The Daily Grind: 7-13-14 – Presented by FanDuel

Agenda

1. Strikeout Friendly Teams
2. Daily DFS
3. Monday Picks
4. Table

1. Strikeout Friendly Teams

Scott Spratt discussed the 11 most strikeout friendly teams last Thursday. I won’t steal his thunder except to mention the White Sox top the list. Consider it required reading as we head into the All-Star break.

In case it’s not obvious, there won’t be a post the next four days. Yea, I could do a post on Thursday for Friday, but there’s only three games. So I’ll see ya all again on Friday.

2. Daily DFS

Early: We have 10 games in the early afternoon contest.

The Mets don’t have a ton of hitters who thrive against left-handed pitching, but they could still poke a few runs past Brad Hand. CitiField’s park factor for right-handed home runs is 110, meaning it’s a surprisingly decent place for power.

Bruce Chen is an easy pick as a stacking option. The Tigers mash most lefties and Chen is a low quality southpaw. The Royals might find Justin Verlander more hittable than normal, his fastball has averaged about 91 mph over his last two outings.

Clay Buchholz has allowed five home runs since returning from the disabled list. What do we DFSers chase if not home runs?

Travis Wood has the misfortune of running into the Braves at Wrigley Field. Atlanta’s sluggers are prone to the strikeout, but they also hit lefties very well. Wrigley is 20 percent better for right-handed power than Turner Field.

Scott Baker might have the toughest assignment of all – he’ll face the Angels at Globular Life Park. For Angels, the team is rather murderous of opposing pitching.

Late: Five games fall into the late afternoon or lone evening bucket.

Like hair stylist Vidal Sassoon, Vidal Nuno will make his second start for the Diamondbacks today. I’m not sure where that analogy fell apart. The good news for Vidal (Nuno, not Sassoon) – the game is to be played at AT&T Park.

I’m not sure Phil Hughes will get the pitch movement he’s accustomed to at Coors Field. I also don’t trust his ability to keep the ball out of the stands at such a hitter friendly venue. He was smart to sign with Minnesota, but even the Twins sometimes visit hitter havens.

Brett Anderson is on a pitch count. So not only is he exploitable as a pitcher who’s always injured and therefore a complete unknown quantity, he’ll also yield quickly to the soft underbelly of the Rockies bullpen.

Lest I leave you short of options, Chase Whitley will throw at hitter friendly Camden Yards. I think Whitley could be a lot better than his 4.94 ERA and 3.81 FIP, but Camden Yards is a tough place to finish the first half.

3. Monday Picks

The best plays tomorrow include Troy Tulowitzki, Yasiel Puig, and Jose Bautista. Seriously, I can’t wait to sleep in for the first time in a thousand years. I bet I’ll make it all the way to 7:00 AM. Sometimes, I miss the old days of 3:00 PM wake ups.

4. Table

The table below indicates which stadiums have the best conditions for hitters today. The color coding is a classic stoplight where green equals go for hitters. The weather conditions are from SI Weather’s home run app. A 10/10 means great atmospheric conditions for home runs. A 1/10 means lousy atmospheric conditions.

There are a LOT of scattered thunderstorms today. By virtue of their scattered nature, some will probably hit and some won’t. Baltimore, Colorado, Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, and Cleveland could be affected, although no location has a greater than 60 percent chance of storms.

The Link. The weather factors will return next week.

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