 Big thank you to Tom Vecchio and Austin Swain for filling in for me the past couple of days while I was out of my wife's PhD graduation and a great time back in Syracuse and coming back to the MLB DFS landscape for today to a pretty fun slate where we've got some good high-end pitching but also a game of course here where I think both sides are very stackable. So we're going to break down this 12-game main slate, let you know which of these studs I'm prioritizing how to jam in more of those studs and get you ready for Tuesday night in MLB DFS. Welcome on into the solo shot that's right here on the Fandewal Podcast Network and Numberfire.com. My name is Jim Sonness. I am a senior writer and analyst for Numberfire here to break down Tuesday's 12-game main slate with lockstep for 7.07 p.m. Eastern for today. Just one weather note on this slate that is at Quarters Field. Unfortunately there is a chance of rain tonight for the Rockies and the Reds. I think they should be good to play which is why we'll be talking about that game in the stacking section but I would check back on the weather for that later on to ensure it has not gotten worse between this morning and later on. We'll dive into pitching preview, Quarters Field and more in just one second. The first day reminder to make sure you're subscribed to the Numberfire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcast. We are now podcast Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcast, you name it. You can find us there and while you're there, if you like what you hear, leave us a rating and review as well. The second leg of Horse Racing's biggest three is here and Fandewal is the best place to bet the Preakness stakes because right now all customers can get a no sweat Preakness bet up to $20. That means you'll get up to $20 back if your win bet doesn't win. Bet the Preakness with America's number one sportsbook. Just visit racing.fandewal.com for your chance to get a no sweat Preakness bet up to $20 this Saturday. That's racing.fandewal.com. Age and residency restrictions apply offer valid on first win wager. Refund issued in non-English travel racing site credits that expires on June 12th, 2023. Refrictions apply see terms at racing.fandewal.com. Gambling problem call 1-800-Gambler. Pitching preview for this Tuesday main slate, Clayton Kershaw comes in with the highest salary on Fandewal. His salary is $11,400 followed by Shane Bieber at $11,200. Kevin Gosman against the Yankees at $11,000. Justin Verlander at $10,800. Justin Steele facing Justin Verlander at $10,400. Luis Castillo at $10,200. Christian Javier at $10,000. Actually Christian Javier is the one facing Justin Steele there. Bailey Ober at $98,000. We got Alex Cobb coming in at $9,600. Zach Wheeler at $94. Seth Lugo's salary is $9,000. With Jordan Montgomery, Wade Miley, and Domingo Airman as the others at $8,000 or higher. On this slate, we got Clayton Kershaw. Clayton Kershaw had his mother pass away this weekend. That's a tough time for Kershaw. It's hard to know what kind of emotions he'll be going through. I can't account for that. It's just a tough situation for Kershaw and his entire family for sure. From a baseball perspective, I just analyzed Kershaw, what he's doing with this matchup. I do think that Kershaw is a quality option for DFS, and hopefully he's in a good headspace for today. He's facing the Twins, and the Twins have struggled against lefties to open this year. They have a 79, a WRC plus against them with a 28% strikeout rate. As it stands right now, this is a plus matchup for a lefty. Kershaw has been pitching well this entire year. Part of that's potentially because his velocity is up, but he was good last year too, even with the lower velocity. Across Aids Starts, Kershaw has a 3.21 skill interactive VRA with a 29% strikeout rate and a 33% hard hit rate. Those are well above average numbers across the board. Now, Kershaw, you could maybe nitpick some single game upside because if you're paying 11.4 on a slate with Coors Field, you want to make sure you can get double-digit strikeouts. Kershaw has not had that number yet this year, but he has hit nine strikeouts on the button three separate times. That's despite having just three of his eight starts at home, and those three home starts happen to be the exact three where he had the nine strikeout games. I have Kershaw projected for 7.9 strikeouts tonight. I can't blame him if he struggles, given all that he's going through right now. From a human perspective, I cannot be mad if this doesn't go well, but just from a numbers perspective, Kershaw is a good play. A lot of uncertainty here just because he is dealing with it a lot, but from a baseball perspective, I hope he does well. And from a human perspective, I hope the pitch is well also. I don't hate the idea of saving a bit of salary for tonight in DFS. I'm not going to jump all the way down and ignore all the studs we have. We can still get a stud while spending a bit less than Kershaw's salary at 11.4. Christian Javier is 10,000. Zach Wheeler is 94, and both those guys are pretty intriguing. I'm going to talk Wheeler here, but I would give some thought to Javier as well. Wheeler facing the Giants. They're a good team to face if you're looking for strikeouts. 