Jared Levitt 
Welcome to the Monday edition of Picks and Pivots. Today we have a nice sized 7 game main slate of MLB DFS on Draftkings to navigate through.
Main Slate Breakdown
It’s Jared and I’ll be filling in for Brian over the next 2 weeks when I’m not writing Aces and Bases as he takes a much needed vacation. Today’s slate will leave a lot to desired from a pitching standpoint. The most expensive pitcher on tonight’s slate is Tylor Megill. Nothing against Megill as he’s been quite good since his call up, but he shouldn’t be the most expensive pitcher on a slate (at least yet).
There are really only 3 pitchers tonight that will have my interest. Tylor Megill ($9.6k), Michael Wacha ($8.4k), and Josiah Gray ($7.6k). As the day goes on I will let ownership dictate who I use. These 3 pitchers provide 2 things I’m looking for on a slate like this. Upside and safety.
First let’s look at Megill. He’s facing off against a very watered down lineup that won’t hit for much power. While the Marlins do get Chisholm back, he’s someone that’s striking out more than 29% of the time to righties this year. Megill’s price is a little more than I’d like to pay for him, but the match up today definitely gives him room for upside. The next two guys are the wild cards for me.
How do you get the Nationals to send you 2 of their best players? You send them one of the top pitching prospects in the game in Josiah Gray. Gray has looked pretty good so far in the Majors with 13 K’s through 8 IP. That’s nearly 15 K/9. He’s someone that’s going to give us the most K potential of any arm on the slate as long as he can limit the walks.
The last guy I’m interested in is Wacha. Over the last 30 days Wacha has a 27% K rate and gets a great match up against a Mariners team that couldn’t put up much of a fight against the worst pitcher in baseball, Folty. If Wacha comes in at chalk (and it’s certainly possible on a slate like this) I’ll side with Gray and Megill.
The main area of offense for me tonight will be the Milwaukee Brewers. We get to attack newly acquired Bryce Wilson. While Wilson isn’t very good to either side of the plate, we really want to attack him with batters from the left side of the plate. His ISO jumps to .254 from just .130 and his K rate is just 11%.
Newly acquired Eduardo Escobar ($5.4K) is my favorite of the bunch as he has the most power with an ISO of .231 against righties this season. The other keys here will be Kolten Wong ($4.4k) at the top and Omar Narvaez ($4.5k).
The one guy in this lineup that will open us up for a ton of salary relief is Jackie Bradley Jr. ($2.4k). Look, this season has been brutal for Bradley as he’s batting just .175 with an OPS of .540. Some of it has been bad luck though as he an extremely low BABIP of .234. By far the lowest of his career.
The team that I’m looking at tonight to pair with the Brewers is a Brian special, the Tampa Bay Rays. They get to take on Chris Flexen. Flexen has flashed some upside this season, but the match up for him tonight is going to be tough and his performance recently has been trending down. His last outing was by far his worst of the year, giving up 7 ER vs. the Houston Astros.
The two building blocks I’ll use from the Rays are Austin Meadows ($4.5k) and Ji-Man Choi ($4.4k). Both guys have absolutely crushed right handed hitting this year with ISO’s of .339 and .284 respectively. The two of them are extremely underpriced considering the match up and their upside.
MLB DFS Picks and Pivots – The Wrap-Up
This is going to be a tricky, but fun slate. We’ve had some questionable pitching slates over the past month but this one may take the cake. We are now a few days separated from the trading deadline and lineups are getting close to set with the new guys. Tonight I’ll be mixing and matching the Brewers with Rays as both teams line up great with each other.
I don’t think I’ll stray too far from my core of Megill, Wacha, and Gray. Another area to look at tonight will be the Baltimore Orioles. Andrew Heaney is making his Yankees debut and if he becomes chalky, I’ll be sure to sprinkle in some O’s (Mancini being the main target). O’s have been very good vs. lefties this year and can certainly do some damage vs. Heaney.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green!
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