Chris Owusu Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections
Goldschmidt and Tomas have hit the ball hard against LHP, but without results to show for it
Inexplicably, a predominantly RH lineup with Paul Goldschmidt in the middle has been struggling against LHP this season (78 wRC+, 15.6 K-BB%). Perhaps it's Goldschmidt's 100 wRC+ and .154 ISO that's responsible for a large portion of that. A 52.4 Hard% tells a better story going forward, but the cost remains steep. He's the second best overall bat according to RotoGrinders Player Projections. The team has also struggled to a 76 wRC+ on the road with a 25.1 K%. Jeff Locke makes his first start for Miami after rehabbing from a shoulder injury. In four minor league starts (all below AAA), he struck out 22 of 81 batters with just two walks and two HRs. He has just a 7.4 career K-BB% in over 600 innings, so 20 innings below AAA is not going to change our minds. Either Nick Ahmed (160 wRC+, .200 ISO vs LHP this year) or Chris Owings (117 wRC+, .158 ISO vs LHP this year) are solid SS options tonight in the top half the lineup with Ahmed more likely to get you to Greinke at a lower cost. Yasmani Tomas destroyed LHP last season, but has just a 51 wRC+ and .173 ISO against them this year, though, like Goldschimdt, he has been hitting the ball hard (39.4%), but has only been getting in the air 27.3% of the time.