23.7% against Reides, and that's a welcome site for Wheeler. He's had a lot of low strikeout matchups recently. This matchup against the Giants to be the first time since April 12th that Wheeler has faced a team inside the top 10 in strikeout right against Reides. Even with a lot of low strikeout matches, Wheeler has still been great. He has gotten seven plus strikeouts and three of five stars since that time, including 11 strikeouts and one. He is on the road tonight, does as most pitchers get downgraded a bit on the road, but not a huge issue for him. Pretty similar strikeout splits for him both last year and this year, home versus road, and Wheeler will go super deep into games. I haven't projected for 103 pitches tonight. That's the highest number on the slate. That's enough for Wheeler strikeout projection to be 6.9. It's not as high as Kershaw or even Kevin Gosman who has the highest strikeout projection for tonight for me, but it is high enough to be worthwhile at 94. So I don't mind a route where you decide to forego Kershaw at the high salary to save some money, get down to Wheeler. I think that is a fine round Christian Javier again in that consideration as well. For the value play for today, I'm going to go back to doing Domingo Ehrman. We've done this a couple of times and hasn't really worked out just yet, but he's getting strikeouts and that's kind of the building block for upside in DFS. It's enough to make him a consideration. Ehrman is facing the Jays tonight, which is not a fun matchup. They have a 109 WRC plus against Reides with a 163 ISO, not a ton of strikeouts. So the matchup is not the factor here. It's pretty purely about Ehrman. For the year, Ehrman has a 4.00 ERA. His skill interactive ERA is right there at 3.94 as well, but that's mostly due to his batted ball profile. He's letting up a 38% hard hit rates with a 43% fly ball, and that can get you in trouble when you're letting up that much hard contact and that many fly balls. It doesn't stop you from having upside though. We've seen Ehrman have eight plus strikeouts three separate times this year. He had 11 and one. His face is Jays offense once, which was back on April 21st. He was fine that game, let up four runs in six innings with six strikeouts. Nothing spectacular, but it also was not recent enough for familiarity to be a massive concern here. So Ehrman has flaws, which is why his salary is 82. It's not an elite spot, but he does enough to be in play. If I had to guess the way things will break down for today, I would bet that Jordan Montgomery catches a lot of heavy roster rates facing a brewers team that has struck out a ton against lefties so far this year, but Montgomery, a much lower strikeout picture than Ehrman. So I have Montgomery projected for 5.86 strikeouts tonight versus 5.93 for Ehrman. And I think the roster rate gap between those two guys will be pretty big. So I don't mind Montgomery by any means, but I think if you were trying to be different a bit, I would go towards the guy with the slightly tougher match been the better overall stuff. And that to me is Ehrman. So no pushback on Montgomery, but that's the rationale for going over Montgomery within the value plays for tonight. Now the fun thing about tonight's slate is I think even if you want to go Kershaw 11-4, you can still stack Coorsfield. And a lot of that's because the salaries here are very low, especially on the Reds, we'll talk about later on. Reds were at Coorsfield facing the Rockies, and I prefer the Rockies. So we'll start things off here, but then we'll talk about the Reds next. The Rockies are facing Brandon Williamson, who will be making his debut here. It's his age 25 season. And down in AAA, the peripherals there were not great. He had a 6.18 X-VIP with a 16% strikeout rate and a 12% walk rate. Williamson is not a ground ball guy. He hasn't had a ground ball rate higher than 39% since he had a six start stretch in Haye back in 2021. So the Reds kind of just need arms and Williamson is the next one to get that crack. I'm not expecting him to be the answer here. So to me, I think the Rockies are a quality stack here given Williamson coming up on a short stint, low strikeouts, a lot of fly balls. I think that's enough to make the Rockies a quality stack. Now he's a lefty, which means it's a pretty big bummer there's no CJ Crone here. But I think there's enough guys who feel good about stacking the situation. Randall Gritchick, Chris Bryant, both good