The following Spotlight Pitchers were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. Please check back later for notes/additional picks from Awesemo himself.
Noah Syndergaard ($11,500 DK/$10,000 FD)
Syndergaard’s matchup against the Phillies looks like one of the best on the slate, and he’s worth his price on both sites for that reason. The Phillies have the league’s 2nd highest K% againgst RHP this season, so a stud like Syndergaard should have no problem racking up a bunch of strikeouts here. His results on the year don’t look spectacular, but he’s missing bats with the best of them, posting a 14.4% Swinging-Strike rate and a Whiffs/Swing% over 30%. Weather is the only thing holding him back, but if it looks OK by lock, he’s a great play in my eyes.
Charlie Morton ($12,800 DK/$9,300 FD)
Morton is similar to Syndergaard in that he’s got some fantastic strikeout stuff when he gets going, and for him, especially good stuff against lefties. His curveball is creating a league-best 54.1% Whiffs/Swing% and lefties are having a rough time making contact with it. The Rangers should have 5-6 lefties in their lineup tonight, and a bunch of players that strikeout over 20% of the time against RHP going back to last season (Gallo, Choo, Profar, Deshields, Chirinos, Guzman). Of all the pitchers on the slate tonight, Morton probably has the highest raw point upside against this free-swinging Rangers team that has been great to target against with pitching.
Chad Kuhl ($7,700 DK/$7,300 FD)
We have no reach the, shall we say, “less fun” portion of the Spotlight Pitchers article with Chad Kuhl as our 3rd option. It’s never fun having to play Chad Kuhl, but he does make some sense here against the Giants, who are another team that I’ve targeted against regularly with starting pitching. While some call taking a guy who is coming off a 7 IP, 8K game “point chasing,” I’m more encouraged about his recent Swinging-Strike rate (13.9% against DET, 12.1% against WSH). The matchup against the Giants is pretty solid, too, as they have a K% over 25%, 93 wRC+, and only a .306 OBP against righties this season. Give me the -130 favorite for $7.7K on DK.
