Chalk Stack(s)
Cleveland Indians vs. Chase Anderson
We have a five game early slate on Wednesday and not too many “gas cans” on the pitching side. Chase Anderson isn’t by any means a gas can, but he has been getting lit up of late. In the month of May, Anderson posted a 7.08 ERA while allowing a .532 slugging percentage. The home runs have been an issue. Anderson allowed six homers in 20 May innings after allowing seven in 32 through the first month of the year.
Lefties have really been the ones doing the damage off of Anderson in May. Collectively they slashed .292/.393/.563 with four homers. The flyball rate is concerning too sitting at 51.4-percent while the hard-hit rate isn’t great either at 47.4.
The Indians are going to come at Anderson with a lot of lefties that’s for sure, starting with José Ramírez , Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley . Ramirez went deep on Tuesday giving him five over his last 10 games. Lindor is fresh off a player of the month trophy sitting on his mantle and has a .390 wOBA against RHP. Brantley is 2-for-3 with a homer off Anderson and also has a .336 AVG and a .417 wOBA off RHP. You’re likely not going to be able to afford all three, but you can definitely fit two at the very minimum.
Edwin Encarnación is one of the hottest hitters in baseball and I know I’ve been harping on the lefties here, but on the whole Anderson has allowed a .351 wOBA to right-handed hitters. Encarnacion has six homers and 15 RBI over his last 10 games, which is insanity.
Some of the cheaper options we can look at on Cleveland are Yonder Alonso , Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis . Both Kipnis and Alonso have .900-plus OPS’ over the last 10 days and Chisenhall just came off of DL and had two RBI on Tuesday. Chisenhall had a very nice .857 OPS versus right-handed pitching last season.
Primary Option(s): Francisco Lindor , José Ramírez , Michael Brantley , Edwin Encarnación
Secondary Option(s): Yonder Alonso , Jason Kipnis , Lonnie Chisenhall
Contrarian Stack(s)
San Francisco Giants vs. Clay Buchholz
This game is being played in San Fran and not many people enjoy stacking there, myself included. That being said, Clay Buchholz is pitching for the Diamondbacks. Now let’s be real for a second. This three game 2018 sample size for Buchholz is not who he really is. Buchholz has a 1.50 ERA but a 4.02 SIERA and a 4.24 xFIP. The 51-percent flyball rate is not good either and sooner or later those flyball’s will turn to homers.
Brandon Crawford has been one of the hotter hitters in all of the game all throughout May. He’s slashed .395/.465/.658 in his last 10 games with six extra-base hits. He’s a must in your stack and to be quite honest when talking about the Giants, they’re all cheap and you can pair them with an expensive stack like the Indians to make things work.
After Crawford, Andrew McCutchen and Joe Panik stick out like sore thumbs. Over the last 10, McCutchen has a .325 AVG with a .991 OPS. He has a .348 OPS against right-handed pitching on the year if you’re looking for a bigger sample than just 10 games. In regards to Panik, he has three multi-hit games out of the five he’s played since returning from the DL.
The last three plays I have some interest in are Gorkys Hernández , Buster Posey and Mac Williamson . Posey continues to stay consistent just hitting anything and anyone, posting a .311 AVG with a .346 wOBA vs. RHP. Hernandez has been somewhat of a surprise. His career-high in homers was eight at Triple-A in 2016 and is already two away from tying that and we’re only five days into June! Can we trust his .466 SLG to stay that high? Doubtful. But ride it while we can while also hoping he uses his speed and swipes us a bag. Williamson is someone with a lot of power we hope hits us a homer. I’d play him specifically in a stack and not even consider him as a one off. Evan Longoria is fine as well, but I’d consider him more a secondary option if anything.
Primary Option(s): Brandon Crawford , Joe Panik , Andrew McCutchen
Secondary Option(s): Gorkys Hernández , Buster Posey , Mac Williamson , Evan Longoria