Diving into today’s MLB DFS slate to uncover your best pitching plays.
It’s a nice 8 game main slate today in the majors, with 5 names that stand out on the mound for us.
Freddy Peralta, Triston McKenzie, Lucas Giolito, Alek Manoah and Shane Baz are all quite intriguing.
Peralta = the stud of the slate
Let’s start with Peralta, whose numbers on the year continue to be fairly eye-popping. His 13.3 K/9 in the last month is electric, and his 2.88 SIERA leads the way in that time as well. The Mets have a 25% K% as a group, and they have the third-worst wOBA in the majors over the last week (.270), which is just .009 points from the Rangers for last spot in the league (73 wRC+). He should have no problem dominating here, and there’s elite potential for 8+ Ks as well. For a guy that won’t break the bank either price-wise across the industry, he should be very popular today.
McKenzie / Giolito making for a nice little matchup
McKenzie’s having a great second half for Cleveland, with a 3.43 SIERA and 37% chase% in his last 4 starts. The K/9 at 9.7 is very strong, and the 1.6 BB/9 is actually the best on the board in that time. It’s a tougher draw for him as the White Sox have a .325 wOBA in the split on the year and top to bottom talent in that lineup. But it’s their slightly softer split overall, and he has some of the best raw stuff available on the board today. I prefer his opponent (Giolito) here, but McKenzie’s an intriguing low-own candidate for GPPs that could be interesting if you want to bet against the White Sox righty given some of his flaws of late. The fact that the White Sox are really only 59% win% tells us that Vegas is a bit on the fence about this one, too.
A big righty in a big spot for the Jays
Alek Manoah has been one of those guys that has pretty much outproduced his advanced metrics all season, and there really isn’t much reason to expect that this will be different here. He does a very good job generating weaker contact, and although he hasn’t missed as many bats of late, this does line up nicely for him. Particularly because the Jays appear back on the right track offensively and should absolutely blast Griffin Jax to give him plenty of run support. The 64% win% for Manoah is one of the highest on the main slate here today, even with Toronto being on the road. He’s the most expensive option on FanDuel (where I do prefer Peralta in a SP1 discussion), but fifth most expensive on DraftKings which is a great value overall. On DK, he’s an excellent play.
Future Tampa ace for top value on the slate
The last guy that we need to call out is Shane Baz. He’s making just his second start of his MLB career, but boy did he look competent in his first go-around. He allowed just 2 H and 2 ER with 5 Ks against 0 BB in 5 innings. Both of those hits went for solo homers. He looks every bit of a fantasy ace-to-be in perhaps 2023 or so, and the elite Vegas metrics (2.9 opponent total and 75% win%) at home against the lowly Marlins gives us a ton to be excited about. The one drawback is how the Rays are likely to handle him from a “kid gloves” perspective. Especially since they just locked up the AL East. He may only go 5 innings again here to not only keep him fresh for the playoffs but also to make sure his innings aren’t out of control in 2021. He’s a great option here today for the price though, and makes for an elite tournament play.
That will do it for our version of the Pitching Primer today. Best of luck in your contests!
