Top Tier
Gerrit Cole (HOU) and Chris Sale (BOS)
These two battle tonight in a contest featuring the two top pitchers in the American League this season. With these two guys squaring off, it’s evident that the win will be up in the air for both of them. Both have insane upside, pitch deep, and have great teams behind them. There’s no need to get into the numbers and data here. With Cole being at home and the Astros lineup being healthier than the Red Sox right now, I would slightly lean to Cole over Sale on both sites in this spot.
Stephen Strasburg (WAS)
Strasburg has been tremendous in the month of May allowing just nine earned runs over 32.1 innings pitched with 40 strikeouts. In his last two starts in Atlanta, Strasburg has handled the Braves. Over 14.2 innings pitched (7.2 and 7 respectively), Strasburg has 21 strikeouts and just two earned runs allowed. Freddie Freeman has hit Stras well but outside of him, this lineup is not scaring me right now as they aren’t getting the production right now that they were up until a couple of weeks ago.
Mid Tier and Value and SP2 Options
Nick Pivetta (PHI)
Pivetta is very much a value play on FD (8.2K) rather than an SP2 option on DK (10K). In his last start against the Giants on May 9th, Pivetta tossed five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts at home. Tonight, he gets the luxury of pitching in San Francisco, the best pitchers park in baseball and is coming in pitching well. His strikeout upside is present as he’s K’d at least seven hitters in each of his last four outings and has a 28.8 percent K rate on the season.
Mike Foltynewicz (ATL)
With a tough customer on the other side in Strasburg, Folty will have to keep it together tonight against a Nats lineup that’s getting healthy and seemingly on the verge of hitting their stride. He’s been good over his last two starts going six and seven innings respectively and has limited hard contact to under 25 percent over his last three outings. In his last start at home against the Nats, Folty went 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts and just one earned run. There’s always a risk factor with Folty as he is a bit of a hot head and could lose it at any moment. However, at 8.6K and potential low ownership, there is some upside here as he’s handled some good offenses this season including the Red Sox, Cubs, and Phillies.
Chase Anderson (MIL)
Anderson is looking to shake off a bit of a rough stretch against the White Sox, an offense that has struck out the second-most in the league over the last two weeks at 25.8 percent of their plate appearances. At 6.5K on DraftKings, Anderson is a fine SP2 option paired up with a top arm and/or some expensive bats.
Frankie Montas (OAK)
Montas has made one start this season and showed great stuff over six innings striking out seven and allowing one earned run on 82 pitches. He’s struggled at times in the minors this season, but there’s no denying how good his stuff is. His fastball reaches the upper nineties consistently with sink as evidenced by his 47 percent ground ball rate at AAA this season. He also throws a good slider and uses a changeup as a “show me” pitch. Consider Montas viable as an SP2 option tonight as a bit of a longshot.
Pitcher to Fade
Carlos Carrasco (CLE)
Carrasco is usually a guy to roster on the road and he has solid numbers lifetime at Target Field. However, the Twins bats are bound to wake up sooner rather than later and they may have done just that last night scoring eight runs. His salary on FD is enticing at 9.4K but is a bit too rich for my blood on DK at 10.7K. The main worry I have here is Carrasco getting the win if he does pitch well. The Indians bullpen has been such a trainwreck that literally no lead is safe. Couple that with Carrasco’s propensity to give up the long ball (14.3 percent HR/FB rate) and Twins bats like Dozier, Rosario, Sano, Escobar, and Morrison all able to hit the ball out of the ballpark, Carrasco is a guy that I’m willing to fade tonight.
