Good morning everyone! Below we’ve got a discussion on the pitching situation for tonight’s late slate on DraftKings. We’ve also got a discussion on which teams are the best to pick hitters from as well as player rankings for each position.

Forecast

There is a chance of thunderstorm in a bunch of games in the night slate. The games in Texas, New York, Cincinnati, Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia and Baltimore all have chances of rain. Please monitor these situations throughout the day.

Pitching Perspective

I’m sad that so many pitching options are available today. I’d prefer that they spread themselves out. However, we aren’t so lucky, and it’s aces aboard tonight. Of all the options, perhaps Zack Grienke is the best. Grienke has been dominant so far this year, and really makes it tough on right-handed hitters. The Rockies should only be able to keep three left-handed hitters near the top of the lineup and Grienke should have no problem maneuvering his way around the others. I like Grienke for both cash games and GPPs.

There is also Max Scherzer, who will get an awesome park shift in Petco Park. Scherzer has been dominant this year and hasn’t had many problems to work through. The Padres did bolster their lineup this offseason, but it’s not made to handle guys like Scherzer. The Padres are in the middle of the pack in terms of K% (20.3%), but I see that number rising tonight. The game currently has a total of 6.5, and that might be a stretch.

Don’t forget about Felix Hernandez. King Felix is pitching at home against a struggling Red Sox team. The Red Sox are taking a huge negative park shift and lack any left-handed bats to pester Felix. Felix is an awesome strikeout and groundball pitcher and coupling it with the matchup becomes an excellent option. He’s second in our models projected points.

Also near the top of our model are Jacob deGrom and Danny Salazar. Both deGrom and Salzar have incredible K potential and are facing less than stellar offenses. deGrom will have the benefit of pitching in Citi Field, but I like Salazar’s upside more. I think deGrom is the safer cash game option, and is viable due to the salary relief, but I prefer Salazar if choosing between these two for tournaments.

Stack Options
Even with so many pitching options tonight there are offenses I’d love to jump on. Ryan Vogelsong is pitching in Great American Ballpark and that is great news for hitters. Vogelsong is being torched for 2.16 HR/9 and is pitching in the best ball park for homeruns. I love all the top Reds hitters, most notably Votto and Bruce.

On the flip side of this, I’m not afraid of using the Giants against Mike Leake. The Giants receive a huge park shift and they like to bolster the top of their lineup with left-handers. The left-handers at the top will provide some solid salary relief and come with a pristine ballpark. You’ll want to get some exposure to them to get to some of the top pitchers today.

More homeruns should be flying in Houston as well. Marco Estrada is pitching for the Blue Jays against a very powerful Astros lineup. Estrada is yielding 1.77 HR/9 and should be frightened of the top of the Astros lineup. I love everyone at the top, including Valbuena who should provide plenty of salary relief.

And on the flip side, the Blue Jays have great tournament appeal. They have a ton of power near the top of the lineup with Donaldson, Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion and will be facing Scott Feldman. This game carries a total of 9 so far and it’s a game that you’re going to need to have some exposure to. Look towards finding the values in this game for your cash games.

The Indians have a ton of good left-handed bats. This is bad news for Colby Lewis who has extreme splits against lefties. Lewis has been frustratingly good in games I’ve tried to stack against him this year, but stick to the process and don’t focus on the results. Left-handers have dominated Lewis in his time in the big leagues. All of the Cleveland left-handers are in play.

Last but not least, if you wish to pile up in tournaments look to the Oakland Athletics. The bad news with Oakland is they don’t have very many powerful right-handed bats. The good news is their facing John Danks who doesn’t do anything well enough to scare me off any of the Oakland bats. I prefer these guys in tournaments, but I’m ok with using the very top as salary relief in cash games. Marcus Semien might be the top shortstop play today.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Carlos Santana – Cleveland Indians
2. Buster Posey – San Francisco Giants
3. Jason Castro – Houston Astros

First Basemen

1. Edwin Encarnacion –Toronto Blue Jays
2. Joey Votto –Cincinnati Reds
3. Brandon Belt – San Francisco Giants

Second Basemen

1. Jose Altuve –Houston Astros
2. Jason Kipnis –Cleveland Indians
3. Joe Panik –San Francisco Giants

Shortstops

1. Marcus Semien –Oakland Athletics
2. Brandon Crawford –San Francisco Giants
3. Alcides Escobar– Kansas City Royals

Third Basemen

1. Todd Frazier –Cincinnati Reds
2. Josh Donaldson –Toronto Blue Jays
3. Luis Valbuena –Houston Astros

Outfield

1. Jose Bautista – Toronto Blue Jays
2. George Springer –Houston Astros
3. Angel Pagan –San Francisco Giants
4. Jay Bruce – Cincinnati Reds
5. Brandon Moss – Cleveland Indians

Starting Pitchers

1. Zack Grienke –Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Felix Hernandez –Seattle Mariners
3. Jacob deGrom –New York Mets
4. Max Scherzer –Washington Nationals
5. Danny Salazar –Cleveland Indians