It’s a special Friday version of Tout Daily as we make up for starting off a little late. This is the final week of the first period. Three Golden Tickets will be awarded to the top three scores of the first four-week phase. In addition, the top scorer will get a t-shirt from our friends at Rotowear.
Here’s some pitchers and hitters to consider for your own lineups.
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Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)
Jacob deGrom: Lots of aces, he has the best matchup
Joey Votto: Guessing ownership will be a billionty percent, but I’m in protect mode
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)
Blake Snell: Red Sox have been horrible against LHP this season & Snell appears to have his command intact and always has strong K-upside
CJ Cron: Ride the wave until it breaks. 4 HR in last 4 games and a lefty on the bump in Pomeranz? Why the heck not? He’s destroying lefties right now.
Lawr Michaels (CreativeSports2, @lawrmichaels)
Sean Manaea: Coming off his no-no, Manaea has pretty impressive totals, winning his past two starts (16 innings, 0.53 ERA, 0.375 WHIP, 14 whiffs) and the Astros are hitting .255 versus Southpaws, but with 75 whiffs against them, sixth worst in the Majors.
Eduardo Escobar: The switch-hitting Escobar is batting .364-2-4 this week, raising his season line to .303-3-11 with a .351 OBP, and facing the struggling Luis Castillo (1-3, 6.51, 1.446 WHIP) the Twins shortstop makes a nice value pick.
Ray Murphy (BaseballHQ, @RayHQ)
Luis Castillo: His stock is way down this year as he’s off to a rough start, and the Reds are awful. But he’s not as bad as he looked, and the price is tasty at $6300.
Joey Votto: Votto red-hot, facing Phil Hughes, and only $4100. I’m all-in.
Brian Walton (CreativeSports2, @B_Walton)
Danny Duffy: Bombed last time out on short rest, Duffy averaged 23 points in his prior two starts. Bargain bounceback candidate.
Giancarlo Stanton: Yes, he had a slow start, but seven hits in last three games and three RBI shows the trend is up.
Vlad Sedler (Fantasy Guru Elite, @Rotogut)
Mike Minor: A 14-game slate isn’t the best place to mess around with cheap pitching with lots of solid pricey ones on the menu. But a $5,900 Minor on DraftKings against a strikeout-prone Blue Jays squad is worth the risk in GPPs.
Joey Votto: Finally heating up after a slow start and gets to pick on Phil Hughes in a hitters’ park (Target Field)
Michael Rathburn (Rotowire, @FantasyRath)
Tyler Anderson: Needed salary relief with DeGrom. Favored on the road in a good enviroment. Decent 3 game stretch.
Joey Votto: Also in on Votto vs Hughes.
Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt)
Pitcher Name: Drew Pomeranz faces a TAM squad that has a wOBA of .305 vs LHP since the start of last season.
Hitter Name: Add another Vote-o for Votto.
Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella)
Luis Castillo: He’s struggled this year but Castillo gets a tasty matchup against the Twins away from GABP. I’m taking the discount.
Rhys Hoskins: Hoskins is off to a great start and while this is a little pricey I like him against Julio Teheran tonight.
Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)
Jacob deGrom: He’s been pitching great and tonight he’s pitching in a great venue.
Yoenis Cespedes : He’s swinging better and he’s facing QB wannabe Clayton Richard.
Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)
Stephen Strasburg: I like the relative price of Strasburg (and Luis Severino), and while Arizona is legit, I like facing them in DC better.
Miguel Cabrera: This is a case of automatically starting hitters that face Chris Tillman.