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.

Madison Bumgarner (L) vs Colorado Rockies

Splits (2017-2018)

wOBA Allowed

K%

BB%

GB%

Hard% Allowed

ISO

Vs. LHB

.21420.4%6.5%50.7%26.9%.058
Vs. RHB
.31521.4%4.5%41.8%38.3%.217
Opposing Team Splits Vs. Pitcher Handedness

wOBA

ISO

wRC+

K%

BB%

Hard%

Implied Run Total

.346.19010121.9%8.2%35.9%3.4

MadBum has only been back for four starts this season, and he has only posted one good outing, but he comes in as the highest priced pitching option on tonight's slate. He looked good in his last outing against the Padres, hurling eight scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, but he is far from a safe option tonight against the Rockies. He will likely be a popular option tonight, so a fade in GPPs is certainly something to consider, but in cash games he is probably someone we can roll out. He has yet to show much of any strikeout stuff, Padres start aside, posting a 16.2% strikeout rate in four starts, and he is giving up a lot of hard contact so far this season. He has posted a 42.5% hard contact rating, with right-handed hitters posting a 45.75% HCR against him in 89 plate appearances, although those numbers should come down just a little bit. He is relying mostly on his sinker and slider this season, while mixing in a curveball and changeup, and he is generating some good WHIFF numbers with his slider. He gets the benefit tonight of pitching in a cavernous park, as AT&T Park is death to power, and faces off against a Rockies offense that is just below league average when on the road facing a left-handed pitcher this season. Again, he definitely is not a safe option tonight, but with the expected ownership he is someone that can be used in cash games as he won't kill your lineups if he doesn't have a great outing.

A quick note on Robbie Ray, who I really want to like but can't. He is coming off the DL with an oblique injury and only threw 66 pitches in his last rehab start. I always have concerns about pitchers coming off injuries like that (i.e. Carlos Martinez) and the fact that he is likely going to be capped at 75-80 pitches makes him a risky, risky option. He would be an interesting GPP pivot off MadBum if paying up at SP.

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