Chalk Stack(s)

 

Boston Red Sox vs. Yovani Gallardo

 

This is one of the easiest calls of the year and Gallardo might as well be pitching with an L screen in front of him because this is essentially going to be batting practice for the Sox. Gallardo has been better of late, but his last two starts have come against two inferior offenses in the Tigers and White Sox. Overall, Gallardo still has an ERA over eight while his opponents hit a cool .305 against him. As of 11:00 AM EST on Tuesday, Boston had the highest implied run total on the board and that’s with a game being played in Coors.

 

The Red Sox offense continue to lead the league in basically every statistical category against right-handed pitching there is. This Red Sox stack starts right at the top with Mookie Betts and J.D. Martínez . You’ll only be able to afford one, but I prefer Martinez slightly. He hit his league leading 28th homer on Monday, his second in three games and four over his last 10. He has five straight multi-hit outings and seven over his last 10. Betts is riding a cool seven game hitting streak with at least one hit in nine of his last 10.

 

After Martinez and Betts, Xander Bogaerts has been a machine of late as well. Just over his last five games, Bogaerts has six runs scored and 10 RBI. Andrew Benintendi has four straight multi-hit games and was just snubbed from the All-Star team so he could be playing with that chip on his shoulder going forward. Mitch Moreland and Rafael Devers are two more Sox position players that are options here. They both correlate well against Gallardo too. Gallardo has allowed a .391 wOBA to left-handed bats while Moreland’s posted a wOBA of .389 and Devers’ is at .334.

 

Steve Pearce homered on Monday, Sandy León is hitting .290 over his last 10 games and Eduardo Núñez is also up around .290 over that same amount of gameplay. They’re all in play as secondary options.

 

Primary Option(s): J.D. Martínez , Mookie Betts , Xander Bogaerts , Andrew Benintendi , Mitch Moreland , Rafael Devers

Secondary Option(s): Steve Pearce , Sandy León , Eduardo Núñez

 

New York Yankees vs. Andrew Cashner

 

There haven’t been too many blow ups on Andrew Cashner ’s ledger this season, but he could be in some serious trouble here. The Yankees are just behind the aforementioned Red Sox for the slate lead in implied runs, another team ahead of the two playing at Coors Field. He’s giving up a ton of hits, especially to right-handers. Lefties are only hitting .202, but righties are just under .300 at .298 on the year. He’s supplied a ton of power -- to both sides to be honest -- but lefties have hit nine off Cashner which is partially why LHH slugging percentage sits at .508.

 

We know the Yankees have power. More power than maybe anyone in baseball even. We first look right to the guys hitting for all the power right now; Aaron Judge , Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks . They have 12 home runs between them over the last 10 games and get to play in a hitters paradise in Baltimore. Hicks is 4-for-6 lifetime off of Cashner, Judge has taken him deep once and Stanton has hits in nine of his last 10 games, including one home run in Game 1 of Monday’s double-header.

 

Since we prefer the righties here, Miguel Andujar , Clint Frazier and Kyle Higashioka are both in play here as well. Andujar seems slightly more comfortable at the dish against right-handers this year posting a .294 clip with a .352 wOBA to boot. We’ve seen Clint Frazier ’s razor fast bat speed on display at the Major League level last year and although he’s played on a limited basis this season, that bat speed hasn’t gone away. Higashioka is a sleeper in this spot. He’s showing tons of power as he’s already belted three home runs over his last seven games. Cashner’s allowed 15 bombs this year so it isn’t like he’s not prone to give up the big fly at times.

 

Brett Gardner had a really great game in Game 2 of Monday’s double-header, but other than that he’s just been OK of late. He’s more a secondary play for me. Same with Didi Gregorius . The Yankees shortstop has a hit in four straight, but is hitting just .233 over his last 10 and has an OPS of just .564 over that same time span. He’s flashing absolutely nothing but singles of late.

 

Primary Option(s): Aaron Judge , Giancarlo Stanton , Aaron Hicks , Miguel Andujar , Clint Frazier

Secondary Option(s): Brett Gardner , Kyle Higashioka , Didi Gregorius
 

Contrarian Stack(s)

 

Minnesota Twins vs. Ian Kennedy

 

I’m not sure a stack against Ian Kennedy is ever something that’s “contrarian” but with the amount of rock solid spots some teams are in (Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers) the Twins will definitely be overlooked here. Kennedy has already allowed 17 homers in 90 innings and is coming off the disabled list to make this start so there is an obvious chance he’s rusty. This current Twins roster has had their really nice moments against Kennedy posting a .301 AVG against him lifetime.

 

Speaking of Twins that do well against him, the Twins have three active players with 17 at-bats or more that are hitting over .400 against Kennedy. Those three are Eddie Rosario , Eduardo Escobar and Logan Morrison . All have hit at least one homer off Kennedy in the past, Morrison and Escobar have hit two. Talking about somebody else who has hit two homers off of Ian Kennedy and that would be Brian Dozier . Dozier seems to be finding it at the dish as he’s gone deep twice over his last 10 games and has a hit in five of his last six. Those four aforementioned Twins bats are all plus plus plays in a Twins stack.

 

Mitch Garver , Jorge Polanco and Jake Cave are all secondary pieces that could fit any Twins stack quite nicely. Garver has been raking of late hitting a robust .444 over his last 10 games. He’s hitting .284 this season versus right-handed pitchers so we should expect him to be in the lineup Tuesday. Jorge Polanco has led off a few times recently and we should expect him to stay there while Brian Dozier figures himself out at the dish. He’s still really cheap and although it’s only an 18 at-bat sample, he has seven hits vs. RHP. Jake Cave has been very surprising this year. He started five straight games in the OF before taking Monday off only to pinch-hit and score a run. Cave has a hit in five straight and is dirt cheap across the industry and could be a low owned part of any Minnesota stack you build.

 

Primary Option(s): Eddie Rosario , Eduardo Escobar , Brian Dozier , Logan Morrison

Secondary Option(s): Jorge Polanco , Mitch Garver , Jake Cave