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We’ve got a real nice array of starters from which to choose today and no early games to throw off the balance. You can certainly pay up for pitching today which is obviously the easy cash game move, but there are also a number of real good options at the mid-level prices and even a few darts I wouldn’t normally look to use. Here’s a look at the data and some of my choices for the day:
| vs L | vs R | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Tm | Hand | H/A | Opp | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | BAA | SwStr% | ERA | xFIP | WHIP | GB% | FB% | GB/FB | wOBA | wOBA | $FD | $DK | $Aces |
| Jose Fernandez | MIA | R | H | ATL | 80.2 | 13.17 | 2.57 | 0.56 | .208 | 16.1% | 2.57 | 2.42 | 1.04 | 42.9% | 29.2% | 1.47 | 0.307 | 0.216 | $12000 | $13700 | $7700 |
| Johnny Cueto | SF | R | A | PIT | 102.2 | 7.89 | 1.75 | 0.26 | .223 | 10.7% | 2.10 | 3.37 | 1.00 | 53.9% | 24.8% | 2.17 | 0.280 | 0.234 | $11000 | $12700 | $7000 |
| Noah Syndergaard | NYM | R | H | KC | 85.0 | 11.22 | 1.27 | 0.42 | .223 | 16.7% | 1.91 | 2.19 | 0.97 | 56.0% | 22.7% | 2.47 | 0.289 | 0.210 | $10900 | $12900 | $7700 |
| Chris Sale | CWS | L | A | BOS | 98.0 | 8.54 | 1.74 | 1.01 | .218 | 10.6% | 2.94 | 3.62 | 1.01 | 41.0% | 36.1% | 1.14 | 0.265 | 0.268 | $10300 | $8700 | $7100 |
| Corey Kluber | CLE | R | H | TB | 93.2 | 9.04 | 1.92 | 0.77 | .228 | 13.3% | 4.23 | 3.19 | 1.07 | 51.2% | 32.0% | 1.60 | 0.296 | 0.258 | $9700 | $11600 | $6950 |
| Justin Verlander | DET | R | H | SEA | 93.0 | 9.39 | 2.42 | 1.06 | .221 | 12.9% | 3.87 | 3.64 | 1.08 | 38.2% | 41.1% | 0.93 | 0.254 | 0.318 | $9200 | $11400 | $6600 |
| Aaron Nola | PHI | R | A | MIN | 84.2 | 9.88 | 1.70 | 0.96 | .237 | 10.5% | 3.51 | 2.89 | 1.13 | 56.9% | 20.3% | 2.81 | 0.281 | 0.280 | $9000 | $9000 | $6200 |
| Jason Hammel | CHI | R | H | STL | 75.2 | 7.61 | 2.85 | 0.71 | .213 | 11.5% | 2.26 | 4.03 | 1.07 | 46.4% | 31.1% | 1.49 | 0.321 | 0.238 | $8900 | $8600 | $6150 |
| Scott Kazmir | LA | L | H | WSH | 77.2 | 9.62 | 3.36 | 1.39 | .235 | 11.2% | 4.64 | 3.98 | 1.29 | 43.3% | 34.6% | 1.25 | 0.295 | 0.325 | $8700 | $6900 | $6050 |
| Marco Estrada | TOR | R | H | ARI | 87.1 | 7.83 | 3.50 | 1.03 | .168 | 10.9% | 2.58 | 4.28 | 0.99 | 37.1% | 44.8% | 0.83 | 0.266 | 0.233 | $8700 | $11300 | $6300 |
| Sonny Gray | OAK | R | H | MIL | 66.2 | 7.16 | 3.65 | 1.49 | .278 | 8.8% | 5.54 | 4.31 | 1.50 | 54.4% | 24.2% | 2.25 | 0.333 | 0.383 | $8500 | $6600 | $6500 |
| Tanner Roark | WSH | R | A | LA | 86.0 | 8.06 | 3.03 | 0.63 | .240 | 9.3% | 3.14 | 3.81 | 1.24 | 56.2% | 21.9% | 2.57 | 0.259 | 0.311 | $8300 | $8800 | $6400 |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | R | A | CHI | 84.2 | 6.48 | 2.23 | 0.85 | .276 | 8.6% | 4.78 | 4.35 | 1.31 | 45.6% | 29.3% | 1.56 | 0.301 | 0.341 | $8200 | $7300 | $6500 |
| Tyler Wilson | BAL | R | H | SD | 67.0 | 4.83 | 2.01 | 0.94 | .242 | 6.6% | 4.16 | 4.60 | 1.18 | 48.4% | 32.3% | 1.50 | 0.300 | 0.293 | $8100 | $5300 | $5800 |
