Below we’ve got a discussion of the starting pitching situation as well as the best teams to use for stacks for Wednesday’s 11-game evening slate on DraftKings. We’ve also got projections derived from Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections and rankings of the top plays at each position.

Pitching Perspective

Welcome to another edition of “Should You Pay Up for Clayton Kershaw?” We won big on last week’s edition when Kershaw struck out 14 Cubs over eight innings. Tonight he’ll draw the Giants at home and will cost you $14,600. While it’s never overly objectionable to roster a starter who has a 0.95 ERA and a 13:1 K:BB ratio in his last 11 starts, I’ll probably pass on Kershaw tonight. For one thing, the Giants are a below average matchup for him with the sixth highest wRC+ and fourth lowest strikeout rate against left-handed pitching. But there are also other top-notch options going today with more reasonable price tags and more favorable matchups.

One of those options is Max Scherzer ($12,100). Scherzer is $2,500 cheaper than Kershaw, but his projection isn’t that far off what Kershaw’s is. Kershaw’s projection is about two points higher than Scherzer’s, but typically the gap between Kershaw and the field is around five points. With Scherzer being only two back, his price tag should be a little closer to Kershaw’s.

His price tag is low because he has a 6.43 ERA in his last five starts. That’s obviously concerning and would give anyone pause when considering rostering any pitcher with those numbers, especially if that guy will cost you 24 percent of your budget. But Scherzer has a 2.99 xFIP in those five starts with seven or more strikeouts in four of those five games. A bounce back has to be coming, and there will be value when it happens thanks to his sinking price tag.

The other expensive option is Cole Hamels ($10,800). Hamels is probably a safer option than Scherzer given Hamels’ matchup against the Padres in San Diego. The Pads have the ninth lowest wRC+ and fourth highest strikeout rate against left-handed pitching and the third worst wOBA in the league at home. Given that Hamels is even cheaper than Scherzer, he’s probably the expensive starter that makes the most sense today.

In the mid-price range ($6,900-$9,300), there really isn’t a lot of value. Taijuan Walker ($7,800) has the best value grade in this price range according to my model, but his value grade is lower than that of Scherzer and Hamels. He does have upside in a matchup against the very strikeout-prone Astros, so if you need someone in this price range, Walker may be your guy. But I’d lean toward the more expensive options or the bargain discussed below.

The best bargain according to my model is Kevin Gausman ($6,200). Gausman has a 4.39 ERA, which obviously isn’t encouraging, but his SIERA is 3.70 thanks to strikeout and walk rates that are both safely above average. His biggest problem has been keeping the ball in the park as his HR/9 sits at 1.35. But he’s got the right matchup for that problem today as he’ll face the Rays who have the third lowest slugging percentage against right-handed pitching. The Rays also have the fifth-highest strikeout rate against right-handers, so the potential is there for Gausman to be a nice value.

Here are our projections for today’s starters. You’ll see each starter’s salary, the average number of fantasy points the starter is projected to score per game and how far above or below average his projection is compared to his salary in the value column. You’ll also see adjustments being made for matchup and ballpark. As for the colors, they rank as follows from good to bad: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, burgundy.

Stack Options

We’ve got a game in Colorado tonight between the D’Backs and Rockies, so let’s get that out of the way. Right-hander Chase Anderson will take the hill for Arizona, but that doesn’t mean only Colorado left-handers are in play. Anderson has a good changeup that keeps him from having too much of a split, so right-handers like Nick Hundley, Kyle Parker and Brandon Barnes would be decent value options if in the lineup. But some combination of Blackmon, Reyes, CarGo, Arenado, LeMahieu and a value option or two would make for a nice stack. As for the D’Backs, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a good value and David Peralta isn’t quite priced out of use, but I’m not a big fan of D’Backs otherwise.

My favorite stack option of the day is the Cleveland Indians. You’ll see the player rankings below littered with Tribe members. They’ll square off against R.A. Dickey who has been downright awful against left-handers this year. His xFIP against lefties is 5.33, and the Indians can really load a lineup with good left-handers. Kipnis, Lindor, Brantley, Santana, Chisenhall and Almonte should hit 1-2-3-4-5-7 in the lineup, and that’s where I’d look first if you like to use team-heavy stacks.

A couple other hitter notes:

• White Sox righties have a good matchup against Tommy Milone. Milone has a 4.48 xFIP against right-handers and has had a hell of time keeping the ball in the park against them with a 1.66 HR/9 vs. RHP. Abreu, Melky and Avisail could make for an interesting mini-stack in the middle of that order.
• Toronto hitters are almost always an option, but they don’t have the best matchup tonight. They’ll face Trevor Bauer who really struggles against left-handed hitters, but the Jays don’t really have many lefties in their lineup. Justin Smoak is potentially a nice value play if in the lineup.

You can view and download our hitter projections here. These projections are an average of what each hitter is projected to do on a per game basis according to the ZiPS rest-of-season projections. The projections have then been adjusted for splits, quality of the opposing starting pitcher and ballpark.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Nick Hundley – $4,100 – Colorado Rockies
2. Geovany Soto – $2,600 – Chicago White Sox
3. Jarrod Saltalamacchia – $2,800 – Arizona Diamondbacks

First Base

1. Carlos Santana – $4,100 -Cleveland Indians
2. Jose Abreu – $4,800 – Chicago White Sox
3. Justin Smoak – $2,500 – Toronto Blue Jays

Second Base

1. Jason Kipnis – $4,800 – Cleveland Indians
2. Neil Walker – $3,600 – Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Brian Dozier – $5,000 – Minnesota Twins

Third Base

1. Lonnie Chisenhall – $3,100 – Cleveland Indians
2. Pedro Alvarez – $3,300 – Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Nolan Arenado – $4,900 -Colorado Rockies

Shortstop

1. Francisco Lindor – $4,300 – Cleveland Indians
2. Jose Ramirez – $2,700 – Cleveland Indians
3. Jose Reyes – $4,700 – Colorado Rockies

Outfield

1. Michael Brantley – $5,000 – Cleveland Indians
2. Chris Davis – $4,400 – Baltimore Orioles
3. Adam Jones – $4,200 – Baltimore Orioles
4. Carlos Gonzalez – $5,000 – Colorado Rockies
5. Abraham Almonte – $2,200 – Cleveland Indians

Starting Pitcher

1. Cole Hamels – $10,800 – Texas Rangers
2. Max Scherzer – $12,100 – Washington Nationals
3. Kevin Gausman – $6,200 – Baltimore Orioles
4. Clayton Kershaw – $14,600 – Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Taijuan Walker – $7,800 – Seattle Mariners