Tonight marks the third week of the first period. Andy Behrens of Yahoo! fantasy has the early lead, will he extend his lead or will the Touts make up some of the gap? Taijuan Walker is a popular choice among the pitchers with Cardinals batters getting some attention.
Note: the DraftKings slate commences early tonight, locking at 6:30 PM ET.
Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella)
Pitcher: Corbin Burnes – Tough matchup, but hard to pass on Burnes right now, even at this price.
Hitter: Paul Goldschmidt – Goldy leads a right-handed St. Louis hitter stack for me against a Patrick Corbin who is showing diminished velocity and is on the ropes.
Shelly Verougstraete (Dynasty Guru, @ShellyV_643)
Pitcher: Taijuan Walker – Walker has looked great to start the season and he faces a very poor Cubs offense
Hitter: Randal Grichuk – He has performed well since entering the starting lineup and his price is perfect.
Charlie Wiegert (CDM Sports, @GFFantasySports)
Pitcher: Corbin Burnes – Best pitcher in baseball this year so far. His K’s make him worth the gamble at his price based on the rest of today’s slate
Hitter: Raimel Tapia – Low cost pick Raimel Tapia at $3400, batting lead off against Houston rookie Garcia at Coors.
Zach Steinhorn (CreativeSports2, @zachsteinhorn)
Pitcher: Luis Castillo – Despite his struggles, tough to pass on him at his current price, which ranks 19th out of the 25 pitchers on tonight’s slate.
Hitter: Nelson Cruz – Boasts a .298/.387/.576 career slash line vs. left-handed pitching and has hit three homers in 19 career at-bats vs. Sean Manaea.
Brian Entrekin (Benched with Bubba, @bdentrek)
Pitcher: Charlie Morton – Burnesis the top play tonight, but Morton makes for a sneaky SP2 vesus th Yankees. The Yankees offense is free falling right now, strikeout out nearly 26% of the time versus RHP. Morton has been giving up some runs this season but strikeouts have been there and he is throwing arond 6 innings per start.
Hitter: Jazz Chisholm – He’s not only fun to watch but also raking at the plate and quite affordable tonight. Over the last week he has hit .450 with a 42.9% barrel rate and a 64.3% hard-hit rate. Oh, he’s also facing Matt Harvey.
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)
Pitcher: Luis Castillo – I will happily keep going back to the well at this insane bargain price. He’s not going to suck forever.
Hitter: Nolan Arenado – Since Mike Gianella already said Paul Goldschmidt, I’ll go with the other big right-handed bat against a horrible Patrick Corbin who looks disgusting on the mound right now, possibly because he’s hurt again
Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)
Pitcher: Eduardo Rodriguez – Price is right; last start went well
Hitter: Jeff McNeil – He may be off to a slow start, but he’s been hitting the ball well. He’s also ridiculously cheap, considering he’s 12-for-23 lifetime against Arrieta.
Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)
Pitcher: Taijuan Walker – Cubbies have fanned the third most in the league
Hitter: Yadier Molina – Goldschmidt and Arenado have already been mentioned, so it’s Yadi’s turn. This feels like a trap game for donkeys, but with the righty swinging Cards so stackable, I’ll risk looking like an ass.
Jeff Erickson (Rotowire, @Jeff_Erickson)
Pitcher: Taijuan Walker – Thought about Luis Castillo, but the combination of the weather and perceived high ownership steered me away. Walker gets to face the scuffling Cubs, with plenty of strikeout upside on a very cold night.
Hitter: Jared Walsh – My hitters are concentrated among the Angels, with some cheap Marlins/Orioles to make everything fit.
Steve Gardner (USAToday Fantasy Sports, @SteveAGardner)
Pitcher: Taijuan Walker – The Cubs are hitting an MLB-worst .192 and averaging 3.4 runs per game (30th).
Hitter: Nelson Cruz – Even in Oakland, he crushes lefties. Watch out, Sean Manaea, these Twins have a lot of energy ready to be released.
Ryan Bloomfield (BaseballHQ, @RyanBHQ)
Pitcher: Luis Castillo – Still missing bats/inducing grounders despite the slow start. ARI a pretty soft matchup
Hitter: Ehire Adrianza – Dirt cheap price, taking Acuña’s lead off spot and hitting lefty in Yankee Stadium
Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)
Pitcher: Eduardo Rodriguez – Love him at only $8,000 tonight.
Hitter: Mike Trout – Doing some Trout fishing tonight and you should to.