Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Pitcher Breakdown - 4/26/16

Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other pitching targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article  and our updates articles but here we will look at other dudes to consider.

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In our daily picks article you saw us throw out David Price, Johnny Cueto and Kyle Hendricks as some of the top value on the slate. Here we’re going to take a deeper dive into some pitchers who just missed the list, you can target in tournaments on the cheap or some guys to possibly avoid.

Tournament Targets

Bartolo Colon FD 7400 DK 6400
Opponent - CIN (Finnegan) Park - @NYM
FD - 32.95 DK - 17.24
BFBC's been kind of a stud this year. And not just in the looks department. Dude's rocked a crazy 2.73 xFIP through his first three starts and the peripherals are as good as anyone in the majors. He's striking out just a shade under a batter an inning and has issued only two walks in 18 IP. That heavy fastball has hitters both swinging and missing but also induces weak contact. He's allowing only a 26% FB rate which is about as low as you'll ever see. The Reds have been a bottom-feeding team against rigthies this season, ranking 27th in wOBA and I don't see a lot to get excited from their offense. It's essentially Votto or bust. Colon probably could have been in the main picks and is an excellent tournament look or second SP on DraftKings.

Jake Odorizzi FD 7500 DK 8300
Opponent - BAL (Jimenez) Park - @TB
FD - 30.36 DK - 15.85
A tournament play on the day considering he has some K upside in this matchup. The ballpark plays to pitchers which allows guys like Odorizzi to challenge hitters a bit more than normal. You saw that with Archer last night who finally got on the right track, striking out 10 Orioles through 6.2 innings. Odorizzi is in a similar spot. Baltimore can hit, but that also rank in the top third in team K's against righty pitching this season. Jake's bringing in a 6:1 K:BB ratio and a 9.13 K/9 rate. Those numbers are super solid and though the xFIP is only average at 3.61, there's room for upside in this matchup.

Max Scherzer FD 10500 DK 12900
Opponent - PHI (Velasquez) Park - @WSH
FD - 45.18 DK - 26.03
Not exactly a sleeper pick. But this is a day with a bunch of high end arms and we want to touch on guys we didn't hit in the main article. Scherzer wasn't in the top talk of cash games because we like Price so much more for cheaper, but Max is a -200 ML favorite going in. He hasn't returned to 2015 form yet, starting the season with a 4.04 xFIP and a K% down to 22.3% from 30.7%. That's a significant decline even with such a small sample size. The velocity isn't down so I'm not worried about injury but he is throwing his fastball less. The Phillies aren't a bottom-feeding team on offense this season and Velasquez is a tough matchup independent of Vegas odds. I'd take a flyer on Scherzer mostly because folks will be scared off by the early season numbers.

Possible Fade?

Clayton Kershaw FD 13000 DK 13800
Opponent - MIA (Koehler) Park - @LAD
FD - 46.56 DK - 26.45
Oof, it never feels good putting the words "fade" and "Kershaw" in the same sentence unless it's something like "I asked my local barber for a fade while I watched Kershaw win me a bunch of money in DFS." Otherwise, this is not a guy we avoid lightly. But, he's such a significant price jump from other high expectation arms on the slate that I think you can do it. Considering the kind of savings you get on someone like Price who then allows you to stack Coors and some other games, I think it's in order.

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