Melky Cabrera Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

The Pirates have just a 3.79 implied total despite a matchup with Adam Wainwright, who hasn’t looked good since 2017. Wainwright has a 4.71 ERA / 4.73 xFIP with a 9.5 K-BB% on the year. He also has just a 6.8% SwStr , a 40.5% hard contact rate and a 9% barrel rate allowed. Since 2017, Wainwright has a 4.91 ERA / 4.43 xFIP and 10 K-BB%. Josh Bell (.373 xwOBA vs. RHP since 2017), Starling Marte (.345), Adam Frazier (.338) Colin Moran (.334) and Francisco Cervelli (.333) have all been above average vs. RHP since 2018 and are options tonight. Mellky Cabrera (.323) is batting 3rd and is just $3.8k on Draftkings. Josh Bell has been by far the hottest hitter on the Pirates with a .474 xwOBA over the past 10 days. Bryan Reynolds (129 wRC+ in AA last year) will bat 5th at just $3.5k.

In one of the most positives run environments in baseball, the Indians are the lowest of three teams above five implied runs (5.04) against the Chicago White Sox and more specifically, Carlos Rodon. The lefty has gone at least six innings in three of his last four starts, but also has failed to strike out more batters than he's walked in three of his last four as well. Oddly, Rodon has exhibited a bit of a reverse split this season. RHBs have just a .277 wOBA against and though xwOBA brings that up to 31 points, .308 is still a better than average mark. Francisco Lindor (170 wRC+, .214 ISO vs LHP this season) and Jose Ramirez (126 wRC+, .217 ISO) are just too good though, especially with the threat of Rodon's failing peripherals giving them a better chance to either get on base on drive in runs. While stacking against pitchers with control issues is the more optimal play than one-offs, the Tribe has five batters in the lineup above a 120 wRC+ and .190 ISO vs LHP this season and nobody else above a 90 wRC+ or .130 ISO. Yan Gomes (130 wRC+, .208 ISO) and Melky Cabrera (158 wRC+, .196 ISO) might be the lower priced compliments to the big bats here.

Kohl Stewart has walked seven and struck out just nine of 60 batters faced at the major league level so far, throwing a total of 11.2 innings over three starts. Batters from either side of the plate are above a .360 wOBA against him, though LHBs have put the ball on the ground 63% of the time on contact (44.4 Hard%). He's pitching in Cleveland tonight with the home team owning a 5.69 implied run line that's second best on the board. Beyond Jose Ramirez (179 wRC+, .354 ISO vs RHP this season), Francisco Lindor (129 wRC+, .254 ISO), Michael Brantley (140 wRC+, .183 ISO) and two power hitting first basemen, Melky Cabrera (95 wRC+, .153 ISO) and Jason Kipnis (82 wRC+, .133 ISO) may even be viable in this spot as well. Both have a wRC+ of at least 150 over the last week, along with a hard hit rate above 40%.

Mike Trout (188 wRC+, .353 ISO vs RHP) is the top projected batter on the slate (RotoGrinders Player Projections) by more than a full point on either site against Dylan Covey (RHBs .448 wOBA, 40.9 Hard%). Then, Jose Altuve (159 wRC+, .209 ISO vs LHP) is separated by nearly a full point from the next highest projection against Eduardo Rodriguez. The concern is that Altuve did miss a game with a forearm injury, but returned yesterday. George Springer (166 wRC+, .258 ISO vs RHP), Aaron Judge (177 wRC+, .357 ISO vs RHP - Jake Faria RHBs .303 wOBA, 34 Hard%) and Justin Upton (119 wRC+, .235 ISO vs RHP) round out the top five on both sites. There's some disparity between sites in the back half of the top 10, but no other team can claim multiple batters. There are a couple of potentially over-priced arms on DraftKings, but so many low priced bats in lineups that it shouldn't be an issue. The projections see Josh Bell (4.32 Pt/$/K) and Melky Cabrera (3.98 Pt/$/K) as top values on FanDuel, while Victor Robles (2.68 Pt/$/K) is a potential top DraftKings value. If looking for a player projected for more than eight DraftKings points, Khris Davis (2.19 Pt/$/K) may be the top value.

