 What's going on and welcome to the solo shot? My name is Tom Vecchio. We have an eight-game MLB Slate tonight. Lock is set for 705. As always, this is one of the many shows on the Feindle podcast network. You can find that anywhere, whether it's Apple Podcast, whether it's Spotify. Make sure to give it a like, follow or subscribe. Leave it a review. That'd be greatly appreciated. The video version can be found on the Feindle YouTube page. It can be found on Feindle TV Plus. And it can be found on feindle.com slash watch. You can follow me on Twitter at Tom underscore Vecchio1. Let's hop right into things today. Let's get to the weather and we are looking very, very clear. Again, we're starting to see some cooler temperatures for several ballparks. There's no cores field on tonight's slate, so we are looking at a pretty, pretty good spot to start the week. Let's just jump right into the pitching slate where it's certainly an interesting one with Freddy Peralta leading the way at $10,800 followed by Justin Verlander at $10.5, Zach Wheeler at $10K, Eduardo Rodriguez at $9.8, Brian Woo at $9.7, Jordan Montgomery at $9.5, Michael Walker at $9.3, Lancelin at $9.2, and Mike Clevenger at $9,000. We are, again, no cores field and it's an interesting slate for several reasons where the pitching matchups just aren't super ideal for some of these top-tier pitchers. When it comes to Freddy Peralta at $10.8 leading the way, there's no doubt that his 31.2% strikeout rate is something that we absolutely want in our lineups, but we're not in love with this matchup going up against the Cardinals who don't strike out at a high clip. They're also a pretty solid offensive team right now with their current active roster versus right-handed pitching. The Cardinals come in with a 19% strikeout rate, which is the third lowest in the league. They also come in with a 112 WRC plus, which is the sixth best in the league, and they come in with a 176 ISO, which is the 11th best in the league. So they're putting up some numbers on offense and they're also not striking out a whole lot, which doesn't necessarily present the best matchup for Freddy Peralta. Then we have Justin Verlander at $10.5 and he's not striking out here is at nearly the same rate as Freddy Peralta. He also has a difficult matchup going up against Baltimore, which we don't love. Zach Wheeler is $10,000 and Zach Wheeler is absolutely an awesome pitcher coming in with a 27.3% strikeout rate, a super low, 4.9% walk rate on alone, 0.98 homeruns per nine, but he's on the road taking on the Atlanta Braves who are coming off of, I would say, a somewhat of an odd three-game losing streak after getting swept by the Marlins. The Braves are back at home and it doesn't, it's not a lineup that we want to be actively targeting pitchers against. Then we have Eduardo Rodriguez going up against the Dodgers. Again, a picture that we don't love to go, or I would say a lineup that we don't love to take pitchers against, that would be the Dodgers. This could turn us to Brian Woo, 9.7, turn us to Michael Walker at 9.3, or even Lance Lin at 9.2. I think this is where we'll see a lot of people fall with their line of construction. I think Freddie Peralta is a great pitcher. I think Zach Wheeler is an awesome pitcher and frankly, Zach Wheeler might be the best actual pitcher on tonight's slate, but I don't like the matchup going up against Atlanta. Freddie Peralta, he has that strikeout upside. So the point of making up the top is that Peralta Verlander Wheeler really don't check off a whole lot of boxes that we love tonight. Sure, the strikeouts can be there from Peralta and Wheeler, but we're not in love with the matchups that they have specifically not, you know, with Wheeler going up against Atlanta. So these pitchers I think could make better tournament options just because they have expensive salaries and we do have some viable options that are a little bit less expensive. Again, combined with the fact that we don't love their matchups. So this is where I think Lance Lin and Michael Walker could come into play. Now, I'll be the first one to say that I think Lance Lin is a good pitcher. He's by no means the best pitcher on tonight's slate. He also has, you know, a lot of potential downside due to the fact that he still struggles with home runs. He's allowing this season 2.21 home runs per 9. He has a 23.8% strikeout rate. He has a 7.9% walk rate. He comes with a 4.25 Sierra. He has a 42% fly ball rate, which we don't love to see. He is still mainly a medium contact pitcher at 49.6%. So it's a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to Lance Lin. But there's no doubt that this match was one that we love. Going up against the Detroit Tigers, they come in with a 24.7% strikeout rate with their current active roster versus Reides, which is the sixth worst in the league. They also come in with an 85 WRC+, which is tied for last in the league. And of course, they don't have a whole lot of power. They come in with a 141 T. Mycel versus Reides, which is 28th in the league. So we have a lot of boxes checked off for Lance Lin, who has shown some really nice strikeout upside at times this season. And frankly, his matchup is probably one of the best that we're going to find on the slate. I did also mention that Brian Wu is on the slate for the Seattle Mariners. They're also in a spot where coming off a bit of an odd