The Daily Grind: Ross, Cingrani, Piscotty

Agenda

1. Farnsworth on three players (in brief)
2. Daily DFS – Younglings, Coors
3. GB / FB Splits
4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Ray, Beeler, Cingrani, Piscotty, Davis
5. Factor Grid

1. Farnsworth on three players (in brief)

I asked friend of the column and hitting guru Dan Farnsworth who is impressing him recently. He replied with three names, all of which could conceivably be on your waiver wire. Or perhaps none are available. Behold.

I saw a few of Eugenio Suarez’s at bats the other day and was really impressed with how he’s developed in the last year.

Rougned Odor is another young guy who’s gotten discounted because of a bad first run but has a lot of good things going for him at the plate.

Kyle Schwarber has been a favorite of mine since before he was drafted. I’m pumped he’s proving the doubters wrong so quickly.

2. Daily DFS – Younglings, Coors

Yesterday’s Grind

It’s a full 15 game slate this evening with all the myriad options you’ve come to expect. You can pick from a handful of reliable studs with mediocre matchups, but I’m more intrigued by the plethora of future studs. I’d pick a layup like Gerrit Cole for cash games. However, my GPP lineups will use somebody like $6,700 Vincent Velasquez, $5,900 Brian Johnson, $5,000 Joe Ross, or $4,600 Aaron Nola. All prices on FanDuel.

If you’re looking for targets, you can’t ignore the Coors Field game. It’s still Matt Harrison versus Kyle Kendrick. I haven’t looked at the over/under for this matchup. Given that both clubs also have two of the three worst bullpens, I have to imagine we’ll see upwards of 15 runs.

Stack Targets:

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.

There are a few nice stacks out there today. Let’s get to it.

Adam Lind and Ryan Braun v Danny Salazar
Ryan Howard, Cesar Hernandez, and Ben Revere v Nathan Karns
Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Chase Headley v Wei-Yin Chen
Logan Morrison and Robinson Cano v Shane Greene
Jonny Gomes v Brett Anderson
Jose Tabata and Sean Rodriguez v Jason Vargas

4. Tomorrow’s Targets – Ray, Beeler, Cingrani, Piscotty, Davis

Pitchers to Start: Robbie Ray has been a revelation for the Diamondbacks, but don’t get too comfortable. His 1.96 BB/9 is substantially better than any rate he’s posted in the minors. Some guys can turn the corner with major league catching, but it’s not like Arizona is well-stocked in that department. At some point, the command will falter and the numbers will regress. Until then, he’s a risky, modest ceiling start.

Also consider: Michael Bolsinger, Kyle Hendricks, Cody Anderson

Pitchers to Exploit: I hope I get a chance to watch the second game in Cincinnati. If Dallas Beeler and Tony Cingrani were facing each other in Pittsburgh, I might have listed them as pitchers to start. Beeler profiles as a 1 WAR pitcher with decent command. The soft-tossing righty has an easier matchup than Cingrani, but his ceiling is also much lower. We know Cingrani can stifle the competition. However, we also know he’s a lefty with a fastball dominant approach. The Cubs have plenty of thumpful right-handed power.

Also consider: Adam Morgan, Kyle Lohse, Martin Perez, Jorge de la Rosa, Kevin Gausman, Ivan Nova, John Danks, Wade Miley, Felix Doubront, Michael Montgomery

Hitters (power): The Cardinals have activated Stephen Piscotty to help fill the void at first base. An outfielder by trade, Piscotty offers the high-OBP, low strikeout approach typical of Cardinals sluggers. At Triple-A, he has a .272/.366/.475 slash with 11 home runs and five stolen bases in 372 plate appearances. He also has a 12.4 percent walk rate and 16.7 percent strikeout rate. He could offer modest five category production with OF/1B eligibility. Grab him immediately.

Also consider: Andre Ethier, Logan Forsythe, Scooter Gennett, David Murphy, Ryan Rua, Robinson Chirinos, Brandon Barnes, Wilin Rosario, Travis Snider, Randal Grichuk

Hitters (speed): Rajai Davis has been a frequent guest of the column for the last three years. That happens to be the length of time I’ve been penning said column. He’ll face a lefty – Montgomery.

Also consider: Jace Peterson, Delino DeShields

5. 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.

Games in the nation’s capitol and former capitol (Philadelphia) have a storm risk. The rest of the league should stay dry. I forgot my phone charger for trip. As a result, no home run condition updates this week. At this time of year, conditions are almost always favorable.

The Link.

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