Jack Mayfield Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Andrew Cashner has had a rough year with a 5.04 ERA , 4.91 xFIP, and 5.02 SIERA with a 8.2% K-BB and 1.54 HR/9. His Statcast numbers are even worse as he has a .372 xwOBA allowed, .521 xSLG allowed, 10.6% barrels/BBE and 91 MPH aEV. The Astros are missing three of their stars (Correa, Altuve, Springer) but still have plenty of good options today vs. Cashner. Alex Bregman (.391 xwOBA vs. RHP this year), Michael Brantley (.364), Josh Reddick (.336), Derek Fisher (.321), and Yuli Gurriel (.293) are all good options. Josh Reddick has been the ‘Stros hottest hitter with a .386 xwOBA allowed over the past 10 days, followed closely by Derek Fisher with a .374 mark. Fisher looks to be arguably the best value in the lineup, projected to leadoff at just $4.1k on Draftkings. Jack Mayfield (123 wRC+ in AAA this year) is also an intriguing play at just $2.7k on Draftkings. The Astros have a healthy 5.62 implied line vs. Cashner and the Orioles this afternoon.

Jon Lester has allowed 12 runs (nine earned) over his last two starts and while his peripherals had been improving most recently, prior to these two starts, it wasn’t hard to see some regression coming. His strikeout rate (23.3%) remains above league average despite an 8.2 SwStr% and just 7.5% over the last month. He’s still sitting on a 2.68 ERA despite a 3.92 SIERA, 4.42 DRA and .364 xwOBA. Some of this basically comes down to unearned runs (six of his 20 allowed this year), while he’s actually been getting hit pretty hard too (89.2 mph aEV). His 11.0% Barrels/BBE is the third highest mark on the board. The Astros generally feast on LHP. That may not be so pronounced with Springer and Altuve out, but there are still some dangerous bats in this lineup. It starts with Alex Bregman (163 wRC+, .268 ISO), but among those in the projected lineup who have more than a few days of big league experience, none of the RHBs are below a 120 wRC+ or .178 ISO vs LHP over the last calendar year. The more interesting thing is that Lester has actually been much worse against LHBs over this time span (.386 wOBA vs .309) and this is actually confirmed by a 52 point separation by xwOBA too. For the Astros, Josh Reddick (145 wRC+, .235 ISO) has hit LHP well over the last 12 months. Those certainly aren’t his true talent numbers, but they’re worth something. Michael Brantley has not (79 wRC+, .069). Jack Mayfield and Garrett Stubbs are new arrivals that add minimum price tag value to Houston stacks.