Chalk Stack(s)

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Matt Harvey

Matt Harvey ’s career as a successful starting pitcher at the Major League level is over, done, finished. He’s given up eight earned runs over his last two starts to two of the worst offenses (Rockies & Padres) in baseball against right-handed pitching. Opponents this season have a robust hard hit rate of 39.3-percent off of Harvey. He’s notched a pretty bad 4.30 xFIP and 4.40 SIERA as well. He now has to navigate through a good Cardinals lineup at home in a hitters paradise. The Cards have the fifth highest implied run total on the slate at five runs even and are the favorites in this game despite being on the road.

They don’t have many lefties, but they are what have given Harvey the most issues this year. He’s allowed them to hit .308 with a .420 wOBA as well. Matt Carpenter and Dexter Fowler are the teams top two lefty bats. After hitting .155 in April, Carpenter responded with a big month of May in which he slashed .297/.379/.582. Carpenter is in a nice place at the dish right now. Fowler is too honestly as he’s hit .282 over his last 10 contests. His average on the year is still atrocious, but he’s showing us signs of life and he’s always been a better hitter from the left side of the dish anyways.

Harrison Bader , Marcell Ozuna and Jose Martinez are next up in play for this popular Cards stack. Ozuna has a pretty nice history off of Harvey going 9-for-24 (.375 AVG) off of him. Bader has been in a groove at the dish of late, hitting .333 with a .955 OPS and four extra-base hits over his last 10 games. Meanwhile, Martinez continues to be a constant in the heart of the Cardinals order and leads the team in RBI.

I do have some interest in Yadier Molina too, especially when looking at the player pool at catcher. Molina has one hit in seven at-bats since coming back from injury, but has a .292 AVG and .337 wOBA against right-handed pitching on the year. If Greg García or Kolten Wong drew a start, either of them could be appealing because of the fact they hit from the left side.

Primary Option(s): Matt Carpenter , Dexter Fowler , Marcell Ozuna , Harrison Bader

Secondary Option(s): Jose Martinez , Yadier Molina , Greg García , Kolten Wong

 

Contrarian Stack(s)

New York Mets vs. Masahiro Tanaka

More than anything, this is about the power Tanaka is allowing. He’s allowed 15 homers this season, but eight have come in his last four starts. The Mets throw a lot of lefties out at right-handed starting pitchers which could present a problem to Tanaka and his 4.71 FIP versus lefties on the year.

Brandon Nimmo , Asdrubal Cabrera and Michael Conforto are the three obvious choices because they’re the three best hitters the Mets have to offer. Nimmo has been fantastic against RHP on the year, not only is he leading off, but he’s hitting over .300 with a wOBA of .461. Cabrera’s numbers are quite good as well notching a .294 AVG with seven homers and a .375 wOBA himself. We’ve seen Conforto scuffle a bit of late hitting just .222 over his last 10 games, but he’s the most talented hitter on the active Mets roster and if last season was any indication of the type of player we’re dealing with here, he’ll break out of this slump and in a major way.

Jay Bruce is a sneaky play here because all of the attention will be on Nimmo and Conforto. He’s been very bad this year as a whole, but he’s been a 20-plus home run guy for a long time and he didn’t just forget how to hit home runs. A few righties in Kevin Plawecki and Todd Frazier are secondary pieces to the puzzle too. Plawecki continues to start with Devin Mesoraco nursing a bummed hammy. He’s been hitting upwards of fourth in the Mets lineup and if that’s the case, he could become a primary option. For what it’s worth, I like Mesoraco if he starts here. As for Todd Frazier , power meet power, and we know Tanaka serves them and we know Frazier hits them.

Primary Option(s): Brandon Nimmo , Michael Conforto , Jay Bruce , Asdrubal Cabrera

Secondary Option(s): Kevin Plawecki , Devin Mesoraco , Todd Frazier

 

Cincinnati Reds vs. Luke Weaver

I know I already touched on the other side of this game which is likely to be chalky, but the Reds side could go overlooked. Weaver has specifically struggled against left-handed hitters, which the Reds have plenty of. Lefties are hitting .290 with a .347 wOBA off of Weaver. The Reds could potentially send out six LHH in their lineup tonight. I understand Weaver already has pitched against them and fared well, but this time could be different.

Our stack is obviously going to start with Joey Votto and Scooter Gennett . Gennett has been white hot for a while and hasn’t slowed down recently hitting .382 over his last 10 games. He’s expensive as hell, but in a tournament stack he’s well worth it. Votto has actually one upped Gennett over his last 10 games hitting .415. Votto has also smashed righties all year to the tune of a .366 AVG and .433 wOBA.

But they’re not the only capable and stackable lefties here. Jesse Winker should be leading off here and is riding a mini four-game hit streak including a homer on Thursday. He’s cheap and allows you to grab both Gennett and Votto. After Winker, Tucker Barnhart is one of the better plays at catcher if he is hitting in the two-hole. He’s just consistently reaching base and never putting up duds in DFS, which is sometimes all we can ask for at the catcher’s position.

Thought I was done? Because we’re not going anywhere before mentioning that Scott Schebler has slashed .351/.429/.622 with three bombs over his last 10 games, is riding a seven-game hit streak and has multiple hits in three straight and four of his last five. Eugenio Suárez hits from the right side, but he’s another Reds hitter batting over .300 in his last 10 games and he’s just a really good player. He’ll be the lowest owned of the bunch too because of his price, but he has double dong potential.

Primary Option(s): Joey Votto , Scooter Gennett , Scott Schebler , Jesse Winker

Secondary Option(s): Tucker Barnhart , Eugenio Suárez