonight. Caleb Smith may not be able to sustain his 30+% strikeout rate (10.6 SwStr% last 30 days), but faces a Mets' offense (69 wRC+, 26.7 K%, 6.0 HR/FB vs LHP) with much of their right-handed power disabled at the moment.

Brock Stewart has struck out 18 of the 80 major league batters he’s faced this year with nine walks. However, he also struck out 27.4% of the batters he faced in AAA with just a 3.1 BB%. In fact, he started the season in high A and has had a K-BB above 20% at every level he has blasted through except for the majors. He has allowed five HRs in the majors, but four in Colorado and just four in the minors this season. Stewart has struck out 15 with just four walks in his two starts outside Colorado. There appears to be some talent here and he’s in a great spot against the Diamondbacks, who lose power away from home (11.7 HR/FB, 91 wRC+) and are terrible against RHP (15.7 K-BB%, 87 wRC+) in a negative run environment tonight. His $4.5K price tag on DraftKings is way too low for a pitcher with a legitimate chance of putting up somewhere around 20 points. He's make a great compliment to Carrasco or Price. Jake Lamb (136 wRC+, .296 ISO vs RHP this season) costs just $3K on FanDuel and A.J. Pollock (130 wRC+, .183 ISO vs RHP since 2015) costs just $3.5K on DraftKings, but there's otherwise little interest in a lineup projected for just 3.5 runs.

The Cubs will face Brock Stewart, a right-handed pitcher who has only pitched 11 innings in the majors in 2016. The Cubs have been hot, sending 5 batters to the plate today with wRC+ totals greater than 130 over the last 7 days. Over the last week, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Anthony Rizzo, Jason Heyward, and Ben Zobrist have wRC+ totals of 247, 145, 144, 134, and 131, respectively. Stacking the Cubs is rarely a bad strategy and looks to be a fantastic way to capture production today.

The Rockies have the more favorable matchup of the two teams at Coors Field tonight as they take on Brock Stewart making only his second career start. Stewart has exhibited some strikeout ability in the minors but has a difficult task for any pitcher, let alone a pitcher with such little experience. The only case for fading Colorado is that they have never faced Stewart before, and he may be able to work his way through the lineup a couple times before the Rockies pick up on his stuff. The Dodgers bullpen is decent but the more innings they need pitch, the more susceptible to runs they become. As usual, Carlos Gonzalez (137 wRC+, .403 wOBA, .226 ISO vs RHP), Nolan Arenado (115 wRC+, .371 wOBA, .282 ISO vs RHP), and Charlie Blackmon (109 wRC+, .362 wOBA, .182 ISO vs RHP) are the top options in the Rockies order. David Dahl and Daniel Descalso (128 wRC+, .390 wOBA vs RHP) are both cheap, putting them firmly in play as a part of any Colorado stack.

We have yet another starting pitcher making his MLB debut in this slate. The minor league pedigree of Stewart makes him an intriguing option tonight along with his generous pricing on all sites. Stewart is a tournament-only play given the uncertainty in starting pitchers making their debuts, but the strikeout upside seems to be there if he can manage to keep his emotions in check. While Stewart is the preferred option in this matchup, it doesn't mean we can't target some upside bats from the Brewers lineup if fading Stewart. Jonathan Lucroy (143 wRC+, .391 wOBA, .210 ISO vs RHP) and Ryan Braun (125 wRC+, .365 wOBA, .201 ISO vs RHP) are extremely expensive relative to their respective positions but are the top options. Chris Carter (105 wRC+, .336 wOBA, .260 ISO vs RHP) is always in tournament consideration given his double HR upside.