Every day this season, our team shares who we believe has the best chance to leave the yard. 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: Nelson Cruz – “I don’t really have to go too deep on this one as we get Nelson Cruz against a bad left-handed pitcher. Sam Hentges is making just his sixth start and carries an ERA of 6.40 and WHIP of 1.89. Hentges is also allowing a home run around every six innings. Nelson Cruz is hitting LHP at a .390 batting average and .683 slugging. Nelson Cruz is aging like a fine wine, as he ranks in the top 5% of the MLB in Avg Exit Velo, Max Exit Velo, HardHit%, and Barrel%.”
Zach: Nick Castellanos – “Kyle Muller has yet to give up a home run in his short MLB career but he struggled with giving up the long ball in Triple-A with an HR/9 rate of 1.72 and all projections have him as a pitcher that will give up over a home run per nine innings in the majors. That shows me it is only a matter of time before Muller allows a deep ball and I have a feeling it is today at the hitter’s park that is Great American Ball Park. Specifically, I think Castellanos is the one to take him deep for the first time as Castellanos is hot and has crushed left-handed pitching throughout his career with a .232 ISO and a .537 slugging percentage.”
Jared: Vladimir Guerrero Jr – “I see no reason to shy away from the league leader in both wOBA (4.68) and xwOBA (.440), who continues to slug a ridiculous .683 in 2021 to date. He has a 15.7% barrel rate and average exit velocity of just shy of 95 mph, hitting the ball hard 55% of the time. He destroys fastballs (.539 wOBA) but is far above average against all other pitches as well (.398 wOBA vs breaking balls, for example). Jorge Lopez has allowed the third-most HR amongst SPs on this slate, doesn’t have an overpowering arsenal by any means, and has a very (and I mean very) below-average 4 seamer (which we know Vladdy destroys). The current wOBA vs his 4 seamer is .409 on the year with a 24 degree launch angle. Go get ’em, Vladdy.”
Overall Standings
| James | 14 |
| Zach | 13 |
| Jared | 25 |
