DraftKings Around the Horn July 25th, 2019

Joel Dorcas |July 25th, 2019

Thursday’s MLB schedule opens up with three-afternoon games followed by six evening contests. The afternoon tilts feature premium pitching options in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer at home while the evening games offer up the potential of lots of scoring with Texas/ Oakland, 9.5 implied total, Cleveland/ Kansas City, 10.5, and New York/ Boston, 11. Also, keep an eye on the L.A. Angels hosting the Baltimore Orioles and right-hander Tom Eshelman. Put on your caps and apply the sunscreen, we’re going Around the Horn!

PITCHER

Brett Anderson OAK $7,900

With Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom headlining the afternoon it gets a bit dicey for the evening slate after Jose Berrios and Lucas Giolito. Oakland A’s left-hander Brett Anderson has my attention today however as he profiles well against a struggling Rangers squad that has just two victories in their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s action. In 141 career plate appearances against Anderson, the Rangers are hitting .180 with a .281 slug and just two homers. Although Texas has scored the fifth-most runs in the league off of lefties this season with 156, they are hitting just .232( last), striking out at a 27.4 percent clip(highest) and sport a 25th ranked wOBA of .304.

INFIELD

Jose Ramirez CLE 3B/SS $4,600

Ramirez at this price with things finally picking up for him makes for a great play. In 17 games this month Ramirez is hitting .314 with a .953 OPS. His HR and RBI totals of five and 17 are well above any other month. Ramirez will draw left-hander Mike Montgomery. When facing left-handed pitching Ramirez is hitting .265 with just a 6% K rate as opposed to hitting .218 with a 15.7% K rate versus right-handers.

Amed Rosario NYM SS $4,400 *EARLY SLATE*

The only thing not to like about Rosario is the fact that he tends to hit lower in the batting order than we would like. Even still the production of late has been really good. In 55 at-bats this month Rosario is slashing .382/ .433/ .600 in 15 games, well above totals of previous months. Rosario also should benefit from facing Eric Lauer. Off of left-handed pitching, he is slashing .315/ 374/ .607, whereas against righties the production dips significantly; .261/ .294/ .389.

OUTFIELD

Brett Gardner NYY $4,500

In 223 career at-bats, the Yankees as a whole have fared well off of Rick Porcello; .260/ .317/ .471. With a run line opening up at 11 grabbing some Yankee and Sox bats is a good plan. Gardner at a fair price point projects well in this matchup. He has compiled a .293/ .349/ .483 slash line in 63 plate appearances off of Porcello. Recently Gardner has seen an uptick in production. In 14 games this month he is hitting .280 with a .917 OPS. Keep an eye on Gardner as he has missed the last four games with knee inflammation. Mike Tauchman, $4,600 would be a good pivot as he has gone an incredible 14-for-28 in his last 10 games.

Andrew Benintendi BOS $4,300

Much like Gardner, Benintendi is an affordable player in a good situation. The Red Sox have raked against Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. In 263 combined career plate appearances they are hitting .285 with a .823 OPS. Benintendi has struggled a bit this month hitting only .242 but has put together a few nice games in Boston’s most recent series versus the Rays. Lifetime versus Tanaka Benintendi is 8-for-25(.320) with a 1.010 OPS.

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