Yesterday turned out just fine for Alex Cobb (8.0 IP, 2 ER, 1 QS, 3 SO). I thought he would sneak a few more strikeouts, but his 31 FDP performance was tolerable if your batters came through. In my case, the Colorado Rockies threw me a curveball and gave Nolan Arenado the day off...and my Colorado shares garnered mixed results after that. Onward and upward.
Target: Blake Snell ($6,900) vs. Kansas City Royals
Snell has an excellent matchup against the Royals, who have a 23.0% K-rate against southpaws so far this season (11th-worst). The Royals also have a nonexistent .080 ISO (28th), .232 wOBA (30th), and a pitiful 40 wRC+ (30th). “30th” means “worst in the league,” in case anyone forgot how many teams there were in the majors. Snell himself has been more vulnerable to right-handed bats, which makes sense because he is a lefty. The Royals could probably roll out six right-handed hitters, but the only ones of consequence would be Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez. Cain has endured a mediocre start to the season (.269 batting average, one home run) and Perez is one game removed from a forearm injury. Those guys would be the main concern, and neither are particularly threatening.
Finally, Snell has an insane 76.9% ground ball rate against left-handed bats, as well as a 15.4 fly ball rate and lowly 23.1 hard contact percentage. In short, he is dominating lefty hitters...if he can continue that trend he should make short work of the heart of the Royals order. If he has to pitch around Cain a time or two...so be it.
Stack Against: Nick Martinez with San Diego Padres
The only decision here is whether or not you start Yangervis Solarte (.173 ISO, .351 wOBA) or Ryan Schimpf (.271 ISO, .342 wOBA). On FanDuel, both Solarte and Schimpf qualify at the keystone. Each costs $3,300, too—so if you have a hard time deciding you can just roll out identical lineups and make the switch. Other than second base, it’s Wil Myers (.296 ISO, .404 wOBA), Manuel Margot (.141 ISO, .323 wOBA), and Hunter Renfroe (.159 ISO, .217 wOBA) under consideration. I wish I could start Margot, Myers, Solarte, and Schimpf...but I guess I’ll choose Solarte and take a chance on Renfroe starting to put things back together in this one.
I should offer negative propaganda regarding Martinez, right? For starters, he gives it up to both handedness of hitting, with a .347 wOBA to LHH and .356 wOBA to RHH. He is awful at striking hitters out (career 5.03 K/9) and walks too many batters (career 3.46 BB/9). Martinez didn’t strike out a single Houston Astro in his last turn and gave up seven runs on nine hits...this is a good time to remind everyone that Martinez only exists in the Rangers’ rotation due to A.J. Griffin landing on the disabled list. Just play your Padres, okay?
Quick Hitting:
- Wilmer Flores ($2,300) is nearly free and has a matchup against a southpaw. Flores (.462 ISO, .529 wOBA) has crushed lefties this season will probably hit cleanup for the Mets against Matt Moore.
- Tommy Pham ($2,000) is red-hot after a pair of home runs on Sunday and is the bare minimum on FanDuel. Pham has actually fared better against right-handed pitchers over his career, but all he needs to do is sneak on base one time to be worth this salary. With a healthy 15.3% walk rate against LHP this season, there is a good chance of that happening one way or another.
- Yonder Alonso ($3,300) isn’t as cheap as the other two but he is RAKING. He hit a pair of home runs on Saturday night and hit another one on Sunday. He is slashing .311/.386/.667 with a .436 wOBA so far this year. He’ll face Ricky Nolasco...if you aren’t using Myers, consider riding the hot streak with Alonso.
Good luck out there, ladies and gents!