Kris Bubic Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

If you’re considering paying down for pitching tonight (less than $9K), it’s probably in your secondary spot on DraftKings, as most of the top projected values on tonight’s board are also the top projected arms overall and also the highest priced. The one exception is…gulp…Kris Bubic. One-third of Bubic’s starts have lasted less than an inning, just to give an illustration how his season is going. He’s walked one more than he’s struck out (-1.1 K-BB%) with 15.6% of his contact being barreled and one-quarter of his fly balls leaving the park. He is coming off five shutout innings of the Astros, but walked as many as he struck out (three each) with two barrels. What makes him a top three projected value (PlateIQ projections are fluid and subject to change) is the fact that the Orioles have been incredibly atrocious against LHP (86 wRC+, 25.8 K%) and Bubic costs less than $6K on either site. It’s still going to take a strong stomach to roster him, especially FanDuel.

Players could also consider Bubic’s opponent, Jordan Lyles, in their SP2 spot on DraftKings for just $6.1K. Lyles has allowed 23 runs over his last 36 innings, but only 18 earned. Add in a .351 BABIP and his 4.50 ERA for the season is above all estimators except for a 5.10 ERA with 9.2% Barrels/BBE. Striking out just six of his last 45 has dropped his strikeout rate to 19.9% (9.6 SwStr%), but a 12.9 K-BB% is competent enough for the Orioles to let him eat up innings for a team going nowhere with a lot of younger arms they’d rather conserve and the matchup is fine (Royals 91 wRC+, 21.3 K%, 7.1 HR/FB vs RHP).

Lastly, Konnor Pilkington has emerged out of relative obscurity (35+ FV grade Fangraphs) to strikeout 23 of the first 79 batters he’s faced in the majors with a 15.3 SwStr%. He’s also walked 10 and allowed five barrels (10.9%), but he’d likely have a much higher prospect grade without these flaws. Pilkington struck out just 11 of 63 AAA batters this year, though with a 12.4 SwStr%. He hasn’t allowed a home run yet, but non-FIP estimators hover around four, contact neutral ones a bit below. Perhaps he’s not all that good, but he’s also facing the A’s tonight (91 wRC+, 23.5 K% vs LHP), who have a team 40 wRC+ with a 27.2 K% and 0.0 HR/FB over the last seven days.