| Hector Santiago | LAA | L | A | HOU | 73.0 | 7.77 | 3.70 | 1.73 | .247 | 10.8% | 5.30 | 4.44 | 1.34 | 43.6% | 40.3% | 1.08 | 0.294 | 0.350 | $7900 | $5900 | $5650 |
| Colby Lewis | TEX | R | H | CIN | 93.0 | 5.62 | 1.74 | 1.16 | .222 | 8.3% | 2.81 | 4.44 | 1.01 | 38.6% | 42.9% | 0.90 | 0.291 | 0.259 | $7600 | $9500 | $6050 |
| Jimmy Nelson | MIL | R | A | OAK | 85.0 | 7.09 | 3.71 | 1.27 | .253 | 8.7% | 3.92 | 4.59 | 1.35 | 50.2% | 31.2% | 1.61 | 0.342 | 0.331 | $7600 | $7100 | $5900 |
| James Paxton | SEA | L | A | DET | 22.0 | 11.86 | 2.45 | 1.23 | .304 | 13.2% | 2.86 | 2.85 | 1.55 | 48.4% | 26.6% | 1.82 | 0.345 | 0.338 | $7500 | $8100 | $5850 |
| Ian Kennedy | KC | R | A | NYM | 77.2 | 8.34 | 3.13 | 1.85 | .236 | 10.9% | 4.17 | 4.37 | 1.24 | 37.7% | 45.1% | 0.84 | 0.337 | 0.313 | $7500 | $7700 | $6150 |
| Blake Snell | TB | L | A | CLE | 8.1 | 9.72 | 4.32 | 0.00 | .278 | 7.1% | 2.16 | 4.14 | 1.68 | 48.1% | 29.6% | 1.63 | 0.154 | 0.381 | $7400 | $6700 | $5800 |
| Collin McHugh | HOU | R | H | LAA | 77.1 | 8.50 | 2.21 | 1.16 | .301 | 11.5% | 4.89 | 3.76 | 1.49 | 45.9% | 34.7% | 1.32 | 0.383 | 0.324 | $7300 | $6200 | $6000 |
| Ivan Nova | NYY | R | H | COL | 60.1 | 6.42 | 1.64 | 1.49 | .283 | 10.0% | 4.77 | 3.88 | 1.31 | 57.6% | 24.7% | 2.33 | 0.311 | 0.371 | $6900 | $5200 | $5700 |
| Luis Perdomo | SD | R | A | BAL | 42.0 | 7.50 | 3.64 | 1.50 | .369 | 10.3% | 8.79 | 4.74 | 2.14 | 57.9% | 18.4% | 3.14 | 0.388 | 0.458 | $6800 | $4000 | $5100 |
| Patrick Corbin | ARI | L | A | TOR | 85.0 | 6.89 | 2.75 | 1.38 | .271 | 9.9% | 4.77 | 4.08 | 1.35 | 53.4% | 24.4% | 2.18 | 0.294 | 0.351 | $6500 | $7200 | $5650 |
| Bud Norris | ATL | R | A | MIA | 58.0 | 7.14 | 3.88 | 0.93 | .260 | 9.4% | 4.81 | 4.52 | 1.43 | 50.9% | 22.0% | 2.32 | 0.393 | 0.274 | $6400 | $4400 | $5650 |
| Anthony DeSclafani | CIN | R | A | TEX | 8.2 | 4.16 | 5.19 | 1.04 | .389 | 10.1% | 2.08 | 6.91 | 2.31 | 44.1% | 23.5% | 1.88 | 0.516 | 0.364 | $6200 | $7400 | $5700 |
| Chad Bettis | COL | R | A | NYY | 78.1 | 6.66 | 1.95 | 1.38 | .296 | 8.8% | 5.63 | 4.12 | 1.46 | 53.8% | 23.7% | 2.27 | 0.310 | 0.377 | $6000 | $5000 | $5400 |
| Clay Buchholz | BOS | R | H | CWS | 66.0 | 6.00 | 4.09 | 1.64 | .257 | 9.5% | 5.86 | 5.21 | 1.44 | 40.2% | 42.6% | 0.94 | 0.400 | 0.287 | $6000 | $4900 | $5800 |
| Tyler Duffey | MIN | R | H | PHI | 56.2 | 7.79 | 1.91 | 1.27 | .304 | 9.0% | 5.56 | 4.07 | 1.54 | 47.4% | 25.8% | 1.84 | 0.362 | 0.357 | $5600 | $6500 | $5500 |
| Wilfredo Boscan | PIT | R | H | SF | 12.1 | 4.37 | 3.65 | 0.00 | .205 | 6.2% | 2.92 | 4.87 | 1.14 | 52.6% | 31.6% | 1.67 | 0.278 | 0.229 | $5500 | $4200 | N/A |
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Jose Fernandez, MIA – Doesn’t matter how the Braves have been swinging the sticks lately. This is Fernandez we’re talking about and the Braves are still sitting on a 28th-ranked .287 wOBA against righties with a .659 OPS and a strikeout rate hovering around 20-percent.
