The following Spotlight Pitchers were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. For more analysis on the slate, check out the MLB Strategy Video and Night Shift Podcast.
Chris Sale ($12,700 DK/$11,400 FD)
Sale will head to Target Field to take on the Twins, who have been one of the best matchups in the MLB against lefties over the last month, posting a 69 wRC+, .085 ISO, and 22.9% K-rate in that time. He’s a little bit of a discount off of Verlander on DraftKings, but he’s striking out 34% of hitters this year, so a balanced Twins lineup should be manageable for Sale. After a little bit of a rough patch, Sale looks to be back on track over the last couple starts, posting the 8th-highest Whiffs/Swing rate in the MLB in the month of June.
Freddy Peralta ($7,800 DK/$6,700 FD)
Peralta doesn’t have a perfect matchup tonight on the road in Pittsburgh, but he’s shown incredible swing and miss stuff in his first couple starts, posting Swinging-Strike rates of 16.3% and 14.6% in his first two MLB starts while leading the entire league in Whiffs/Swing rate at 40%. Peralta threw only 47 pitches in his most recent start, but that was on short rest, so he should be stretched out and ready to go 85-95 pitches tonight if things go well. At this price and projected ownership, Peralta is a great GPP option, as we’ve already seen his upside at the major league level with a 13 K game a little over a month ago.
Dereck Rodriguez ($6,700 DK/$6,300 FD)
Rodriguez will likely be a popular option in tournaments tonight as a -157 favorite at home in a huge park against one of the worst teams in the MLB, but it’s hard to argue against him as a solid play. While he has yet to do anything spectacular in his first 3 starts, in 2 of them, he went at least 6 innings with 1 and 2 earned runs. The Marlins pose very little blowup threat to a righty in AT&T park, as they have the league’s 4th-lowest OBP, 2nd-lowest ISO, and lowest wRC+ of any team against RHP. Rodriguez is not the most exciting option, but 5-6 innings with a few strikeouts and a chance at the win is certainly attainable, and would be well worth the play at his price on DraftKings.
