The following Spotlight Pitchers, Hitters & Stacks were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. For more analysis on the slate, check out Awesemo’s Rankings and Ownership Projections.
Pitchers
(Early) Blake Snell
While many will go to Gerrit Cole on this abbreviated slate because of the matchup against the Tigers, I’ll be going with Blake Snell, who has cemented himself as an ace in 2018 and is matchup proof at this point. He’s already dominated this Cleveland team on the road and he’s historically pitched much better at home. Yes, the matchups against Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor are scary, but with Cole taking ownership away from him, I’m making a big stance on Snell as my SP1 in GPPs.
(Main) Carlos Rodon
Rodon makes for a solid play against the Royals, who have been much better against righties than lefties as of late. Over the last month, KC is striking out over 28% of the time against Southpaws, so a guy that can handle either hand and at this price makes a lot of sense in GPPs. The stolen base matchup is a little bit scary as Merrifield and Mondesi could wreak havoc if they get on, but Rodon has done a good job limiting base runners with a 1.07 WHIP against righties in 2018.
(Main) Felix Pena
Pena has been spectacular as of late, going at least 6 innings with 33 strikeouts in his last 5 outings. Now he gets a Rangers team that has been a different team on the road, especially against righties, striking out 25% of the time against them outside of Arlington. He’ll be popular because of the recent results, but I’ll gladly be overweight on a guy that has the talent and a great matchup.
Hitters
(Early) Dodgers
The Dodgers get the pleasure of facing off against Anthony DeScalfani, who has his fair share of issues against lefty power, which is an area in which the Dodgers are stacked. He’s allowing just 11.9% soft-contact against lefties this year, so going up against guys like Bellinger, Pederson, Muncy, and Grandal from the left side as well as Machado and Turner from the right side is a hellish matchup for the Reds’ pitcher.
(Main) Diamondbacks
Jon Gray has gone 3 straight starts with lackluster swing-and-miss numbers including sub-10% Swinging-Strike rates in each start with 18% O-Swing rates in his last 2. His velocity is still down from mid-season and his xFIP is 4.48 since his August 5th start, showing us he may not be the same pitcher that was just getting unlucky early in the year. In Coors and at somewhat low ownership, Arizona is a team I’ll have a lot of exposure to tonight in GPPs.
One-offs
Matt Carpenter (vs. Jameson Taillon)
Aaron Hicks (vs. Jake Odorizzi)
