The Daily Grind: Crowdsourced Call Ups, Banuelos, Owens

Agenda

1. September Call Ups
2. Daily DFS
3. GB / FB Splits
4. SaberSim Hi/Lo
5. Tomorrow’s Targets – Owens, Conley, Davis, Ichiro
6. Factor Grid

1. September Call Ups

I must admit, I’m a bit behind the curve on September call ups and predicting which players could have a fantasy impact down the stretch. As such, I’d like to crowdsource potential fantasy relevant call ups. For example, Javier Baez and C.J. Edwards will probably be activated by the Cubs. Baez has an uncertain path to playing time with Starlin Castro, Chris Coghlan, and Tommy La Stella already sharing second base. But he could force his way into the lineup and hit some home runs. Edwards may worm his way into a seventh inning role (and holds) in preparation for the postseason.

The best targets usually play for teams out of the race. Those are the guys who really get an extend look with frequent playing time. We’ll discuss some of today’s call ups tomorrow. For now, tell me who you think will matter most.

2. Daily DFS – Banuelos

Yesterday’s Grind

Early: The first half of the Arizona-Colorado doubleheader is early. Too bad.

Late: The remaining 15 games are late. Chris Sale, Madison Bumgarner, Zack Greinke, Gerrit Cole, and Johnny Cueto represent the over $10,000 crowd. You also have a wide range of viable mid-tier options.

SaberSim loves Manny Banuelos today. He’s currently the fourth ranked pitcher. I can’t argue against the logic even if the ranking seems overly optimisitic. He’s very likely to earn a win with Justin Nicolino on the other side of the matchup. Banuelos himself isn’t a safe pick for a great performance. He’ll probably cough up three runs over six innings and call it a day. So long as he strikes out three to five batters, he’ll earn over 10 FanDuel points for just $5,700. How else are you going to stack Blue Jays against Cody Anderson?

Stack Targets: Anderson, Cody Martin, Aaron Harang, Dan Haren, Anthony DeSclafani, Kyle Kendrick, Rubby de la Rosa, Drew Smyly, Roenis Elias, Jon Niese

3. GB / FB Splits

The following hitters are recommended based on the works of Shane Tourtellotte and Dan Fansworth. They show ground ball hitters perform better against fly ball pitchers and vice versa. Using three-year values for hitter OPS and pitcher GB%, here are today’s top recommendations. Use this link for Jeff’s full list.

We have several stacks available today.

Michael Cuddyer, Ruben Tejada v Aaron Harang
Steve Pearce, Jonathan Schoop, Manny Machado v Drew Smyly
Prince Fielder v Andrew Cashner
Logan Morrison v Scott Feldman
Ben Paulsen v Rubby de la Rosa
C.J. Cron, Kole Calhoun, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, Erick Aybar v Cody Martin
Brayan Pena, Joey Votto v Dan Haren
Carlos Santana, Jose Ramirez v Marco Estrada

4. SaberSim Hi/Lo

Wrong: Cody Anderson is projected as the worst pitcher tonight. He’s opposed by the Blue Jays. Yea, it will probably be ugly. However, he’s projected to produce just five points tonight which smells low to me. Especially when Kyle Kendrick is projected for more.

Anderson doesn’t often last deep into his starts. He has a strong command and control profile with decent ground ball stuff. There is a real possibility for over 10 FanDuel points. I’m not saying you should using – you definitely shouldn’t – but I see him as closer to Scott Feldman than Kendrick.

Right: Conversely, Jose Bautista mashes ground ball pitchers. Anderson is a ground ball pitcher. It didn’t show up in the GB/FB splits report, but SaberSim has us covered. Bautista is the second highest ranked hitter this evening with the single highest chance for a home run.

5. Tomorrow’s Targets – Owens, Conley, Davis, Ichiro

Pitchers to Start: I like what I’ve seen of Henry Owens. I think he’ll be a force in the league, but he might a few years to reach his ceiling (like Cole). Owens is mixing five pitches. He’s yet another guy who should consider discarding his sinker. His changeup may be his best offering, but it’s been hammered. Meanwhile, nobody has touched his slider. A matchup against the Yankees will be a challenge.

Also consider: Raisel Iglesias, Andrew Heaney

Pitchers to Exploit: The Braves face soft-tossing lefties on consecutive nights. Adam Conley gets the nod tomorrow. He has better swing-and-miss stuff than Nicolino, but he lacks the same polished command. He could survive the outing just by being effectively wild.

Also consider: Edwin Jackson, Yordano Ventura, Randy Wolf, Jeff Locke, Carlos Rodon, Tommy Milone, Chase Anderson, Jon Gray

Hitters (power): Khris Davis bashed 10 home runs in the month of August. He did very little else, batting .228/.291/.576. Tomorrow’s matchup with Jeff Locke at Miller Park promises more of the same. As in home runs or nothing.

Also consider: Andre Ethier, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Ben Paulsen, Jake Lamb, Franklin Gutierrez, John Jaso, Chris Young, Hector Olivera

Hitters (speed): With Christian Yelich out of the lineup, Ichiro Suzuki is batting second for the Marlins. He should receive a handful of plate appearances against Edwin Jackson. With luck, he’ll also steal a base. He’s two stolen bases away from 500 in his major league career.

Also consider: Will Venable, Ender Inciarte

6. The Factor Grid

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.

Alas, no weather factors today. At least there won’t be any rain.

The Link.

This post is not brought to you by any DFS platform. The current author is quite pleased to present a DFS ad free environment.