Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers are up against Trevor Williams of the Pirates today, who has been struggling as of late, and a pitcher we want to attack. Williams has given up four or more earned runs in four of his last five starts and has allowed two walks in three straight starts. Things just aren’t going his way right now, which should put this Brewers team in a good spot. Williams is giving up a .335 wOBA, 1.10 HR/9 and a 37% fly ball rate to left-handed hitters this season. He is slightly better vs right-handed hitters, but it's nothing to be afraid of. The Brewers showed plenty of power yesterday with three home runs, so hopefully, we see a repeat of that performance. The left-handed power hitters is who you want to target today, aiming for maximum power upside. Eric Thames .280 ISO. Travis Shaw .279 ISO. Christian Yelich .207 ISO. But, there are some righties with decent ISO’s as well. Jesus Aguilar .216 ISO. Domingo Santana .213 ISO. Ryan Braun .182 ISO. This is a bit of a negative park shift for them being away from home and now in Pittsburgh, but with how bad Williams has been as of late, the Brewers are a good team to stack tonight.
Texas Rangers
We have the Rangers coming in with one of the best matchups on the entire slate. They are facing off against Ian Kennedy , who is a bad pitcher. There is really no other way to put it, Kennedy is just bad. Here are his stat lines against lefties and righties. VS LHB: .357 wOBA, 1.35 HR/9, 45% fly ball rate, 40% hard contact rate. VS RHB: .357 wOBA, 1.56 HR/9, 39% fly ball rate, 37.5% hard contact rate. As you can see, he is getting hit by literally anyone who faces him. This means you are able to stack up 1-9 hitters on the Rangers tonight. You can go expensive, you can go cheap, it really doesn’t matter vs Kennedy. There is some serious power lurking in the Rangers lineup, so let’s take a look. Joey Gallo .329 ISO. Nomar Mazara .198 ISO. Adrián Béltre .196 ISO. Ronald Guzman .189 ISO. Shin-Soo Choo .188 ISO. Jurickson Profar .184 ISO.
New York Mets
The Mets certainly don’t have the best offense in the league, but they get a nice boost today since they will be playing at Coors Field. They come in with an implied run total sitting at 4.84, which is third highest on the slate. Pitching for the Rockies will be Tyler Anderson , who has some pretty rough numbers, mainly since he pitches at Coors Field for half of his games. He is giving up a .407 wOBA to lefties a .314 wOBA to righties, along with 2.13 HR/9 to lefties and 1.31 HR/9 to righties. The Mets batters aren’t priced up that much on FanDuel, so look for them over there. The most expensive player on FanDuel for the Mets is Brandon Nimmo at only $3.8K. You can get a full stack of Mets hitters into your lineup and still have some room for another stack. The options for the Mets are straightforward tonight, Todd Frazier , Asdrubal Cabrera , Wilmer Flores , and even Devin Mesoraco.
Player News
Rangers selected the contract of RHP Dane Dunning from Triple-A Round Rock.
Dunning rejoins the Rangers’ relief mix just a couple weeks after being jettisoned from the club’s 40-man roster altogether. The 30-year-old righty failed to make Texas’ season-opening roster, but he’ll get another look in long relief after posting a pedestrian 5.40 ERA, 1.55 WHIP and 21/9 K/BB ratio across 20 innings (five starts) for Triple-A Round Rock in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats.
Rangers optioned RHP Caleb Boushley to Triple-A Round Rock.
Boushley heads back to the minors after posting a serviceable 5.87 ERA across 7 2/3 innings (three appearances) for the Rangers since his call-up back on April 8.
Orioles claimed LHP Walter Pennington off waivers from the Rangers.
Pennington will head to Triple-A Norfolk as extra organizational relief depth after being claimed off release waivers from the Rangers. The 27-year-old southpaw made 16 relief appearances last year between the Rangers and Royals in his shot at the highest level.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reports Luis Arraez (concussion) is expected to be activated for Tuesday’s series opener against the Giants.
Arraez landed on the 7-day concussion injured list last Monday following a scary on-field collision the previous night in Houston. The 28-year-old infielder dealt with concussion symptoms for a couple days last week, but has been symptom-free of late and was able to complete workouts. All signs point to him being ready to return for Tuesday’s showdown in San Diego.
Rangers released LHP Walter Pennington.
Pennington was cut loose by the Rangers after passing through waivers unclaimed following his removal from the club’s 40-man roster last week. The 27-year-old lefty made 16 relief appearances last year between the Rangers and Royals in his first taste of the big leagues. There should be some interest on the open market, but he’ll likely have to settle for a minor league contract.
Nick Kurtz is not in the lineup for Monday’s contest against the Rangers.
Kurtz takes a seat with lefty Patrick Corbin on the mound for Monday’s series opener at Globe Life Field. The 22-year-old top prospect is hitting .250 (4-for-16) with three RBI through five games since being promoted last week to the big leagues. Some initial turbulence isn’t unexpected as Kurtz acclimates to life in the majors less than a calendar year after being selected fourth overall in the draft. It’ll be Tyler Soderstrom at the cold corner on Monday night in his place.