It is week 1 of period 2 of Tout Daily by RTSports.com, the expert daily fantasy contest. Brian Walton, Rob Leibowitz and Patrick Mayo won tickets to the finals in period 1. Now the scores reset in the next four-week contest, during which three more touts will win tickets.
Who are the Touts picking tonight? (You can follow tonight’s action, or make some of your own at RTSports.com.)
Phil Hertz likes Ryan Braun ($5,900 at Cincinnati) against Adelman in Great America Ballpark and Kenta Maeda ($7,300 at Toronto) on seven days rest, just like he was used to in Japan.
Lawr Michaels loves Thor Syndergaard ($9,300 at San Diego) in pitcher-friendly San Diego, while on-base guy Seth Smith ($4,000 at Houston), with a .400 OBP, faces Doug Fister in a matchup you have to like.
Jeff Erickson takes Drew Pomeranz ($5,600 vs. NY Mets) in a home start, which saves a lot of cash for an ace and big bats. On the hitting side Jeff is loading up on Reds and Brewers because both Cravy and Adelman are disasters in waiting, and the bullpens are worse. Taking Chris Carter ($5,100 at Cincinnati) over Joey Votto ($6,300) to save money.
Charlie Wiegert makes Rick Porcello ($6,700 at NY Yankees) his pitching pick. “Can the magic continue? Against a Yankee team that is scuffling, I think so. He has been striking out over one per inning and the Red Sox batters have been giving him the run support to get wins.” On the hitting side, he’s stacking Reds tonight against Milwaukee’s Tyler Cravy who is making a spot start in place of Peralta. And using Ryan Braun ($5,900 at Cincinnati)/Chris Carter ($5,100 at Cincinnati) against Reds Tim Adelman. Hoping for a 13-12 game with the ball flying out of the Great American Ballpark multiple times!
Jeff Boggis takes Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 at San Diego). “I’m not messing around on starting pitching this week and spending top dollar on Syndergaard. Noah Syndergaard has gone deep in games this season, averaging better than 6 1/3 innings per start. He has a favorable matchup on the road in San Diego, but there is a 52% chance of rain tonight and it’s a late start. Keep an eye on the weather and change to another pitcher if the rain chances increase before the 7 PM ET games get underway. For hitter, Jeff likes Mark Trumbo ($4,800 vs Oakland). He is batting .324 on the season, but only .217 over the last week, explaining his depressed salary of only $4,800 on RT Sports today. I’ll take my chances and look for Trumbo to get rolling tonight at home as he faces Oakland’s Rich Hill.
Mike Gianella is big on Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 at San Diego) this week. Thor struggled in his last outing against the Giants, but facing the Padres in San Diego is a recipe for success. The Padres have the third highest team strikeout percentage in baseball while Thor has the highest pitcher strikeout rate in the game. Even at $9,300, this screams bargain.His top hitter is Ryan Braun ($5,900 at Cincinnati). I’m all about the Reds stack against Brewers’ starter Tyler Cravy, but Braun gets a pretty tasty matchup of his own against Reds hurler Tim Adleman. Braun is the 10th best hitter in MLB by wOBA the last calendar year. I don’t know how long he’ll keep this up, but I’m all about riding the hot bat against Adleman.
Steve Moyer works for Inside Edge, and Inside Edge likes all three obvious starters tonight (but of course), but I’ll tab Noah Syndergaard ($9,300 at San Diego) just because he’s a tad cheaper than MadBum (hate those trendy nicknames of today) and perhaps a tad safer than Greinke. As for the hitter, he’s not exactly el cheapo, but he’s not quite high end either – Inside Edge says Brandon Crawford ($4,700 vs Colorado) is your shortstop tonight, facing Chad Bettis of the Rockies.