Chalk Stack(s)

Los Angeles Angels vs. Andrew Cashner

Although Andrew Cashner has allowed three earned or less in four straight starts, he’s been lucky to get out of dodge with just allowing that. The 14 home runs Cashner has allowed ranks him tied for 15th in the entire league. He doesn’t do a very good job getting people out these days as both sides of the plate are doing serious damage against him. Right-handed hitters are batting .314 and a .386 wOBA while lefties have a .265 AVG and .363 wOBA. The Angels also have the highest implied run total of the slate and third highest of the entire day.

Any Angels stack starts with Mike Trout . Trout belted his 24th homer of the year on Friday night putting him behind J.D. Martínez by just one for the league lead. 19 of those aforementioned homers have come against right-handed pitching so this bodes well for Trouty. He also happens to be having an insane season on the road hitting .361 with 16 bombs and a .501 wOBA. He’s probably the top play of the slate. Andrelton Simmons is heating up again hitting .350 over his last 10 games and the right-handers have the platoon advantage here against Cashner. Justin Upton is always a home run threat as well, despite the fact he’s having a mediocre season.

Ian Kinsler has 11 home runs on the year and eight of them have come in June. He’s hit a little skid of late but he’s showing us the pop is still there. 10 of his 11 long balls have come versus right-handers. Luis Valbuena is seeing a lot of time with the Angels infield littered with injured players. He’s 3-for-8 off of Cashner and has hit a home run off of him as well and although he’s more a secondary option, his price tag is so cheap. Martin Maldonado is the last player I’m considering here. He’s been a run producing machine of late driving in 11 runs over his last 10 games and has homered twice in his last three contests.

Primary Option(s): Mike Trout , Andrelton Simmons , Justin Upton , Martin Maldonado

Secondary Option(s): Ian Kinsler , Luis Valbuena

 

Contrarian Option(s)

Washington Nationals vs. Vince Velásquez

If you look up and down Vince Velásquez ’s game logs, there aren’t many bad outings, but when they’re bad, they’re awful. Earlier in the month the Brewers tagged him for 10 runs over 3.2 innings and versus Atlanta in April he was blasted for six earned runs in four innings of work. The home run ball has bit Velasquez all year as he’s served up 13 thus far. If we’re breaking it down even further, left-handed hitters have crushed Velasquez. 10 of the 13 homers he’s allowed have come against lefties and that’s part of the reason they have a .509 SLG and .356 wOBA off of him.

The Nats offense is littered with lefties, starting with the best outfielder on their team, Juan Soto . Soto had a four hit, two homer game on Friday in the Nats rout of the Phillies raising his season average to .336 and now has eight homers on the year. He has a .435 wOBA against right-handed pitching, correlating perfectly with Velasquez’s struggles vs. lefty power. Now to the Nats second-best outfielder, Bryce Harper . I’m kidding, guys….kind of. Harper has been heating up of late hitting .290 with an OPS over 1.000 over his last 10 games but can’t seem to hit the ball out of the park as he’s hit one homer and seven doubles over that span. Harper and Soto are a great one-two combination if you can afford them.

Moving down the line, Adam Eaton and Daniel Murphy are price very nicely for their talent level, but those prices are depressed because neither of them have been great since returning from the disabled list. Eaton has been better of late hitting .286 over his last 10 games including a two hit, two walk, two runs scored game on Friday. Eaton is hitting .338 on the year against righties so this is his bread and butter. The way the guys are hitting behind him he’s in a great spot each and every night to score multiple runs per game as long as he reaches base. Before Murphy’s zero hit outing on Friday, he was riding a mini four-game hit streak as we’ve started to see the Daniel Murphy pre-injury once again. Murphy’s 4-for-10 with a homer off Velasquez is a very positive sign as well. Let’s not overlook the fact this series is being played in Philly which is a positive park shift for the Nats.

Some right-handed love is an option too because Anthony Rendón is on fire. He’s slashing .366/.372/.805 with six doubles, four homers and 10 runs batted in over his last 10 games and also has taken Vince Velásquez deep in the past. Rendon isn’t the only right-handed bat on the Nats feelin’ it at the dish right now. Trea Turner is slashing .368/.442/.605 over his last 10 games as well. Something favoring Turner here is that he is a reverse splits guy and is simply better against right-handed pitching than he is versus southpaws. Wilmer Difo could be used a punt because of how cheap he is and how expensive the rest of the Nationals are, but we really need to hope for a stolen base for him to have a chance at value.

Primary Option(s): Juan Soto , Bryce Harper , Adam Eaton , Anthony Rendón

Secondary Option(s): Trea Turner , Daniel Murphy , Wilmer Difo