MLB Stacking To Win It: 7-2-18

Stacking has been a popular way to bring down tournaments, and some stacks are even cash game viable. We offer three free top stacks of the night and will provide stacks in a wide range of price tags. We do want to make it known that stacks in Colorado are often fairly obvious and popular stacks. We don't feel the need to break down Colorado stacks and will be more focused on other stacking options. Unless we are struggling to find three others, Colorado stacks will be a top choice but not broken down. We tend to look at park factors, Vegas numbers, starting pitcher and bullpen numbers, and various offensive stats. Feel free to shoot us questions on Twitter at @BrentHeiden1, @JGuilbault11, and @dfcafe.

James Shields throws his 89mph fastball 29% of the time, cutter 22%, and curveball 20%. He has a changeup and sinker, but focusing on some of his higher used pitches is ideal here. Shields' fastball is getting hit for a .380 wOBA, .212 ISO and 42% hard-contact rate this season. Tucker Barnhart is a cheap catching option with a .440 wOBA and .333 ISO off that range. Joey Votto as expected has a .486 wOBA and .500 ISO, and a 55% hard-contact rate. Both Scooter Gennett and Eugenio Suarez have over a .200 ISO against this fastball range. Jesse Winker doesn't have a huge sample size, but is a cheap outfielder with a .351 wOBA off right-handers this season. Scott Schebler really stands out against that cutter, with a .311 ISO. Suarez also has some power with a .233 ISO and 42% hard-contact rate. Votto and Barnhart both have over a .360 wOBA, but not a ton of power. Against curveballs, Votto has a .309 ISO and 86% contact rate. While stacking against Shields has hardly paid off this season, his xFIP over five, hard-contact, and flyball rates are still something that will pay off at some point.

The Yankees are coming off a big offensive production series against the Red Sox, well outside of the game they faced Chris Sale. They remain at home, getting Anibal Sanchez on the hill. Much like Shields, Sanchez doesn't have a dominant pitch, and just throws a lot of low velocity junk. With Sanchez throwing no pitches above 30%, I do still want to look at the low velocity fastball he throws, which hovers around 89mph. No surprise here with a few standing out against the pitch. Aaron Judge has a 91% contact rate, 57% hard-contact, and .476 ISO against this velocity of fastball. Brett Gardner has a .388 wOBA and .213 ISO, although I still prefer Aaron Hicks despite his .273 wOBA against this range of fastball. While the performance last night will not be repeated, he has a .206 ISO and .351 wOBA against right-handers this season. His hard-contact is also 11% higher. Giancarlo Stanton's contact is still rather poor against this range, with a 72% contact rate, but he has a .429 wOBA and .240 ISO. Against cutters, Stanton has a .297 ISO, while Didi Gregorius stands out against that pitch with a .377 wOBA and .328 ISO. Guys like Greg Bird and Gleyber Torres don't have a ton of sample size against specific pitches, but both are sporting over a .200 ISO against right-handers this season. 25% of Sanchez's batted ball events are over 95mph, and the contact rate is at 79%.

While the numbers against Kyle Gibson look respectable, his sinker and fastball usage are still rather high and there are a lot of bats here that standout against these pitches. Gibson's strikeout rate has been declining each month, and hard-contact is on the rise to both sides of the plate. His slider and curve whiff rates are extremely high, which does concern me, but he doesn't rely on them heavily. While Milwaukee is tricky with all their first baseman, at least you can sneak some of them in. Eric Thames and Jesus Aguilar both have been monster power bats, with over a .300 ISO against right-handers this season. Against sinkers, they have over a 40% hard-contact rate, and get lift on the ball. Aguilar has a .255 ISO against the pitch, while Thames has a .308 ISO. Travis Shaw has a .342 wOBA and .205 ISO off the pitch, with just a 44% groundball rate. Against Gibson's range of fastball, Thames, Shaw and Aguilar have over a .400 wOBA and over a .250 ISO. The hard-contact all sit around 45% as well. Ryan Braun moves into the mix with a .419 wOBA and .304 ISO against this range of fastball. Adding in Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, or Eddie Rosario adds to a game stack that I like. While Suter has limited damage, he is still allowing a .184 ISO and 30% line drive rate to right-handed bats.