Devan's Top FD Pitchers 8/9

Hey SportsVerse readers! It's been a few days, but I'm back to give you guys my top pitcher plays from my projection model. We have a four game slate here tonight; however, the Brewers vs Cubs game has a lot of rain coming in tonight, so play players from that game at your own risk. Enough of the small talk, let's dive into my Top 3 Pitchers on FD.

#3 Jameson Taillon $8100 - It’s pretty bizarre when you look at Jameson Taillon’s stats for the year. He is 7-4 with a 4.04 ERA & a 24% K rate; pretty average, right? Well, since June 21st, Taillon is 6-0 with a 2.20 ERA and a 22% K rate. The reason I’m using June 21nd as my baseline here is because that was the start of the sticky stuff ban. Most pitchers saw a negative impact on their stats after the ban, but Taillon has been playing exceptional. Going up against Kansas City on the road, I like Taillon as a “pay down to get different” type of play tonight (this is when you play a cheaper pitcher that has a higher risk factor than the more expensive options). The risk to rostering Taillon is that according to my Park Weight metric in my projection model, the Royals ballpark is 6th in park contributed points. That's something to keep an eye on if you like the Royals bats tonight. Nevertheless, Taillon has been an absolute stud lately, and on a 4 game slate (3 if CHC-MIL is postponed), he is the perfect dart throw at pitcher tonight.

#2 Joe Musgrove $9000 - This is a must win series for the Padres. With Fernando Tatis Jr. questionable to return this year, the Padres can’t let any “free wins" pass them by. I use the phase "free wins" because the Marlins are a way below average team this year while the Padres have been fighting for a Wild Card spot all year. Musgrove was having an above average year before June 21st, but since then, his ERA has been a 3.95 with a below average K rate of 21.9%. But enough with the negatives; Musgrove has only allowed 3 earned runs in his last 3 starts with 20 K in 19 IP. This is the Musgrove that the Padres have been needing all year, but nevertheless, he’s streaking when they need him the most. When you take the run Musgrove is on and mix it with the Marlins being the 3rd lowest in FD points per game as a team for the season, you have potential for a massive night from Musgrove.

#1 Freddy Peralta $10200 - This season, Peralta has a 2.25 ERA with 148 K in 112 IP. So, he has an incredible ERA with a well above average K rate of 34% against the starless Cubs. In my last article that I made for SportsVerse, I mentioned that the Cubs would be a team I’d be targeting for the rest of the season since they gutted their roster. Over the last 30 days, the Cubs are ranked 29th, only ahead of the Rangers, in average FD points per game. With that being said, Peralta could’ve been priced at $11500, and he’d still be my favorite pitcher play of the day. When you take into account how lights out Peralta has been this year mixed with how bad the Cubs have been since the trade deadline, Peralta could be in for a massive performance. However, keep in mind that this game could easily be rained out. If there isn't any rain, play Peralta. If there is rain, you can still risk it and play Peralta hoping the game doesn't get postponed, but the safer option would be to just go with either Musgrove or Taillon.

Thank you guys for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this pitcher breakdown. If you want to see the lineup I'll be playing tonight, check my twitter (@DevanRJJ) at 7:45pm est. Also, feel free to tweet me your lineups, your thoughts on the slate, or if you have any questions. Good luck!

Rachel Getz on Flr (Original version) 佾珜 (Crop) (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_Musgrove_in_2019.jpg), „Joe Musgrove in 2019“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode