The following Spotlight Pitchers were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. For more analysis on the slate, check out Awesemo’s Rankings and Ownership Projections.
Max Scherzer ($12,600 DK/$12,000 FD)
Scherzer looks to be in prime form after a vintage 7 inning, 10 strikeout performance against these same Phillies. Now he will travel to Philadelphia and there’s no reason to believe he can’t post similar numbers tonight. Despite the advantageous hitting weather, the Phillies only have a 3.5 run total and strike out over 25% of the time against righties in 2018. I have no problem paying this price on DraftKings with solid value at hitting and viable options in the low-tier for pitching, as Scherzer has the highest upside on the slate.
Jack Flaherty ($10,400 DK/$9,600 FD)
Flaherty will likely go overlooked in tournaments, but has come on incredibly strong as of late, fanning at least 7 hitters in each of his last 7 starts, and most recently shutting down the Dodgers in 6 innings with 10 strikeouts with a ridiculous 24.8% Swinging-Strike rate. He’s striking out nearly 35% of righties and over 27% of lefties while allowing little quality contact on batted balls. The matchup against the Pirates isn’t bad either, as they have a 22.2% K-rate, .112 ISO, and 75 wRC+ over the last month against righties.
Ivan Nova ($5,300 DK/$7,400 FD)
Nova’s price on DraftKings is enticing, as he’s a solid option to pair with any of the stud pitchers tonight. The weather is hot all around, but Nova will get up to 7 righties on the Cardinals, and as we know, he has huge splits, as he strikes out over 21% of righties and just 11.3% of lefties on the year. The splits become even bigger when you add in the ground ball rate, xFIP, and wOBA, so a righty-heavy Cardinals lineup at a punt price makes a lot of sense on DraftKings. He certainly won’t light the world on fire tonight, but he’s fully stretched out and allows you to fit in bats with a great SP1.
