*Chris Durell*
DraftKings / FanDuel MLB Lineup Picks for June 15, 2017
Welcome back to another day of daily fantasy baseball. Tonight we have a mid-sized seven-game slate including the start of another series in Coors Field as Matt Moore and the San Francisco Giants come to town. The interesting part about this slate is that for pitching we have Chris Sale at the top with a big gap down to the next tier. This will make the decisions very interesting for tournaments as there is no way to fit them all.
Put your favorite Draftkings / Fanduel MLB Lineup Picks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.
Like I mentioned above, Chris Sale is the elite arm on the slate and while his price has stayed consistent on FanDuel all season, it has reached a season high $14,100 on DraftKings. It makes sense as he is arguably the best pitcher in the game at the moment. Sale leads the league in strikeouts rate(12.5 K/9), swinging strike rate (16%), and xFIP (2.57). He is an elite play in all formats vs. the Phillies. If you are looking to pivot off Sale tonight, I like what Jordan Montgomery brings to the table. He has an above average strikeout rate (8.7 K/9) and has held opponents under three earned runs in four straight starts. He gets a park upgrade in Oakland facing an A’s team that ranks near the bottom in hitting vs. lefties and strikes out over 25% of the time. If you are looking to pay down at the position, especially on DraftKings to pair with Sale, I suggest Michael Wacha tonight. The Cardinals are currently -145 favorites at home where Wacha can really only be considered in fantasy right now with a 2.95 ERA vs. 7.52 on the road. There is a definite risk of a blowup as he has given up six earned runs twice in his last four starts but the upside and price are in the right spots for consideration in all formats.
Hitting
Whenever there is a game in Coors Field it takes center stage from a fantasy perspective. That holds even truer today as Matt Moore and Jeff Hoffman go head to head. Hoffman has shown upside with 7+ strikeouts in four straight starts but the last three have been on the road. The side I like best tonight is obviously the Rockies who get to face one of the worst pitchers on the slate. Moore comes in with a 5.24 xFIP, average K rate(7.0 K/9) and has given up 49% hard contact on the year. This will also be the third time he will face the Rockies this season and the first two didn’t go so well as he gave up 11 earned runs(4 HR) in 9.2 innings pitched. Nolan Arenado, DJ Lemahieu, and Charlie Blackmon are my top choices but Mark Reynolds, Ian Desmond are also in play tonight.
After the Rockies, I like pivoting to the Tigers hitters vs. Alex Cobb who has struggled on the road this season with a 5.01 ERA and .357 wOBA against. I will lean on their leaders in hitting vs. right-handed pitching with Alex Avila, Miguel Cabrera, JD Martinez, and Justin Upton. All of them have a wOBA greater than .330 and outside of Miggy, who has dropped some power this season, all have an ISO over .260 for the year vs. righties.
If you are looking for a value stack to make it easier to roster Sale, consider the Angels in one of the two late games. They have been mid-pack in hitting over the last seven days and specifically vs. left-handed pitching this season. Tonight they face a young pitcher in Matt Strahm who will be making his first major league start on a pitch count. In 20 appearances out of the pen this season, Strahm has shown upside with a 10.6 K/9 rate but the walks have been a problem(7.4 BB/9) and so has the long ball (21.1% HR/FB rate). Even if they don’t fully get to Strahm they should get a healthy sample of the Royals bullpen that sits in the bottom third of the league. Target C.J. Cron who leads the team in hitting vs. southpaws with a .499 wOBA and 225 wRC+ and combine him with leadoff hitter Cameron Maybin, cleanup hitter Yunel Escobar and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols.