According to the RotoGrinders Player Projections, Aaron Judge and Mike Trout are the top pieces on the board from an offensive standpoint and it's almost impossible to argue against that. Judge is on fire (376 wRC+, six HRs last seven days) and is facing a pitcher allowing 38.4% hard contact with a .386 wOBA to RHBs. Trout (191 wRC+, .358 ISO vs RHP) faces Reynaldo Lopez in Chicago. He's allowed RHBs just a 25 Hard% this season, but has struck out just four of his last 112 batters. Along with Gary Sanchez and Brett Gardner, the Yankees place three batters among the top 10 overall projections, the only offense with multiple batters at the top on either site. Several Kansas City bats (Brandon Moss, Mike Moustakas, Melky Cabrera) are priced below $3K on FanDuel and considered great values, all between 3.79 and 3.99 Pt/$/K. Jedd Gyorko (2.91 Pt/$/K) and Pedro Alvarez (2.91 Pt/$/K) are projected as top DraftKings values.

Bartolo Colon currently finds himself in the midst of a stretch since signing with the Minnesota Twins where he hasn't been completely terrible. In fact, he's managed to "limit" his opponents to four earned runs or less in all 10 outings, and somehow was able to manufacture a seven-inning shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers six short starts ago. He'll take the mound today for the eleventh time as a member of the Twins rotation against a Kansas City Royals lineup that is nothing special against right-handed pitching on the year, but are still in a perfect position to take advantage of a fastball pitcher like Colon that struggles striking hitters out (14.1% K%) from both sides of the plate. Although, on the season, Colon has been substantially worse against left-handed batters, evidenced by a 45.8% fly ball rate and 41.7% hard hit rate compared to a more respectable 49.0% groundball rate and 31.8% hard hit rate versus righties. Unfortunately, this Blue Jays squad lacks the ability to go super left-handed, but they do still possess a few bats that should be able to capitalize on Colon's low strikeout and massive hard contact numbers. This means that Eric Hosmer (153 wRC+, .404 wOBA, .205 ISO) and Mike Moustakas (129 wRC+, .370 wOBA, .287 ISO) are the premier one-off option from this Kansas City lineup given their plate skills and power upside against right-handed pitching, while Melky Cabrera (.194 ISO vs RHP) and Brandon Moss (.219 ISO vs RHP) should be firmly considered as second tier options that are viable in tournaments and members of Royals stacks. With that said, Colon isn't immune to right-handed batters by any means, but he certainly does have a better ability to control batted ball outcomes on a more consistent basis, which makes guys like Lorenzo Cain (117 wRC+, .352 wOBA vs RHP) and Salvador Perez (.222 ISO vs RHP) more effective as tournament options than core pieces to a cash game roster and are far from a priority for your lineups Sunday afternoon..

Artie Lewicki is a 25 year-old former eighth round draft pick in 2014 for the Tigers. He was names as an honorable mention (Future Value below 40) by Fangraphs in their pre-season organizational ranking in December without any standout tools. There's no pressure on him today, as the guy he's replacing in the rotation is just some marginal arm the Tigers traded away named Verlander. Lewicki has thrown just 31 innings above AA, striking out 27.1% of batters he's faced at AAA in that small sample. That's well above a league average strikeout rate he ran at AA for 177.1 innings over the last two seasons and a point or two higher below that. He has, however, exhibited solid control with a walk rate of 6.5% or below at every stop since high A ball. The Royals, who he'll host in his debut, are projected by Vegas for 4.87 runs, nearing the middle of the board, but still on the top half for the day slate. Kevin has not yet weighed in with the day's forecast, but the Weather page shows a strong wind (18 mph) potentially blowing in from right in this game. There is that element of the unknown in a pitcher making his major league debut, so the Royals may not necessarily be the offense to target for players here. Not a single bat in today's lineup has a wRC above 100 with a hard hit rate above 30% over the last week. Lorenzo Cain has a 181 wRC+ over the last week, but with a 10.5 Hard%. He has just a .130 ISO vs RHP this year. Eric Hosmer (143 wRC+, .193 ISO vs RHP) and Mike Moustakas (130 wRC+, .292 ISO vs RHP) are the top choices. Salvador Perez (104 wRC+, .221 ISO) and Brandon Moss (73 wRC+, .225 ISO) have shown power vs RHP as well. Melky Cabrera (107 wRC+, .134 ISO vs RHP) has improved on his season numbers since being returning to the Royals.