The first three Golden Tickets have been awarded. Congratulations to Andy Behrens, Derek Carty and Brian Entrekin for booking a trip to the Tout Daily Championships. Here are some of the picks the participants hope get them on their way in Period 2.
Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)
Pitcher: Nick Pivetta – I planned on paying up for deGrom at $11,000, but he was a late scratch tonight. Holding my breath and going with Nick Pivetta against the lowly Detroit Tigers. What could possibly go wrong? Exhale.
Hitter: J.D. Martinez – Salary = $5,800. Martinez has been the 3rd best fantasy producer over the past 30 days and the 2nd best fantasy producer over the 2021 season. To date, he has a better batting average and more RBI than Ronald Acuna Jr.
Brian Entrekin (Benched with Bubba, @bdentrek)
Pitcher: Jacob deGrom/Johan Oviedo – Yeah, pretty simple here. Play the best pitcher on the planet and see where the other chips fall. I do not care how chalky he is, he’s the best play, period. If looking for a punt look in the same game at Johan Oviedo who has been stretched out to 86 pitches in his last start, is getting swings and misses, and faces one of the worst run producing offense in baseball.
Hitter: Xander Bogaerts – The Red Sox should be a major stack tonight going up against Fulmer and the Detroit pen, and Xander should be your main piece. He is hitting near .350 this season with power and speed. Xander is producing double-digit fantasy points on the regular of late and should be in for another tonight. I would not be shocked if he puts at least one over the Green Monster tonight.
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy)
Pitcher: Nick Pivetta – He’s usually the last guy I would ever endorse, given the years of suffering from his blow-ups, but this is a pretty easy call for the price tag. The Tigers have the second-highest strikeout rate vs RHP (29%), a dismal .275 wOBA and have a 31st-ranked 77 wRC+ to boot. Even I couldn’t get Pivetta’d tonight, could I?
Hitter: Austin Meadows – Stats are always waiting to correct themselves and this seems like the perfect place to hang out while they do. Meadows is far too good a hitter to post numbers this atrocious for much longer and once he rights the ship, the price tag is going to skyrocket. I’ll take him against a tomato can like Alex Cobb any day of the week at this price.
Shelly Verougstraete (Dynasty Guru, @ShellyV_643)
Pitcher: Jacob deGrom – deGrom has been lights out this year and while I don’t expect the Mets to give him any run support he is ‘set it and forget it’
Hitter: Michael Conforto – After a slow start, Conforto has been hitting .324/.405/.595 during his last ten games and a $3,600 price is oh so nice.
Zach Steinhorn (CreativeSports2, @zachsteinhorn)
Pitcher: Trevor Bauer – He’s picked up right where he left off last year, allowing 2 ER or fewer in five of his first six starts to go along with a plethora of punchouts. Also, Draftkings awards a bonus for complete games, and Bauer could easily go the distance in this seven-inning game.
Hitter: Alex Kirilloff – At $3,200, his price hasn’t caught up to his production. Take advantage while you can.
Ryan Bloomfield (BaseballHQ, @RyanBHQ)
Pitcher: Aaron Nola – No Yelich, no Cain, no problem.
Hitter: Kyle Tucker – Only hitting .188 this year, but that’s hiding some pretty decent underlying skills. The strikeout rate is fine, he’s making hard contact, and runs a little whenever he does get on. Lefty bat in Yankee Stadium can’t hurt, either.
Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50)
Pitcher: Jacob deGrom – best pitcher in baseball. WARNING: the last time I picked him, he got bombed and wound up on the IL.
Hitter: Dan Vogelbach – He’s batting third and the price is down right cheap.
Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)
Pitcher: Trevor Bauer – I hope my colleagues get the news deGrom is scratched. I was going there, but I’ll go Bauer instead and hope for a cheap 7 inning CG as the nightcap of a twinbill
Hitter: Nick Solak – I’ll take the platoon edge from the two-hole