Jose Urquidy Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Jacob deGrom is clearly the top pitcher on the board tonight and potentially worth paying up for in a nice matchup against the White Sox (84 wRC+, 19.7 K-BB%), but that’s going to leave players with little room for offense or a secondary pitcher. While the middle of the board is not as interesting, there is one pitcher who stands out. Jose Urquidy was not on the prospect map when the season started, but exceeding a 25 K-BB% at both AA & AAA changed that. All he’s done through four major league starts is a 25 K-BB% exactly. Estimators are a full run or more below his 4.26 ERA due to a .346 BABIP. His 77.7 Z-Contact% is best on the board. And while he’s allowed 9.3% Barrels/BBE, that seems a bit fluky with a 49.1 GB% and 85.3 mph aEV (second best on the slate). Meanwhile, it’s a difficult park, but the Cleveland offense has been less than league average (93 wRC+) vs RHP. They did add a few bats at the trade deadline, but they’re not in tonight’s lineup and Urquidy will be out to prove he should remain in the Houston rotation with their acquisitions today. Urquidy costs just $7K on DraftKings, where players can probably pair him with the higher priced deGrom to form a high upside tandem.

Jose Urquidy is coming off a nine strikeout, seven inning, two hit effort against the Rangers after striking out just four in each of his first two outings at Coors and against the Angels, totaling just six innings. Having not reached a level higher than A-ball coming into the season, the 24 year-old was not considered much of a prospect until taking off at the upper levels (26.3 K-BB% at AA, 29.6 K-BB% at AAA) through 81.2 innings, a trait he’s continued through 13 major league innings now (28.6 K-BB%). It’s a small sample, but Urquidy has also impressively generated a 74.6 Z-Contact% and 30.3 Z-O-Swing% at the major league level so far. 13.2% Barrels/BBE seems like a fluke with an 84.5 mph aEV that would be best on the board. Urquidy certainly has some upside and it’s great to see the Astros are now ready to let him run deeper into games if the performance justifies it and it may very well tonight in St Louis. Aside from being a run and power suppressing environment, the Cardinal lineup remains a few key bats light and has just a 91 wRC+ with a 14.1 K-BB% vs RHP. The best part is that while Urquidy costs a reasonable $7.5K on FanDuel, his cost is just $5K on DraftKings, where he could easily be paired with a high priced pitcher like Zack Greinke tonight.

Jose Urquidy will likely be a popular play tonight as he has a good matchup with the Rangers and will cost $5.5k or less on both major sites. Urquidy has shown a revamped approach in 2019, striking out 30.8% of batters over 33 innings in AA and then striking out 35.2% of batters over 49 innings in AAA while keeping his walk rate under 6% at both stops. In 6 Major League innings so far, Urquidy has posted a 24.2% K rate, 3% BB rate and impressive 12.1% SwStr with a 3.53 SIERA. Since Urquidy has not shown this type of K% at any point in his career before 2019, projection systems aren’t crazy about him, but it’s worth taking a shot on him (especially at these prices) until he proves the new swing-and-miss stuff he’s been showing is a fluke. The Rangers have been exactly league average this year vs. RHP with a 100 wRC+, but they do have a 4th worst 25.5% K rate. They also have just an 86 wRC+ and 29% K rate over the last 30 days. Urquidy threw 81 pitches in his debut and then just 60 vs. the Angels as he was pulled early during a rough 3rd inning; it’s probably reasonable to expect a pitch count around 80-90 tonight vs. the Rangers which would be plenty enough to hit value at his price. Urquidy will also have the benefit of a pitcher friendly umpire in Lance Barrett calling balls and strikes.

Recent call up Jose Urquidy is an intriguing play as he is priced at just $6k on Draftkings and $5.6k on Fanduel. Over 44 innings in AAA this year, Urquidy posted a 2.89 ERA / 3.68 xFIP while striking out batters at an impressive 37% rate and walking only 5.8% of them. Projection systems seem unsure what to make of Urquidy as he did also post a high K rate (30%) over 30 innings in AA earlier this year, but has otherwise posted very mediocre strikeout rates throughout his MiLB career. His first MLB start only lasted 3 2/3 innings; he did show decent stuff and posted a 9.9% SwStr with a 22.2% K rate and allowed 2 earned runs. The Angels are no easy matchup, as they own a 111 wRC+ and just an 18.1% K rate so far this year vs. righties. Urquidy will have the benefit of a very good pitch framer in catcher Max Stassi, as well as a pitcher friendly umpire in Mike Estabrook. Certainly more of a GPP play, the hope is that Urquidy can prove that the newly found K rate he had in the minors this year is legit. If he can do that, he shouldn’t have a problem hitting value at his current prices. The Angels currently have a 4.4 implied line versus Urquidy an the ‘Stros this afternoon.