April comes to a close this evening and with nearly a month in the books, we have a good amount of data to start analyzing pitchers and hitters. There are 10 games scheduled this MLB main slate on DraftKings tonight with plenty of options to look at. Let’s take a look at some of the best GPP selections.
Pitchers
Jake Arrieta (PHI): $10,900 @ MIA
The Phillies ace is in the best position this evening and should be in line for a great game. The Marlins are not a good team and have a lot of strikeouts throughout the lineup. Owning a 24.4% strikeout rate and just an 8.3% BB rate, Miami will prove to be an easy matchup for Arrieta. The veteran has shown incredible movement on his pitches and as long as he has his command in check, he should be the highest scoring pitcher on the slate. He will likely see the highest ownership, so fading is certainly viable. There are other great pivots and lower priced options.
Jon Lester (CHC): $8,000 vs. COL
The Rockies are a team with incredible home/road split stats. At home, they are one of the more dangerous hitting teams in the league. However, on the road, they are one of the worst. Hitting just a .207 AVG, they also have struck out 142 times in 2018. Jon Lester is a savvy starter who should be able to take advantage of a struggling team. Although he is off to a rocky start, Lester has shown big-time fantasy production upside. At a reasonable cost, the lefty will have to navigate around a couple of power-hitting righties but has 25 DraftKings point potential.
Aaron Sanchez (TOR): $6,500 @ MIN
The Blue Jays starter is coming off a great game against the Boston Red Sox. Pitching six strong innings, Sanchez also came away with eight strikeouts against a very tough team. Now he will travel to Minnesota to take on a much more strikeout-prone team. The successful start to 2018 for Sanchez can be attributed to the increase in usage of his changeup. He has an elite fastball with a lot of moment. Historically known as a groundball pitcher, Sanchez has increased his strikeout rate and reduced his base-on-balls rate. At just $6,500, the Blue Jays future ace is starting to show signs of a break-out season and the Twins have a lot of strikeout hitters who will struggle to hit him.
Hitting Stacks
1.)Â Chicago Cubs
Hosting the Colorado Rockies, the Cubs have the second highest implied run total set at 5.51. As the weather warms up at Wrigley, the ball should be traveling a little further. The wind is blowing out to left-center and lefty, Kyle Freeland will take the mound. Six of the first seven hitters in the Cubs lineup are right-handed hitters who can all take Freeland deep. Kris Bryant appears to be healthy and back in the heart of this dangerous lineup. Although they should see a lot of ownership, they are not far and away the best group of hitters to stack, therefore can be faded.
2.)Â Boston Red Sox
Boston has the highest implied team total but will have weather concerns. The struggling Jason Hammel will try to navigate through this tough Red Sox lineup tonight at Fenway. With neutral split stats historically, Hammel can be targeted with both lefties and righties tonight. Watch for the status on Mookie Betts as he left Saturday’s game with an apparent hamstring injury. He makes this lineup much stronger, but there are plenty of bats to consider regardless if he suits up or not.
3.) Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays went on a bit of a tear winning eight games in a row before giving up a win yesterday to the Red Sox. The hitters are swinging a hot bat and will now look to beat up on Tigers starter, Jordan Zimmerman. Allowing a 2.33 HR/9, he is also allowing a .441 wOBA to righties and .396 to lefties. The Rays have some big-time power hitters in their lineup and should be in for a big game. Assuming the bats haven’t cooled off just yet, there should be homeruns in bunches tonight.
4.)Â Cincinnati Reds
The Reds exploded a couple of nights ago for 15 runs against the Twins. Jhoulys Chacin will try to quiet the hot hitters on Cincinnati, which probably won’t go over well. Chacin struggles with power-hitting lefties and the Reds have a couple of good ones. Joey Votto is arguably the hottest hitter in baseball right now, with four homers in his last six games. Scooter Gennett also has a ton of power, hitting as a lefty, and is now batting over .300 with two homeruns and 14 RBI’s. In a very hitter-friendly ballpark, look for the Reds to score some runs with ease tonight.
Position-by-position
Catcher
J.T. Realmuto $4,000 vs. PHI
Willson Contreras $3,800 vs. COL
Brian McCann $3,600 vs. NYY
Wilson Ramos $3,600 @ DET
First Base
Joey Votto $4,600 vs. MIL
Ryan Braun $4,500 @ CIN
Hanley Ramirez $4,400 vs. KC
C.J. Cron $3,900 @ DET
Justin Smoak $3,500 @ MIN
Second Base
Javier Baez $4,700 vs. COL
Daniel Robertson $3,700 @ DET
Scooter Gennett $3,600 vs. MIL
Joey Wendle $3,500 @ DET
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. $3,100 @ MIN
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Third Base
Kris Bryant $4,900 vs. COL
Travis Shaw $4,300 @ CIN
Rafael Devers $4,200 vs. KC
Alex Bregman $3,900 vs. NYY
Yangervis Solarte $3,400 @ MIN
Shortstop
Carlos Correa $5,000 vs. NYY
Xander Bogaerts $4,700 vs. KC
Trevor Story $4,200 @ CHC
Addison Russell $3,300 vs. COL
Orlando Arcia $2,700 @ CIN
Outfield
Bryce Harper $5,300 vs. PIT
J.D. Martinez $5,100 vs. KC
George Springer $4,900 vs. NYY
Lorenzo Cain $4,600 @ CIN
Andrew Benintendi $4,400 vs. KC
Nicholas Castellanos $4,100 vs. TB
Scott Schebler $3,900 vs. MIL
Michael A. Taylor $3,600 vs. PIT
Ian Happ $3,500 vs. COL
Albert Almora Jr. $3,400 vs. COL
Carlos Gomez $3,300 @ DET
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