three game lose streak, I guess it was against the Dodgers, so it's not that odd. But he has a great matchup going up against the Oakland Athletics. We see Wu coming in with a 24.1% strikeout rate, a 7% walk rate. He's only allowing 1.07 homeruns per nine. He has a 4.09 Sierra Skill Interactive ERA, 54.7% medium contact rate, and a 40% ground ball rate. He also has a 40% fly ball rate. It's even across the board. Obviously, this is his rookie season coming in from a 75.2 and sample size. So up at the top, if we're dealing with some question marks, why don't we just go down a little bit and take a little bit of sour relief with Brian Wu at 9,700 or Lance Linn at 9,200, who just factually have substantially easier matchups compared to going up against Atlanta, going up against the Cardinals, going up against the Orioles for these top three pitchers. We could also be considering Michael Walkett tonight for the San Diego Padres. And a 21.9% strikeout rate is nothing to get excited about. 8.5% walk rate is right on the edge. The only reason that we'd be interested in Michael Walkett tonight is due to the fact that he's going up against Colorado, who come with a 25.4% strikeout rate versus righties with their current active roster, which is the third worst in the league. And it's the worst among teams on this slate. They also come in with an 85 WRC Plus versus righties, which is tied with Detroit. And Oakland's not too far behind. They're at an 89 WRC Plus. So we're dealing with Detroit, Colorado, and Oakland who are just factually some of the worst teams in the league, specifically in this matchup versus righties. They're all in the bottom six of the league, at the top six league, what I'm going to call for the highest strike rate versus righties. And they all come in with WRC Plus as sub 90. So it really is a good matchup for Woo, Walkett, and Lin tonight. And I think this is where people will be falling just because, yes, Wheeler might be the best pitcher on tonight's slate, but I'm not running to get pitchers against the Braves in my lineups. And also, you know, we have some powerful offenses on tonight's slate. We're certainly going to want to be stacking them. And, you know, Lancelin at 9,200 is pretty solid. So when we take this step back again, we have no course field on tonight's slate. The Rockies are on the road visiting the Padres. You know, we're in a spot where we can almost fade these top three pitchers. Now, if you're rolling out one lineup and you want to go for that massive strikeout upside, yeah, I think Freddie Peralta might be that player. If you want to go for a complete off-the-board play, you want to pivot. You know, Zach Wheeler might be that under-the-radar option just because, you know, people don't like taking pitchers going up against Atlanta because, again, they can pop off three, four home runs before you know it. So I do realize the fantasy potential that Peralta and Wheeler have just based on their individual talent. The matchups are not something that I love. I love the matchups. You know, at any time we can attack lineups like Oakland, like Colorado, like Detroit, these are teams that we want to be attacking. You know, frankly, we do have some good options between Woo, Lynn, and Waka. So if I have to be ranking them tonight, of all pitchers on tonight's slate, you know, I think Woo and Lynn might be tied for like 1A, 1B. I think Peralta is clearly number two just based on his individual talent. We could say the same thing about Wheeler, but I just don't want to be going there. So I think that's where Waka would come in. And then if you want to roll with a Verlander slash Wheeler there just to differentiate your lineups as you're rolling out more and more lineups, multi-entering, that is certainly the way to go. So you could say Woo and Lynn are my two favorite pitchers on tonight's slate. Let's get to the stacks. Again, we have some powerful offenses that we could certainly want to go to. You know, again, the Braves, they're coming off this like three game losing streak where they kind of got handled by the Marlins, kind of handled the Braves, putting up a ton of runs over the past few days. Wheeler's a great pitcher. Like, as I said, there's no doubt about it. He is truly one of the elite pitchers in the league. I don't love taking lineups, going up against elite pitchers, but I also realized the potential that the Braves do have. So getting some exposure to the Braves is never a bad thing. But realistically, we do have other great offense outside of the Braves tonight. So if you want to just have, if you're rolling on multiple lineups and you just like always like to have some exposure to the Braves, do so. I think it's a great option tonight. We have the White Sox, which are certainly an interesting match of going up against Johanna Doan for the Washington Nationals. And frankly, the White Sox are just not a good team. And I think the White Sox, the best way to approach them tonight would probably be just going to Luis Robert as a one-off for the clear power upside that he does have. We have a number of other teams that we should be looking at as I would say the top three kind of priorities on tonight's slate. One I'm going to say would be the Milwaukee Brewers going up against Adam Wainwright for the St. Louis Cardinals. Wainwright just does not have it this season. He comes in with an 11.3% strikeout