Mike Tauchman Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

So far in 2019 Trent Thornton has posted a 5.55 ERA with a 5.11 xFIP, 4.99 SIERA, 11.9% K-BB, 41% FB rate, 1.57 HR/9 and a 10% SwStr. Per Statcast, he’s allowed a .337 xwOBA with a 7.7% barrel rate and 88 MPH aEV. Not completely terrible stats, but certainly no match for a Yankees lineup that was already firing on all cylinders (143 wRC+ over the past 14 days) and has now returned Gary Sanchez to the lineup. Gio Urshela (.395 xwOBA vs. RHP this year), Aaron Judge (.394), Gary Sanchez (.379), DJ Lemahieu (.363), Gleyber Torres (.340) and Brett Gardner (.321) are all great options in the Yankee lineup this afternoon. Urshela has been scorching hot over the past 2 weeks with a .568 xwOBA; Austin Romine (.450), DJ LeMahieu (.444) and Mike Tauchman (.396) have also swung the bat very well of late. Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres are both great values at a price of just $4.4k on Draftkings. Gary Sanchez and Brett Gardner are available under $5k on DK as well, while Austin Romine is just $3.9k. The Yankees currently have a 6.28 implied total; they could be chalky on this slate but are a good play in both cash and GPPS nonetheless.

If you perhaps thought that the mighty exploits of the no name Yankees from earlier this season was due to regress, it might seem a reasonable assumption. But so far, it would also be wrong. With the majority of their normal starting lineup back on the IL, the Yankees are featuring lineups with Mike Ford, Brett Gardner, Austin Romine and Mike Tauchman somewhere in the middle...and all of them homered last night. Gardner and Tauchman “slapped” HRs the opposite way, while the Yankees have now hit in excess of 30 HRs at Camden this year. Part ball, part environment, part weather, why wouldn’t we expect this to continue on Tuesday night against Asher Wojciechowski. Though he’s struck out 29.6% of batters faced through six starts, he’s also allowed seven HRs with a 26.4 GB% and 12.6% Barrels/BBE. The latter the highest mark on the board tonight among those with at least one start. Wojciechowski has dominated RHBs (.248 wOBA, .281 xwOBA), but struggled with LHBs (.361 wOBA, .346 xwOBA), but do to the extreme fly ball rate, the seven HRs have been fairly evenly split. The Yankees are one of three teams above six implied runs (6.18) and less than a tenth of a run off the top spot tonight. While Didi Gregorius is the top LH bat in this lineup (126 wRC+, .235 ISO vs RHP last calendar year), Brett Gardner has become somewhat of a power hitter in this juiced ball environment as well (111 wRC+, .224 ISO). In fact, he and Tauchman (117 wRC+, .252 ISO) are the hottest bats in this lineup, both exceeding a 220 wRC+ and 45 Hard% over the last week. If either sees themselves bumped up towards the top or middle of the lineup tonight, they’re both within $100 of $3K on FanDuel. Mike Ford (71 wRC+, .118 ISO) also homered last night to add to his 23 with a 149 wRC+ at AAA this year.

Taylor Clarke has allowed 13 HRs in 51.2 innings behind a 16.8 K% and board high 12.9% Barrels/BBE. No other pitcher on the slate is within two points of that latter mark. Luckily for him, Kevin’s forecast does not suggest that the opposition will get much of a weather boost against Clarke in this road start. Much more unfortunately for him, that opposing team will be the Yankees, who are implied for a ridiculous 6.6 runs that no team outside Coors is within one-half run of. Also unfortunate for Clarke is that batters from either side of the plate have exceeded a .380 wOBA against him. Statcast drops RHBs to a .349 xwOBA, but that still does not leave him in anything close to an envious position. Each of the first eight batters in the projected order for the Yankees have at least a 105 wRC+ with an ISO above .150 vs RHP over the last calendar year. Remove leadoff man DJ LeMahieu (105 wRC+, .151 ISO) and eighth hole projection Mike Tauchman (108 wRC+, .226 ISO) and the remaining six are all above a 110 wRC+ and .180 vs RHP over that span. Aaron Hicks (136 wRC+, .249 ISO) is the top power bat via ISO with the second best wRC+ by these standards. It would be safe and perhaps a bit obvious to say that building daily fantasy lineups around Yankee bats as an alternative to Coors carries abundant upside.

J.A. Happ might not be a bad target to focus an attack on either in a much less obvious spot (Diamondbacks 4.4 implied runs). The reasoning is simple. He has struggled (18.3 HR/FB, 5.23 ERA, 6.85 DRA, 88.9 mph aEV, 8.1% Barrels/BBE), while the Diamondbacks have not (112 wRC+, 21.2 K%, 17 HR/FB, 26 Hard-Soft% vs LHP). Fourteen of Happ’s 23 HRs have been allowed at home. Ketel Marte (161 wRC+, .298 ISO vs LHP last calendar year) and Eduardo Escobar (155 wRC+, .261 ISO) are key bats. RHBs have a .327 wOBA, .332 xwOBA against Happ over the last calendar year.

It’s been quite the fall for Freeland, who went from receiving Cy Young votes last year to pitching to a 7.39 ERA, 5.34 xFIP and 5.18 SIERA this year. Freeland was sent down to AAA earlier in the year and it doesn’t seem like he figured much out, as he posted an 8.80 ERA and 5.01 xFIP with an 8.4% K-BB over 30 innings. In his first start back from AAA on 7/13 Freeland only lasted 4 innings, giving up 5 earned runs, 9 hits and striking out 3. The Yankees lineup looks as dangerous as it has all season, and just about the whole lineup is in play vs. Freeland. Aaron Judge (.434 xwOBA vs. LHP this year), DJ LeMahieu (.390), Luke Voit (.383), Edwin Encarnacion (.376), Mike Tauchman (.345) and Gary Sanchez (.345) have been the Yankees’ best bats vs. LHP this year. Hicks, Torres and Urshela all have an xwOBA vs. LHP under .300 on the year but are still very much in play. Considering the great match-up and sky-high total, Yankees bats are pretty affordable, with Aaron Judge being the only hitter over $5k on Draftkings. Of course, Yankees hitters figure to see very high ownership tonight across all contests.