MLB Pitching Pulse: 4-4-18

Pitching is the lifeblood of a DFS lineup, and an important part of keeping those tabs open deep into the night. For those new with us, the Pitching Pulse is focused on providing information on four to five pitchers that are viable in various formats. This is a premium article that will give away one free preview pitcher, while the rest will be for premium members. We take a deep dive into pitchers across all salaries, looking for exploitable matchups, game theory plays, and identify the nightly chalk. Our information comes from our optimizer, FanGraphs, and other various MLB sites listed below. Feel free to comment below, or find us on Twitter at @BrentHeiden1, @JGuilbault11, and @dfcafe. We focus on Main Slates across all content, but will feature blurbs about other slates at times, and can be reached via Twitter or comments.

Jon Gray has a terrific matchup tonight and history against the San Diego Padres. Over ten career starts, he is 4-2 with a 2.40 ERA, and a 12.3 K/9. He has only walked 11 batters in 60 innings against the Padres, and outside of Hosmer/Galvis, there are not a lot of new faces to Gray. The Padres have a 23% strikeout rate so far this season, which isn't far off from their 2017 numbers. Their projected lineup tonight carries a .159 ISO and .332 wOBA against right-handers. Nothing for us to shy away from here. San Diego has the lowest implied total on the board, and while Gray isn't a huge favorite, he should be in line for a win as well. Ownership will likely be on Gray's side tonight, despite the rough start in Arizona. He is underpriced for the upside across the industry, and on a smaller slate, he is a very tough fade in all formats. The talented right-hander boasts strong strikeout numbers against both sides of the plate. In his career he has a 23.4% strikeout rate against left-handers, and 26.2% against right-. Despite pitching games in Coors, Gray keeps the ball in the yard with a career 0.89 HR/9. Pitching in one of the best pitcher parks in baseball, I was not concerned anyway. Gray has potential to be the highest strikeout arm on the slate, although the guy below him is also in a great spot.