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Not every night has a theme, but Friday does. It's the night of the highly touted prospects.
The Rangers take their stable of young studs into battle with Edinson Volquez and they are all so cheap. You can play Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo for $6,900 combined on FanDuel. That is exceptional value for huge upside.
The other unproven young player I'm intrigued by tonight is Alex Bregman against Matt Boyd.
Of course, you don't have to look to cheap unproven players if you want upside tonight. Corey Seager has a great matchup against Zack Godley, and red-hot Tyler Naquin gets Kendall Graveman. I'll work several of these players into my lineups below.
Starting Pitchers
Trevor Bauer ($8,500, $8,300)
There are plenty of borderline pitchers against great matchups on Friday, but this is my favorite. Bauer has come back to earth a little bit lately, but that only served to lower his price. This is a great matchup against a bad offense with a big win potential (-160).
Vince Velasquez ($9,000, $9,700)
Velasquez is coming off his worst outing since returning from the DL, but even that start wasn't terrible. His Phillies are favorites with a positive park shift against a terrible offense. It didn't work very well with Aaron Nola yesterday, but it's good process and Velasquez has a higher upside with his K potential.
Steven Matz ($9,700, $8,500)
Unlike Bauer and Velasquez, Matz is actually trending in the right direction. His six shutout innings in his last start were encouraging and so is his matchup with the Rockies outside of Coors. I would expect low ownership to be one of the biggest draws to Matz as most pay up for an ace or try to find a cheaper option.
Stack Attack
Red Sox @ Angels
OK, so the Sox struggled against Jered Weaver. Tim Lincecum is worse. Lincecum finished six innings in his very first start of the season. He hasn't done it since and he has only finished five twice. The Red Sox are priced accordingly, so you'll have to use Trevor Bauer or someone cheaper to get the full stack in. Xander Bogaerts is my favorite value on FanDuel at $4,000.
Rangers vs. Royals
Edinson Volquez has been pretty awful outside of Kauffman Stadium this season with a 5.72 ERA. I love the value on Mazara, Profar and Gallo. Considering the upside this is one of the best value stacks I can remember this season.
Astros @ Tigers
Matt Boyd has some upside but he's not ready to pitch in the big leagues successfully and he's certainly not ready for this lineup. George Springer is my favorite value, but Jose Altuve could very easily be worth his large price tag. I also don't have the idea of using a $2,700 Alex Bregman to finish off the stack.
Lineups
I'm going to offer my early take on a cash game lineup, but of course you should always check out our Sportsline projections for lineup changes right up to lock. Also, check out our podcast on iTunes for extended thoughts on each slate from Chris Towers, Mike McClure and myself.
FanDuel
P Trevor Bauer $8,500
C Evan Gattis $2,900
1B Carlos Santana $3,900
2B Jose Altuve $4,500
3B Maikel Franco $3,300
SS Corey Seager $3,500
OF George Springer $3,700
OF Nomar Mazara $2,200
OF Joey Gallo $2,000
DraftKings
P Trevor Bauer $8,300
P Vincent Velasquez $9,700
C Derek Norris $3,400
1B Eric Hosmer $3,600
2B Jurickson Profar $3,800
3B Joey Gallo $3,200
SS Xander Bogaerts $4,400
OF George Springer $5,000
OF Nomar Mazara $3,900
OF Odubel Herrera $4,600