Johnny Cueto, SF – Hopefully he gets more run support than Madison Bumgarner got yesterday, especially facing an inexperienced rookie with middling minor league totals. For Cueto though, the Pirates’ offense is in shambles right now. Over the past week they’ve posted a .275 wOBA with a 30.8-percent strikeout rate and those numbers have been hovering right around there for almost two and a half weeks now.
Noah Syndergaard, NYM – The Royals offense has woken up lately and their numbers against right-handed pitching are sitting right around league average. But this is Syndergaard here and his talents transcend the numbers. You could look to his early-season start against them in which he shut them out for six innings and had nine strikeouts, if that helps justify the price tag. Hard to imagine these Royals putting the squeeze on him.
Corey Kluber, CLE – The Rays are struggling with a .288 wOBA over the past week, but what I love most about Kluber here is the Rays’ 24.6-percent strikeout rate over that span and their 25.1-percent K-rate against righties all year.
Jason Hammel, CHC – The Cardinals aren’t big strikeout victims, but their offense has been pretty soft lately. They’ve posted just a .285 wOBA with a .127 ISO over the last week and while the wind may be blowing out like it did yesterday, Hammel has stronger ground ball rates than John Lackey. He should be able to keep the ball in the yard a little better if it is.
Sonny Gray, OAK – His last outing wasn’t too pretty, but the two prior to it gave you some hope that he was rebounding finally. He’s going to need some run support, something the A’s have been struggling with lately, but as far as matching up with the Brewers, I’m looking at their league-average wOBA against righties this year and how innocuous it looks when it comes with a 25.7-percent strikeout rate. Not to mention the Brew Crew’s wOBA over the past week has been barely .300 and that K-rate climbs to 28.5-percent.
Colby Lewis, TEX – I never like to use Lewis because of his weak strikeout rate and fly ball tendencies, but have you see how bad the Reds have been again? We’re talking a .260 wOBA with a 24.6-percent K-rate, a .108 ISO and just a .320 slugging percentage. For GPP purposes, I’ll give Lewis a look.
Jimmy Nelson, MIL – He’s low in the pricing tiers again as he’s been blasted in his last three starts, allowing 14 ER (three HR) with eight walks and only eight strikeouts over 13 innings. But he does get a pitcher-friendly environment in Oakland and he’s facing an A’s team that has just a .236 wOBA with a .104 ISO over the last seven days. We won’t see a world of strikeouts, but if he can throw strikes and induce some medium to low contact, he should make for a nice GPP play who affords you some big bats.
Clay Buchholz, BOS – Someone should punch me in the face for the mere mention of Buchholz, but I do like this match-up against the White Sox who have a .297 wOBA with a 21.6-percent strikeout rate over the past seven days. Their numbers have actually hovered right around there all year against right-handed pitching and it comes with just a .687 OPS as well. If the Red Sox can get to Chris Sale early, Buchholz may have a low-stress game which can be nice for big tournaments.
Tyler Duffey, MIN – Another dart here in the form of Duffey who faces a pitiful excuse for an offense lately in the form of the Phillies. They’ve struggled against right-handed pitching all year (.279 wOBA, 22.3-percent strikeout rate), but even more so lately as they’ve posted a league-worst .211 wOBA and .275 slugging percentage over the last seven days. Giddy up!