This article is part of our DFS MLB series.
Here's a quick glance at Thursday's slate(s).Helpful Links
For those interested, we've started an MLB DFS Slack channel for paid RotoWire subscribers. (There is a season-long one as well.) To join those channels, e-mail support@rotowire.com.
Park Factors & Lines
Park factors in this piece are a three-year average from 2015-2017, indexed (100 = average). For example, left-handed home runs at Guaranteed Rate Field (home of the White Sox) have a three-year index of 122, which means there have been 22% more homers hit by lefties from all teams during that span in that park compared to a completely neutral environment. Left-handed hitters have a significant advantage when hitting at Guaranteed Rate Field.
AT&T Park (home of the Giants), has a three-year run index of 90, which means that games played at AT&T park have had 10% fewer runs scored overall than a completely neutral environment. Overall offensive production is reduced by a significant amount for games played in San Francisco, making it a safer environment than most for pitchers.
| Lefties | Righties | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road Starter | Home Starter | Home Tm | R | AVG | HR | AVG | HR | K | O/U | HmL | 1st Pitch |
| Dereck Rodriguez | Dan Straily | Marlins | 84 | 93 | 86 | 91 | 83 | 103 | 8.0 | -105 | 12:10 PM |
| German Marquez | Vince Velasquez | Phillies | 98 | 95 | 120 | 97 | 124 | 109 | 8.5 | -125 | 1:05 PM |
| Lance Lynn | Michael Fulmer | Tigers | 103 | 98 | 104 | 103 | 101 | 104 | 8.5 | -110 | 1:10 PM |
| Mike Clevinger | Carlos Rodon | White Sox | 95 | 90 | 122 | 99 | 110 | 106 | 8.5 | 115 | 2:10 PM |
| Justin Verlander | Frankie Montas | Athletics | 96 | 97 | 84 | 97 | 87 | 96 | 7.5 | 160 | 3:35 PM |
| Blake Snell | Domingo German | Yankees | 103 | 95 | 142 | 99 | 123 | 92 | 8.5 | -180 | 7:05 PM |
| Tyson Ross | Anibal Sanchez | Braves | 102 | 106 | 116 | 98 | 81 | 98 | 8.5 | -145 | 7:35 PM |
| Jason Vargas | Matt Koch | Diamondbacks | 116 | 109 | 106 | 105 | 111 | 100 | 9.0 | -115 | 9:40 PM |
| David Price | Felix Hernandez | Mariners | 91 | 96 | 105 | 94 | 97 | 104 | 8.5 | 115 | 10:10 PM |
Pitcher Skills
These stats look at each starting pitcher's stats since the start of last season.
The final two columns are team stats for each pitcher's opponent.
OwRC+ is the team wRC+ for the current season, against the handedness of that pitcher.
TeamK% is the strikeout rate of the opposing team for the current season, against the handedness of that pitcher.
Note: Opponent team matchup data from 2018 season.
| Player | Opp | IP | K% | BB% | K-BB | HR/9 | ERA | WHIP | DK | FD | OwRC+ | OsK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Clevinger (R) | at CWS | 206.0 | 24.5 | 10.6 | 13.9 | 0.83 | 3.19 | 1.23 | $9,700 | $8,800 | 96 | 24.8 |
| Michael Fulmer (R) | v MIN | 238.3 | 17.9 | 6.8 | 11.1 | 0.83 | 4.00 | 1.20 | $5,500 | $7,300 | 97 | 22.1 |
| Domingo German (R) | v TB | 61.7 | 26.8 | 10.6 | 16.2 | 1.31 | 4.82 | 1.30 | $6,700 | $7,000 | 102 | 21.5 |
| Felix Hernandez (R) | v BOS | 164.0 | 20.0 | 7.9 | 12.1 | 1.54 | 4.99 | 1.34 | $5,800 | $6,800 | 122 | 19.2 |
| Matt Koch (R) | v NYM | 60.0 | 13.3 | 6.0 | 7.2 | 1.80 | 4.65 | 1.27 | $6,200 | $5,800 | 100 | 21.8 |
| Lance Lynn (R) | at DET | 248.3 | 20.3 | 11.2 | 9.2 | 1.20 | 3.84 | 1.34 | $6,900 | $7,500 | 86 | 21.0 |
| German Marquez (R) | at PHI | 229.7 | 21.2 | 7.7 | 13.5 | 1.41 | 4.51 | 1.41 | $5,300 | $7,700 | 91 | 26.8 |
| Frankie Montas (R) | v HOU | 53.7 | 21.3 | 9.8 | 11.5 | 1.84 | 4.70 | 1.45 | $7,500 | $8,200 | 111 | 20.3 |
| David Price (L) | at SEA | 149.0 | 23.7 | 8.7 | 15.1 | 0.91 | 3.68 | 1.22 | $8,600 | $8,400 | 115 | 20.1 |
| Carlos Rodon (L) | v CLE | 74.3 | 25.8 | 10.2 | 15.5 | 1.70 | 4.12 | 1.39 | $6,300 | $6,300 | 111 | 18.5 |
| Dereck Rodriguez (R) | at MIA | 12.0 | 19.7 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 0.75 | 5.25 | 1.83 | $6,500 | $6,000 | 84 | 22.7 |
| Tyson Ross (R) | at ATL | 125.0 | 20.5 | 11.7 | 8.8 | 1.01 | 5.11 | 1.47 | $8,100 | $7,900 | 104 | 20.1 |
| Anibal Sanchez (R) | v SD | 135.7 | 21.5 | 6.6 | 14.9 | 2.06 | 5.51 | 1.47 | $5,500 | $6,300 | 86 | 25.6 |
| Blake Snell (L) | at NYY | 211.7 | 23.9 | 9.6 | 14.2 | 1.02 | 3.36 | 1.20 | $10,900 | $9,200 | 122 | 22.7 |
| Dan Straily (R) | v SF | 221.3 | 21.3 | 8.7 | 12.6 | 1.55 | 4.23 | 1.33 | $6,100 | $6,200 | 108 | 24.5 |
| Jason Vargas (L) | at ARI | 210.0 | 17.9 | 7.8 | 10.1 | 1.41 | 4.67 | 1.39 | $5,100 | $5,800 | 105 | 23.9 |
| Vince Velasquez (R) | v COL | 139.3 | 24.8 | 9.5 | 15.3 | 1.61 | 5.04 | 1.44 | $7,100 | $8,600 | 82 | 23.5 |
| Justin Verlander (R) | at OAK | 299.3 | 27.6 | 7.7 | 20.0 | 0.99 | 2.77 | 1.05 | $13,100 | $11,400 | 106 | 23.0 |
Pitcher Splits
These splits cover each pitcher's performance against left-handed and right-handed hitters since the start of the 2016 season.
