Phillies Game 3 Preview: Brock Stassi Gets The Start And Some Daily Fantasy Picks
We have all heard the story by now. Brock Stassi, will finally get his first major league start this afternoon at first base. Jeff Passan wrote a great column about him a few days ago. It’s like 4,000 words, I didn’t read it all, but it was a good skim.
The Matchups
Clay Bucholtz 2016 Stats – 8-10 4.78 ERA 1.33 WHIP
I can honestly care less what Bucholtz during his time with the Phillies. If he goes out and pitches well, great. If he doesn’t, oh well. He’s a great placeholder and an arm we can really beat up. As long as he goes out there and gives us 6 innings of 4 run ball every time out there, I am perfectly ok with that.
Rookie Davis 2016 AAA-AA – 10-5 3.82 ERA 1.30 WHIP
Rookie, Rookie Davis is a large fella (6’5 255) and he will be making his major league debut this afternoon vs the Phillies. The scouting report on him is a sinking fastball that will stay between 92-95 which induces a ton of ground balls, which the Phillies love to hit. He works in a slider, change and curve as well, with his curve as his go-to secondary pitch. He had a decent spring (9.5 K/9) but he wasn’t much of a strikeout pitcher in the minors.
The lineup
4/6 @Phillies lineup at CIN
Hernandez 2B
Nava LF
Herrera CF
Franco 3B
Saunders RF
Knapp C
Stassi 1B
Galvis SS
Buchholz P— MLB Lineups (@mlblineups) April 6, 2017
I would have loved to see Aaron Altherr start a back to back, but Pete Mackanin wants to platoon Nava in with righties. Andrew Knapp gets his first start at catcher and as I mentioned, Stassi is getting the start at first. He has a chance to make a huge impact on Mackanin today with Tommy Joseph struggling (0-8 k’s) at the plate
Daily Fantasy Picks April 6
Pitching: Marcus Strohman
Strohman will have a ton of momemtum going into this game following his MVP from the WBC. He pitches really well at Tropicana, with a career 2.89 ERA .94 WHIP and 21K’s in 28 IP. He’s 8,700 in draft kings and is facing a Rays lineup who had a combined .730 OPS vs. right handed pitching last year.
Bats: Stack the Tigers
Coming off a 1.60 WHIP in 181 IP season in 2016, the James Shields of old is long gone. Right handed bats, Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler and JD Martinez murder the baseball off Shields and have a combined .314 avg 8 HR 24 RBI and 17 2B in their career against him. Plus, that wonderful Chicago breeze will be blowing into Right Center field the whole game.
