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: Bryce Harper – “Cubs starter Jake Arrieta has allowed 16 long balls on the year, including at least one in his last four starts. Neither of Arrieta’s last four starts have resulted in wins, in fact, he has failed to get into the sixth inning in any of them, and has allowed 13 earned over his last 14 innings. Harper has had what has seemed like a “quiet in the media” year. but he is currently averaging the second-highest Barrel% of his career and is absolutely mashing sinkers – which is what Arrieta is throwing 55% of the time. When Harper has seen a sinker so far this year, he is slugging them at a .833 slugging and .292 batting average. The splits from Arrieta are pretty even to lefties and righties – but Harper is seeing RHP way better, with a .570 slugging and 12 of his 14 homers against RHP. Let’s see if I can continue my hot streak and mark my fourth correct home run call in the last five days.”
Zach: Nick Castellanos – “Castellanos went deep for the Reds last night and I like him to go deep again tonight as he takes on Kris Bubic. Bubic is one of the best pitchers to chase home runs against as he gives them up in spades. Bubic allowed three home runs in his last start which was the third time this season he has allowed at least that many home runs and for the season he has an HR/9 rate of 2.06. Bubic’s Statcast numbers are also ones that I like to pick on as he is allowing an average exit velocity of 90.4 miles per hour, a hard-hit rate of 46.2%, and a barrel rate of 10.9%. ”
Jared: Vladimir Guerrero Jr – “Vladdy’s power numbers against RHP this year are pretty remarkable. He has a .369 ISO and 205 wRC+ in the split this year (233 AB) with 23 of his 27 long flies coming against right-handed arms, too. Dean Kremer gets the tough task of facing the Jays tonight and one of the most talented hitters in the game. Kremer’s been below average against both RHB and LHB alike, but RHB have even more luck against him. They hold a .580 SLG and .401 wOBA in the split. Skilled power bat meets susceptible RHP in this matchup, where I fully expect Vladdy Jr to do some serious damage.”
Overall Standings
| James | 18 |
| Zach | 15 |
| Jared | 26 |
