Yankees MLB Fantasy Baseball Roundup for Wednesday, June 6, 2018
The following suggestions are for the 4:05pm EST Yankees-Blue Jays matchup in Draft Kings ‘Showdown’ mode.
Pitching
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Sam Gaviglio ($10,800). The Yankees have never faced the 28-year-old Oregon native before, who makes his living off a sinker, slider and four-seam fastball repertoire, all hovering in the mid-80s.
Gaviglio was first selected by the Tampa Rays in the 40th round of the 2008 Amateur Draft right out of high school, but didn’t sign a professional contract until the St. Louis Cardinals selected him in the 5th round of the 2011 draft.
After stints in the Cardinals, Mariners and Royals’ organizations, Gaviglio was traded to the Blue Jays on March 21, 2018, and called up on May 11th.
He was initially used out of the ‘pen, but made has made three starts for the Jays and acquitted himself well overall, pitching to a 3.32 ERA with a 1-1 mark, 22 strikeouts and 4 walks over 21.2 innings.
Gavigilio has one connection to the New York Yankees and it is by bloodline — he is a great-grandchild of legendary former Yankees manager Ralph Houk.
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Sonny Gray ($14,500). With the exception of Teoscar Hernandez (see below), Gray has managed to stay away from the home run ball to the Toronto lineup over the course of his career. Gray is looking to build off of a solid outing at Baltimore in his previous start where his only mistake pitch was hammered by the red-not Manny Machado. With the news of Jordan Montgomery done for this season with Tommy John, it’s crucial that Gray regains his All-Star form in the Yankees rotation.
Hitters to Consider Against Gaviglio
With no paper trail on pitcher vs. hitters data to peruse, let’s go with a few intangibles.
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Aaron Hicks ($7,000). It’s sometimes easy to overlook Hicks in the vaunted Yankees lineup, but not a good idea to do that lately. The switch-hitting centerfielder is quietly have a nice stretch of productive games, hitting .421 over the past week. He has nice numbers against Toronto pitching overall in 2018, with a .350 BA going 7-20 with 6 runs scored.
UPDATE: Hicks will not start this game. The outfield will consist of Stanton (LF), Gardy (CF) and Judge (RF).
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Austin Romine ($6,200). Forget the personal catcher thing. Romine is in the lineup because … OK, maybe that has 5% to do with it … but the man is absolutely raking right now. He is hitting .373 overall with 4 home runs and 19 RBI with no signs of slowing down.
Miguel Enrique Andújar ($6,700). Muggy has been red-hot over the past week, to a clip of .400 BA, with 2 home runs (including his first career grand slam yesterday) and 8 RBI. He is a doubles-machine, and worth every cent of today’s draft price!
Who Sonny Gray Has To Be Careful With
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Teoscar Hernandez ($8,900). In his young career, Hernandez is already established as a card-carrying, certified Yankee-killer. Include him in your lineup when the Jays see the Yankees, and over the course of a series you will see a nice return on your salary investment. Hernandez has 2 home runs in 5 ABs so far against Gray.
After the Bombers wrap up this 2-game series they’ll return to New York but not home. A 3-game set in Citi Field looms against the Mets. Brace yourself.
Remember this is for speculation only, not meant to be taken as gospel. And don’t forget to double-check your lineup(s) just prior to game time as the weather may create havoc for you. We exist under the manta that “You can’t predict baseball” but it’s fun trying. Good luck with your lineup and let’s go Yankees!