Every day this season, our team will share who we believe has the best chance to leave the yard. We’re calling it the “Dinger of the Day”. From one-off plays to core parts of daily stacks, we hope this fun article will help you build winning lineups along the way.
Today’s Picks
James: Trea Turner – “The Madison Bumgarner we knew and loved is not the Madison Bumgarner of 2021. Bumgarner has allowed three long balls in 13 innings and carries an 11.20 ERA and a 2.20 WHIP into this start. Bumgarner ranks in the bottom 25% in almost all advanced metrics and is giving up the most Exit Velo and HardHit% of his career currently. On the other hand, Turner ranks in the 79th percentile for HardHit% and currently is averaging his highest exit velocity of his career. The Nationals boast a ton of left-handed power and while I love them equally today, I give a slight splits edge to Turner based off of Bumgarner (in truth, Turner’s personal splits vs LHP aren’t that advantageous). I’ve picked my home run calls in this article based a lot around data, and while there is some to back this one up, this is mostly a gut call today.”
Zach: Ryan Zimmerman – “Not only is Bumgarner not the same guy that he used to be, but he’s really just a bad pitcher right now. He has a 5.18 SIERA in his last 12 starts with a slate-worst 43% hard hit rate in that time and a heavy fly ball orientation. Zimmerman should bat cleanup here against the lefty, and has already looked good in his limited ABs in 2021. His LA of 16 degrees and .241 ISO are solid in his 30 PA, and his OPS over 1.000 vs LHP dating back to 2018 tells you a pretty good story about how his resume shapes up in the split, too.”
Jared: Vladimir Guerrero Jr – “Brady Singer doesn’t miss many bats, and Vladdy Jr isn’t missing many balls these days, either. Vladdy’s hard hit rate, exit velocity and launch angle are all very encouraging for the young budding slugger, and for a guy that gives up plenty of hard contact (Singer), it’s hard to imagine the Jays’ 1B not having a productive Sunday. While the going is good, he’s as good a bet as any to leave the yard – even in a nice pitcher’s park.”
Overall Standings
| James | 1 |
| Zach | 0 |
| Jared | 7 |
