Astros (Framber Valdez, LHP) @ Orioles (Grayson Rodriguez, RHP)
Braves (Yonny Chirinos, RHP) @ Pirates (Mitch Keller, RHP)
Royals (Brady Singer, RHP) @ Red Sox (Kutter Crawford, RHP)
Cubs (Jameson Taillon, RHP) @ Mets (Carlos Carrasco, RHP)
Blue Jays (Yusei Kikuchi, LHP) @ Guardians (Tanner Bibee, RHP)
Yankees (Clarke Schmidt, RHP) @ White Sox (Touki Toussaint, RHP)
Rockies (Kyle Freeland, LHP) @ Brewers (Wade Miley, LHP)
Giants (Scott Alexander, LHP) @ Angels (Lucas Giolito, RHP)
Dodgers (Julio Urias, LHP) @ D-backs (Brandon Pfaadt, RHP)
Padres (Nick Martinez, RHP) @ Mariners (Logan Gilbert, RHP)
Rangers (Max Scherzer, RHP) @ Athletics (JP Sears, LHP)

Pitching Preferences

• Max Scherzer
• Framber Valdez
• Yusei Kikuchi
• Wade Miley
• Julio Urias
• Logan Gilbert
• JP Sears
• Nick Martinez
• Grayson Rodriguez
• Lucas Giolito
• Kutter Crawford
• Clarke Schmidt
• Brady Singer
• Mitch Keller

Favorite Teams

• Braves
• Dodgers
• Cubs
• Mets
• Yankees
• Pirates
• Rangers
• Astros
• Brewers
• Red Sox
• White Sox
• Giants
• Royals

Good morning! It’s the real Monday of the week – Tuesday. But fret not, we have a really nice 11-game slate on tap today to ease your blues. As I was writing out the starters, and listing pitchers + teams, I found this to be a slate that will be advantageous for getting different (shocker!).

Any time the Braves and Dodgers are the perceived best matchups on the slate, it’s time to implement the bits. #NeverDodgers, #NeverBraves are in full effect today. Again these are just bits and I’m not actually full fading either team, but it’s easy to find yourself registering for draft after draft chasing these teams stacks and fighting for pieces of the lineup along with the rest of the room, and missing the forest for the trees in the process.

I’ll happily build lineups around different matchups today. Brandon Pfaadt is a rookie who has not gotten off to a great start this season, but possesses quality stuff that is likely bound to stick around the majors. And then there’s Mitch Keller against the Braves. What a disaster he’s been in the second half of 2023. I’m not promising he’s turning anything around, there’s nothing to look at in his last few starts that would indicate that. The field knows this too, and sees him as food for the Braves. I’m just suggesting we play the probabilities and get comfortable not chasing Braves stacks when there’s lots of other fun spots to look to instead.

For starters, lets look at the Pirates themselves! This would probably be a better play if they hadn’t just chased Spencer Strider off the mound in 2.2 innings last night, but I don’t think the field will be tripping over themselves to take Pirates today on an 11-game slate. I like them today mostly for one player – Endy Rodriguez. For the unfamiliar, he went on a torrid stretch in the minor leagues last season. This year in the minors however he got off to a slow start, and was on a serious heater prior to being called up. He’s putting very good wood on the baseball as of late, with a 135 wRC+ in his last 47 PA. He’s not a name people are looking for, and I’m looking to take him + a few teammates against Yonny Chirinos and the Braves today. You heard it hear first, folks.

Another team I’m targeting today is the Yankees at home against Touki Toussaint. Aaron Judge is playing baseball, albeit not at 100%, at home against a not good pitcher. If he homers last night, he’s a top three pick today. Granted he’s currently the fifth player off the board as of writing this, he is going to fall in some lobbies today. Definitely someone I’m going to be taking with frequency until he blows up, because it’s only a matter of time. He’s fun to stack today with Gleyber Torres and Jake Bauers. I’m not taking Giancarlo Stanton because he is a pinch run candidate and a home run or bust because he’s literally speed walking around the bases right now. Go ahead and bookmark him for a multi-HR game tonight now that I’ve made that call though.

Let’s talk pitching! Max Scherzer goes in the top three right now in every draft. I’m probably not passing up on Acuna Jr at the 1.01 the first few times I roll it though. But Scherzer is very obviously the most attractive option at pitcher today. I’ll mix him as I get different with my batters later in the day.

Framber Valdez get the Orioles at Camden Yards. Lefty pitching plays very well here. I’m taking him with confidence today, he will be a 15%+ player for me.

As most of you know I am a JP Sears heart throb. Taking on the Astros today, Sears has his work cut out for him. Gaining leverage at pitcher really takes a lot to go right for you, and with 22 to choose from today, he’s hard to make a case for outside of Cycles. But I would certainly consider him in The Cycle.

Lucas Giolito gets the G-men today. I am on record loving the Giants vs RHP, so this is a tough call for me. I think Giolito is very fairly priced as SP7 currently. He’s fine as a last round pitcher in the main slate, but I’d be looking to stack against him today in LA where the balls just travel further. Source: trust me bro (and their park factor numbers but that’s just run environment not raw distance traveled of the baseball, which I made up. But it certainly seems that way!)

Best of luck today everyone! I’ll have an update later today with some Batter Ranks. To be honest they’re not my favorite to do, but I had some players on the ranks yesterday in my top 5 lineup from last night, so maybe I just ride the heater.

GLHF!

Nez