DFS MLB PItching Coach: July 5

I hope you all had a very happy and safe Fourth of July yesterday and the holiday weekend treated you well. Feels like a lot of teams are limping into the All Star break as a number of rotation shuffles and injuries have given us some oddball names to consider. Here’s a look at Tuesday’s pitcher data with some potential recommendations.

Madison Bumgarner, SF – On the road, the Rockies have posted a .297 wOBA, so already the scales tilt in favor of Bumgarner. Now add in the fact that the Rockies have posted a .257 wOBA with 29.2-percent strikeout rate and a .111 ISO over the last seven days and MadBum looks even sweeter.

John Lackey, CHC – Nice and chalky as Lackey cruises with a soft match-up against the Reds, a team he’s faced twice (one good, one bad start) but not since late April. The Reds are struggling at the plate, once again, and a .277 wOBA and .092 ISO over the past week make is very tough to pass up Lackey. The only hang up is that he’s the early game so you have to put your faith in your lineup guessing to play the All Day slate.

Gio Gonzalez, WAS – Yeah, yeah, I know. Gio sucks. He’s been downright awful. But the match-up with the Brewers and the fact that so many people hate him, makes me think he could be a nice low-cost GPP play. The Brewers not only have just a .307 wOBA and 23.9-percent K-rate against southpaws, but over the last seven days, they’ve posted just .285 wOBA with a .088 ISO. Again, low-cost GPPs as this is all about ownership percentages.

Masahiro Tanaka, NYY – Apologies for the Pineda error...and two days in a row at that, so I am truly sorry. For the DFS world, I am actually higher on Tanaka versus the White Sox than I was on Pineda. Everything else, though, stays relatively the same --  Grabbing the win here could be tough as the offensive support from the Yankees bats has been light recently, but the White Sox are only posting a .307 wOBA against right-handers this season and they’re sitting on a 21.3-percent strikeout rate against them as well. 

Carlos Rodon, CHW – This one is all about the Yankees offensive struggles. They’re not a team that strikes out often, but around 20-percent seems to be the norm lately. Meanwhile, they’ve posted just a .303 wOBA over the past seven days and they’ve posted a meek .297 wOBA against southpaws all year.

R.A. Dickey, TOR – Always tough to go with a pitcher in the Rogers Centre, but the Royals are coming in ice cold which makes me look to Dickey as a low-cost option. The Royals rank 20^th in the league with a .311 wOBA against right-handers this season and over the past week, that number has dropped to a 27^th-ranked .284. Likely average strikeouts though, so don’t expect the world here.

Jered Weaver, LAA – SO we’re moving into dart territory now, as few people really want to put their trust in Weaver. But the Rays have looked super-ugly lately with a .273 wOBA and 26-percent strikeout rate over the past seven days. As a second pitcher on DK or Aces in a GPP, he could deliver a nice return.

Zach Eflin, PHI – There are three certainties in life here in 2016: death, taxes and the Braves sucking. Their .287 wOBA and 21-percent strikeout rate over the past week are actually right in line with numbers they’ve posted against right-handed pitching all year long. Kick in a .112 ISO and you’ve got yourself an interesting second-starter dart in Eflin.

Zack Godley, ARI – OK, so the Padres got the better of Archie Bradley yesterday. Maybe they’ve blown their wad now for the week? OK, so that’s not a viable way of looking at it, but it’s also impossible to ignore how bad the Padres have been this year. They rank 29^th in the league with their .286 wOBA against right-handers and that 24.1-percent strikeout rate doesn’t make them look any prettier. Again, just a dart here so don’t go using him in a high-stakes cash game or anything silly like that.