rate, which is so, so low, allowing 1.91 homeruns per nine at 8.5% walk rate. He comes with a 5.85 skill interactive ERA. Obviously that is terrible, and he has a 37.6% fly ball rate. Now, to mention the fact that he has a 3.66 babbit, which is batting average of balls in play. He's constantly getting hit around. He's not striking out hitters on the plate. Single here, double there. A walk with his 8.5% walk rate. Homerun, walk single. You name it. Wainwright is a picture that we love to target. Yeah, I'll be going back to the Brewers, a team that's seemingly coming up time and time again over the past few weeks, because they are so, so friendly when it comes to line up construction. Christian Yellich at 3.3K is the most expensive hitter on the Brewers, and he did not play yesterday on Sunday dealing with his back thing. So if he does not play, William Contreras at 3.2 would be the most expensive hitter for the Brewers, followed by William Domus and Carlo Santana at 3.1 and 3K. So this is a lineup that we should be very interested in stacking because of the salary relief that they bring to our lineups. They're not overly expensive. And frankly, they have a great matchup going up against Adam Wainwright. Again, a picture that is just allowing way, way too many home runs, way just too many hits overall. Now, we do, we could get even further salary relief from the Brewers, depending on who's in and out of their lineup again, dealing with some injuries. They, you know, recently signed Josh Donaldson. They brought him up. He's 2600. He's got that power versus right. He's obviously, he also strikes out at a high rate, but 2600 for a player with that kind of power in this split. The Brewers have a 4.99 implied run total tonight. So yeah, he may strike out a lot, but the power is clearly there for something like Donaldson at 2600 Marcona. You can also go to who has a 121 WRC plus since joining the Brewers, which is very, very solid. And then of course, go ahead and get up to Contreras at the top, which would be great Santana. And Domus would be the top three hitters for the Brewers. Let's also move over to the San Diego Padres. You know, we talked, we talked about Waka. Now we want to be going there potentially for pitching. We also want to be going to their hitters tonight, going up against Ty Block for the Colorado Rockies. We look to Block this season. 13.5% strike at rate 1.41 homeruns per nine. He only has a 6% walk rate, which really isn't that bad, but he has a 338 Babbitt. He comes in as well with a 513 Sierra. He's not giving up too many fly balls. It's only a 33.2%. He's not giving up too much out of context at 36.8%, which is still something that we can work with. And yeah, there's a lot of power when it comes to the Padres lineup. So it should be another team that we're willing to go to very, very regularly tonight. They obviously, you know, grand slam for one Soto the other day. And the top of lineup, this is a lineup that we should be looking to stack. And they're relatively expensive tonight. Soto at 3.9. Tattis at 3.8. Machado at 3.5. Weather Haasan came in the line for a nice day-to-day right now. He's 3.2. Xander Bogarts at 3,000. This is a lineup we want to be trusting when it comes to the power that they have. We look to Tattis with a 250 ISO versus lefties is something that we want in, you know, in each and every lineup we could possibly get. Machado is now up to 189 ISO, but he still has a very, very solid 139 WRC plus. He started off the year super, super slow, but he's turning around with a low strikeout rate and he's still putting the ball in play. He may not have as much power as he's had in years past, but the contact and the production is still very, very clearly there for him. Same thing with one Soto, a 122 WRC plus and comes in with a 166 ISO versus lefties. But of course, one of the elite hitters in the game, we want him in any single stack you'll possibly get. Now, if you want to take some shots on something like Tranq Grisham, a little bit lower, that's certainly something you could look to do at 2700. Yes, it is a lefty-lefty matchup for Tranq Grisham, but still we'll be getting to the Rockies bullpen at some point and that's not a spot that I'm particularly worried about. So whether you get pro-far on your lines because you're taking a little bit of sour relief, you want to filter in some Xander Bogarts who's, you know, doing okay this season. I think that's certainly fine, but really Soto, Tattis, Machado should be the clear top three options. And frankly, yes, they have higher salaries at 39, 30 and 3500, but if we're taking a picture like Lance Linn at 9,200, it's really not that difficult to get them into our lines considering we do have plenty of sour leaf when it comes to the brewers as well tonight. Let's move on to another stack. I should mention that we, again, we have the Dodgers on tonight's late. We have the Braves on tonight's late. Don't want to particularly talk about those two teams. They're generally Gibbons. We have no course fuel on tonight's late. So I'm always going to be interested in the Dodgers. I'm always going to be interested in the Braves just to have a few lineups here or there. Very interested in the Brewers tonight going up against Adam Wing, right? Very interested in the Padres going up against High Block. I also think that we want to be considering Seattle. And as I