Stats highlighted yellow indicate matchups favoring the pitcher. Stats highlighted blue indicate matchups favoring opposing hitters.
| v. Lefties | v. Righties | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Opp | K% | BB% | K-BB | HR/9 | wOBA | K% | BB% | K-BB | HR/9 | wOBA |
| Mike Clevinger (R) | at CWS | 22.5 | 11.0 | 11.5 | 0.82 | 0.302 | 24.8 | 11.0 | 13.9 | 1.02 | 0.305 |
| Michael Fulmer (R) | v MIN | 18.3 | 7.1 | 11.2 | 0.82 | 0.292 | 19.5 | 6.3 | 13.2 | 0.90 | 0.286 |
| Domingo German (R) | v TB | 23.0 | 9.6 | 13.3 | 1.36 | 0.292 | 30.8 | 11.5 | 19.2 | 1.26 | 0.334 |
| Felix Hernandez (R) | v BOS | 18.4 | 9.8 | 8.6 | 1.38 | 0.342 | 20.1 | 8.1 | 11.9 | 1.30 | 0.317 |
| Matt Koch (R) | v NYM | 15.7 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 0.90 | 0.250 | 11.5 | 4.2 | 7.3 | 2.13 | 0.393 |
| Lance Lynn (R) | at DET | 15.2 | 14.0 | 1.2 | 1.65 | 0.355 | 24.9 | 8.6 | 16.3 | 0.84 | 0.281 |
| German Marquez (R) | at PHI | 17.8 | 8.1 | 9.7 | 1.01 | 0.339 | 23.6 | 6.9 | 16.6 | 1.71 | 0.356 |
| Frankie Montas (R) | v HOU | 16.2 | 11.7 | 4.5 | 2.88 | 0.392 | 25.8 | 8.1 | 17.7 | 0.94 | 0.313 |
| David Price (L) | at SEA | 19.8 | 4.1 | 15.7 | 0.88 | 0.291 | 25.0 | 7.3 | 17.7 | 1.12 | 0.306 |
| Carlos Rodon (L) | v CLE | 27.1 | 5.2 | 21.9 | 0.88 | 0.292 | 23.5 | 9.2 | 14.3 | 1.53 | 0.339 |
| Dereck Rodriguez (R) | at MIA | 15.6 | 9.4 | 6.3 | 0.00 | 0.344 | 24.1 | 10.3 | 13.8 | 1.59 | 0.396 |
| Tyson Ross (R) | at ATL | 17.6 | 11.4 | 6.2 | 1.02 | 0.360 | 23.1 | 11.2 | 11.9 | 0.92 | 0.308 |
| Anibal Sanchez (R) | v SD | 22.6 | 8.8 | 13.8 | 1.55 | 0.339 | 19.1 | 5.8 | 13.2 | 2.26 | 0.377 |
| Blake Snell (L) | at NYY | 27.6 | 9.9 | 17.7 | 0.15 | 0.237 | 23.2 | 10.8 | 12.4 | 1.05 | 0.316 |
| Dan Straily (R) | v SF | 20.3 | 11.9 | 8.4 | 1.17 | 0.318 | 21.6 | 6.1 | 15.5 | 1.83 | 0.324 |
| Jason Vargas (L) | at ARI | 13.0 | 8.3 | 4.7 | 1.74 | 0.374 | 19.5 | 7.5 | 11.9 | 1.30 | 0.321 |
| Vince Velasquez (R) | v COL | 25.3 | 10.1 | 15.2 | 1.69 | 0.358 | 27.0 | 7.7 | 19.3 | 1.38 | 0.320 |
| Justin Verlander (R) | at OAK | 31.1 | 8.7 | 22.4 | 1.17 | 0.270 | 24.8 | 5.5 | 19.2 | 0.99 | 0.265 |
