Pitching is very unexciting today as Cole Hamels and Tylers Skaggs are the two highest-priced pitchers on DraftKings and then there are a bunch of guys jammed in the mid-tier that are somewhat viable. Right now I have 2 pitchers that I (Tommienation1) am considering playing, but as the day goes on I will add 1-2 more as I dig into some of the low-priced options a bit more.
Vince Velasquez
The same reasoning we were on Berrios the other day against the Cardinals is why we are on Velasquez. He’s been absolutely exceptional against right-handed hitters, and the Cardinals are one of the most righty-heavy teams in the MLB, regularly having 6-7 righties in their lineup. How good has Velasquez been? He has a slate-leading 31.2% K-rate, 1.02 WHIP, and 18.2% hard-contact rate against them this year. He can get in trouble with walks and get a bit wild at times, but I believe he will be low-owned on the road against a team with a healthy total, so I’m willing to take a chance on him, because there are a lot of strikeouts in this Cardinals lineup.
Jeff SamardzijaÂ
I don’t love the idea of playing a chalk Samardzija, but he certainly has the matchup plus a great park to get the job done for only $7,000 on DraftKings, so I can’t ignore him. He’s been less-than-stellar to say the least, allowing 5 ER in each of his last 2 starts, however, he was pushed to 101 pitches and 5.2 innings, which was his longest start of the season, so that is certainly another thing he has going for him. Pitching is ugly today, but Samardzija is one of the guys that checks most of the boxes and you’re getting him at a discount.