With DraftKings having two roster spots for pitchers, it creates an opportunity to take a stand in a limited player pool. To play it safe, the majority of users like to roster the chalkiest pitchers in hopes of their bats being the main focal point of their lineup. While in theory it is a great strategy, it limits a lineup’s ability to stand out from the rest and ultimately land in the top 5 of a large-field GPP. Our goal in this breakdown is find which MLB DFS pivots at pitcher can give our lineups the opportunity to return massive ROI while being undrowned across the field.
Using Stokastic’s Top Pitchers Tool, we are able to determine the pitchers that are expected to be chalk, along with the pitchers that are projected for high leverage in contests. The correlation of high leverage but low ownership is a crucial piece to unlocking a lineup’s potential. Let’s dive into which pitchers stand out in both of these categories to find our favorite MLB DFS pivots for tonight.
Best MLB DFS Pivots Today: Charlie Morton & More (April 8)
MLB DFS Pivot: Trevor Williams ($5,800)
Williams takes the mound against the San Francisco Giants in a game that currently has a total of 7.5, tied for lowest on the slate. Williams had a solid first start against the Pirates, going 5.1 innings allowing two runs on three hits while striking out five. Tonight Williams gets the benefit of some important external factors when it comes to predicting a pitcher’s performance.
The game takes place in the fourth-most pitcher-friendly ballpark, Oracle Park, where the weather at first pitch is forecasted to be in the mid-50s and will drop as night falls. Moving into his matchup, the Giants are middle of the pack for strikeout rate at 22.2% but have struggled against right-handed pitching, posting a .214/.288/.342 slash line, all averages ranking in the bottom 10. With the slate featuring expensive stacks like the Diamondbacks in Coors and Atlanta against Julio Teheran, getting to a 6%-owned Williams opens up a path to massive salary relief when building lineups.
MLB DFS Pivot: Charlie Morton ($10,000)
This is a specific pivot off of $10,300 Blake Snell, who is projected to pull 31.1% ownership on tonight’s slate. Morton projects great in Stokastic’s Top Pitchers Tool with an 11% ownership projection, the second-highest top-2 pitcher percentage at 17.4% and the fourth-highest leverage percentage at 5.8%.
Morton posted an encouraging 27.3% strikeout rate in his first start against the White Sox, and while the Mets obviously aren’t the White Sox, they aren’t far behind them. One big advantage we get by rostering Morton over Snell is the fact that Snell could potentially be on a pitch count since today is his first start of the season. There’s a realistic chance that Snell will get only 75 to 80 pitches, which will benefit us massively if he gets knocked around for a couple runs in a limited pitch count. With Snell dominating the ownership for spend-up options and the Mets being an unproven offense, I have no problem getting to a low-owned ace at home in Morton.
Get started finding the best MLB DFS pivots by using Stokastic tools today! Check out all we have to offer here!
