Adam Zibuda What is up everyone, happy Friday. Check out the FanDuel MLB 4/16 breakdown below.
As usual, I will be going over 3 pitchers and 3 teams that we should be looking to stack in our FanDuel lineups. The main slate is gigantic this Friday with 14 games, so all but 2 teams in the league will be playing, let’s get to it!
The Aces
A. Lucky for us, the Mets decided to postpone their game yesterday, so we now get Jacob deGrom ($11,000) on this massive Friday main slate. I do not need to tell any of you how good Grom is, but the best part about this is that he gets the opportunity to throw against the Rockies. This game being played in Coors Field will definitely lower his ownership, and it is a slight concern, but with a pitcher as elite as deGrom against an offense as mediocre as the Rockies, I still expect him to limit runs and post strikeouts.
B. Every other pitcher tonight is quite the step down from deGrom, so he will be a tough fade. If we do fade him though, we should look to Max Scherzer ($10,400) against the Diamondbacks. Max sports the third highest strikeout rate on the day at 31.3%, and that is accompanied by the third lowest SIERA of 3.46. Do not let the production from yesterday scare you, this Arizona team is #NotGood.
C. My final pitching target of the night is going to be Zach Eflin ($8,500) against the St. Louis Cardinals. The best part about Eflin is really the price tag, as none of his metrics are going to compare to guys like deGrom or Scherzer. He does own a slightly above average strikeout rate of 27.1%, so if you want to mix in some expensive bats then he will help you make that happen.
The Bases
A. We have so many great options for our stacks tonight with so many teams in play, but one of my favorites is the LA Angels. The Halos get the pleasure of taking swings against Lewis Thorpe, the proud owner of a 6.15 SIERA and only slightly better 6.06 ERA. Thorpe does not induce many ground balls, he has very low strikeout ability, and we walks batters to the tune of 13% of the time. For those keeping track at home, that is the exact same rate as he strikes them out. Stack up Troutani in all formats on Friday.
B. Another high-upside stack for tonight is a team that made me some money with my bets last night, the Oakland Athletics. The A’s face off against Jose Urena and the Detroit Tigers Friday night. This A’s team has a lot of fly ball hitters, which helps to offset Urena’s 48% ground ball rate. Urena also sports a SIERA in the 6’s, which is good for the second worst mark on the slate. Load up on this strong offense against one of the worst pitchers taking the mound Friday night.
C. For my final stack I will go a bit off the board and try to find a very low-owned team for us to target. For me that team tonight is the Philadelphia Phillies. People will see Carlos Martinez and look to avoid bats against him based on name value, but C Mart is just not the pitcher that he used to be. Would it shock you if I told you that Martinez owns a 8.70 ERA over the last 2 seasons combined? I think that would shock many MLB DFS players, and that will lead to a lower-owned stack with Philly than some other teams tonight.
That is it for me today! Please also check out our projection model by clicking here. If you have any questions, I will be in our expert chat in Discord leading up to lock so feel free to shoot me a DM!
