A full day of Major League Baseball ends with Wednesday’s seven-game main slate. Lock time is at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Pitchers
Five pitchers command your attention and salary on FanDuel:
- Trevor Bauer (R) $11,000, LAD vs. SD
- Robbie Ray (L) $11,000, TOR vs. MIA
- Danny Duffy (L) $9,500, KC vs. NYY
- Trevor Rogers (L) $9,400, MIA vs. TOR
- James Kaprielian (R) $9.000, OAK vs. TEX
Before his 55-FanDuel point effort June 18, Trevor Bauer had topped 35 points once since May 26. Bauer has topped that number twice in two starts against the Padres this season, throwing 12 innings and striking out 16 while allowing three earned runs. Those starts were two months ago and the Padres have solved some of their offensive woes, but Bauer has been one of the best pitchers in baseball even when he is not at his best. He is projected to score the most points among pitchers and is a top-five rated pitcher using the Bales Model.
Robbie Ray’s success has been in large part by throwing strikes. His Walks Per 9 is one walk lower than at any point in his seven-year career and has a career-best 90.3 Left On Base percentage. A .289 BABIP also indicates that he’s getting hit close to what he should (.311 BABIP for career). The Marlins are one of the few teams below average at home against left-handed pitching (92 wRC+). The offense also has one of the lowest walk rates, and one of the highest strikeout rates against southpaws all while having a bloated .337 BABIP. The Marlins should be worse against lefties than they are. Ray is the top-rated pitcher and has a 96 percent Bargain Rating on FanDuel.
Danny Duffy is making his first start since May 12 due to a forearm injury. It’s likely he’s on a pitch count in a tougher spot against the Yankees. The layoff and location of the injury take Duffy out of play for me. The Royals are projected to score 1.4 runs fewer than New York and are the second-biggest underdog.
Trevor Rogers, like Ray, has pitched better when he pounds the strike zone. He first-pitch strike percentage is down and could bite him against a potent Blue Jays lineup. Toronto is just average against lefties in road games, including sporting a 12 percent Home Run-to-Flyball ratio and an elevated Soft Hit percentage. Blue Jays-Marlins has the lowest projected game total at seven runs with two dominant lefties toeing the rubber in Miami. He is the No. 4-rated pitcher on FanDuel and DraftKings.
James Kaprielian gets the Jekyll & Hyde Rangers offense in Texas. The Rangers have a top 10 Hard Hit percentage and bottom 10 Soft Hit percentage but are tied for 23rd in home wRC+ against right-handed pitching. Texas is also 29th in walk rate at home, a good way to attack Kaprielian. He has lower upside because he has not pitched deeper into games, but is pitching against Mike Foltynewicz, who has 2, -10, and 15 FanDuel points in his last three starts.
Value
The Tampa Bay Rays have the highest strikeout rate against righthanders at home and are bottom 10 in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, ISO, Weighted Runs Above Average and Weighted On Base Average. Garrett Richards will get overlooked after three consecutive mediocre outings and the arrival of Wander Franco keeping the attention on the Rays. Richards is a top-five option on both platforms.
Fastballs
Jose Urquidy is tied for the most Pro Trends on DraftKings among starting pitchers. He and the Astros are 1.7-run favorites on the road against Baltimore.
Joe Musgrove is the top-rated pitcher on FanDuel and has the best Projected Plus/Minus on both sites.
Notable Stack
The top offense in baseball tops FanDuel’s stacking options:
- Yuli Gurriel (R)
- Jose Altuve (R)
- Michael Brantley (L)
- Yordan Alvarez (L)
Total Salary: $14,700
Astros-Orioles has a projected game total of 10 runs with the Astros accounting for 5.9 of them. Houston also has a top two Team Value Rating on both platforms. All four Astros hitters are ranked as top 15 hitters on either site. A way to save money on this stack is to incorporate Chas McCormick. He is amid a three-game RBI streak.
Other Hitters
Tony Kemp is the top-rated hitter on the main slate. He has hits in 14 of 16 games played in June with a 9:12 K/BB ratio and 12 RBI’s (five on June 1).
D.J. LeMahieu has a five-game hitting streak with two home runs and six RBI’s during the streak.
Whit Merrifield has five multi-hit games over his past seven starts and has scored at least nine FanDuel points in each.
Wander Franco is $2,500 on FanDuel and $2,000 on DraftKings. Expect elevated ownership.
Manny Machado is 12-for-22 against Trevor Bauer with four home runs, six RBI’s and a 5:4 K/BB ratio.
Mike Zunino has a 1.706 OPS against Garrett Richards in 11 at-bats.