said, Seattle, they got swept over the weekend by the Dodgers. And this is kind of like crunch time for them. They are in a very, very tight AL West slash wild card race. Like this is a matchup against Oakland. Like this is just like their get right spot, right? They, they just need, you know, facing the easier opponent. Let's just call what it is compared to the Dodgers. They're now facing Oakland. They just need to get some runs on the board. I don't love things. I love the matchup tonight for them going up against JPCers, but the game's in Oakland, right? And it's a little bit cooler in Oakland tonight. And we know that this is just one of the best pitchers parks in the league. So I have to put them kind of like third on the list, a little bit lower priority just based on, you know, the hitting environment where if it's going to be nicer in San Diego, it's going to be nicer in St. Louis. I'll certainly take those over a place that's a little bit cooler combined the fact that it's a massive pitchers park in Oakland. So I absolutely love Seattle tonight. I just don't love some of the external factors with the park. So we have to take them, you know, maybe third on the list. Behind the Padres and the Brewers. And if you, of course, want to put the Dodgers and the Braves up there as well, that is certainly something to do. When it comes to JPCers tonight for the Oakland Athletics, it comes in with a 21.6% strikeout rate this season. 1.77 homeruns per nine allowed a 6.7% walk rate. Nothing we need to be worried about. 4.65 Sierra and a 53.6% fly ball rate is absolutely awesome. And when we look to his individual splits versus lefties and righties, he's allowing a 5.38 slugging to lefties and a 4.44 slugging to righties. 1.74 homeruns per nine to righties. 1.88 homeruns per nine to lefties. This is something that we love to see a 47.4% fly ball rate to lefties and a 55.2% fly ball rate to righties. So this is where the power could be for Seattle. And yes, we want to start things off. Each and every stack from the Mariners, we want to start it off with Julio Rodriguez coming in with a 144 WRC plus versus lefties along with a 184 ISO. He is $4,500. He's one of the most expensive hitters on tonight's slate, but he's certainly well worth it in this match. Again, kind of just a spot where Seattle needs to get some runs on the board. Just like get right spot after kind of a tough weekend. Now, I understand that Rodriguez is super, super expensive and he's not only expensive in terms of the entire slate, but he's expensive relative to his teammates where JP Crawford at $3,100 is the next most expensive hitter on Seattle after Rodriguez at $45. So there's a $1,400 salary difference from the most expensive hitter to the second most expensive hitter. So getting stacks for Seattle is easy if you leave off Julio Rodriguez. Now, ideally we would get Rodriguez in every single Seattle stack that we're making, but of course that may not be the case if you're paying up for some Padres. If maybe you want to take a shot on one of the pitchers that are above 10K. So I love Julio Rodriguez tonight, but outside of him that the hitters that I'd be focusing in on would be getting someone like Teosca Hernandez in my lineup. 248 ISO versus lefties coming in with a 134 WRC plus. He is $3,000 tonight. He's got to be one of the best all-around hitters relative to a salary, relative to the match of the power that he has. Should be in a lot of line-ups tonight. Very, very simple. Cal Raleigh, 181 ISO in this split versus lefties. Now he comes in with a 71 WRC plus, which is extremely low. He has a 31.5% strikeout rate. So the consistency is not there from Cal Raleigh. The power is there from him, but ultimately it's going to get to the Oakland bullpen at some point and I assume they'll bring in a righty and he's much better in that split as well. Look to Eohanio Suarez. I think that is certainly fine. And then Mix and Player is like a Thai France, whatever might be, whoever ends up filling out their lineup. Dylan Moore is not a player that I'm running to get into my line-ups, especially depending on if he's hitting lower in the lineup, but I'd rather stick with Crawford, Raleigh, Hernandez. Hernandez being first, but in that mix. And then Suarez, assuming you can't afford Julio Rodriguez. He should of course be the number one priority stacking Seattle. All right. So let's get to some dinger calls to close things out. Two pretty clear ones tonight, especially given the matchups that we have. And that's going to be Fernando Tatis for the San Diego Padres. Love this matchup that he has going up against Thai Block. I think that one is pretty straightforward. And then I got to roll with Julio Rodriguez, J-Rod. Just a great matchup for him. And again, this is a spot where the Mariners really, really need to put up some runs. You know, kind of get things on the right track after a few losses in a row. All right. So that does it for today's podcast. As a reminder, it can be found all over the podcast. Studentverse, whether it's Spotify, whether it's Apple Podcasts, or on the Feindle Podcasts Network. Make sure to give it a like, follow, or subscribe. The video version can be found on the Feindle YouTube page. It can be found on Feindle TV Plus. It can be found on Feindle.com slash watch. You can follow me on Twitter at Tom underscore Vecchio1. Until next time, good luck in your contest.