members against lefties in a very small sample this year. Ezekiel Tovar has cooled off, but he has started to hit before this little stretch. So facing lefty here could be in play. Brenton Doyle, three homers the past couple of games, probably going to hit at the bottom of the order, but his salary is pretty low. So you can stack the Rockies with Kershaw and not feel too bad about it, especially with guys like Doyle and Tovar having salaries right around $3,000. So the Rockies, I think the preferred side of this one. The Reds, though, have our savior. Their savior is Matt McLean. We'll talk about him in a bit in just a second. But the reason that we're on the Reds today is they're facing Chase Anderson. Anderson was actually on the Reds triple A roster earlier this year. So a quick revenge game, a quick turnaround here. But the reason that he is on the Rockies, despite being pitched for the Reds earlier on is because he was released and it's happened twice. The Reyes claimed him from the Reds and then the Reyes waved him as well. He's now starting for the Rockies. I think that tells you, A, how dire the Rockies situation is at pitching due to all the injuries they've had, but also B, teams have given up on Anderson pretty quickly, which means we should probably feel okay stacking against him. Anderson was struggling in triple A before his release. He had a 4.3 out ERA with a 5.75 exit. He was not getting many ground balls and he was issuing too many walks. He made two appearances to the Reyes and in those two appearances, Anderson did not let up any runs, but again, minimal strikeouts. He had a 6.38 ERA with the Reds last year in the majors. So you combine struggles last year, struggles in triple A this year, a couple of releases, which means teams have not been super high on him. I think that gives us all the green light to go at the Reds for tonight. And I mentioned Matt McLean. He was not in the player pool last night for this game for the Reds and the Rockies. He isn't there today. His salary is the minimum, not the core's minimum of 25, but the stone minimum at $2,000. McLean hit second in that game last night, showed off his speed, had a double, scored twice, had a walk as well. And this is a guy who in triple A before his promotion had 10 stolen bases and 12 homers and hit a 3-6-2 iso in triple A. So you're getting that for $2,000? I know he'll be chalky. He should be the most popular player on this slate, but I'm still going to go there. So McLean to me at 2,000, still a great option, despite the popularity. It makes Kershaw easier to get to. And honestly, the rest of the Reds aren't bad. You got Jonathan India at 4,000, but he does steal bases, does have a 147 iso against Reides. Jake Fraley, power against Reides. Sowery, hurry him, not as bad. Spencer Steer, 2-14 iso against Reides. So, you know, I think that I would use McLean, despite the fact he will be chalky, because he gets you too past upside, a very low salary, and makes it easier to get you upside at pitcher as well. So it's chalky, but sometimes chalk is chalk for a reason. Now that's Korsfield. The second Korsfield on this slate, and on every slate, is getting to face the Oakland A's bullpen. They have been getting better recently, but it's still an advantage to face them. And the diamond backs the team in line to face Oakland first night. And I think that even with this game being in Chile, Oakland, I do want to stack Arizona here. Arizona is facing Kyle Muller to start things off. Muller, not a huge fly ball pitcher, he has just a 32% fly ball rate allowed so far this year. Everything else though, lines up well for stacking. He has a 15% strikeout rate, but then 11% walk rate. His hard hit rate allowed is 50%, and that's why his ERA is 7.34, despite getting an okay number of ground balls. Muller himself has led up four plus runs in five out of eight starts, and that's without accounting for what the bullpen allows after he comes out. Arizona, not a great team against Lefties, not a team I actively seek out. In fact, I prefer pitchers against them, but I still think we'll want to be here, given the A's bullpen, given Muller, all those things aligned to make Arizona a good stack for tonight. I think within these Arizona stacks, it's time to start buying into Cattel Marte. His ex Woba this year is 342. It was 315 last year, so getting back to form there. His 9.8% barrel rate is a career high this year. Marte typically has been a guy who hit more power against Lefties than Righties, so if we improve his overall form, that should make him pretty great against Lefties, and he gets a Leftie for tonight, gets that A's bullpen after that, so I see no reason not to be high on Marte here, given his overall form is improving, can sit Lefties well. I think that convergence makes Cattel Marte a quality play for today. Things to watch on this Tuesday night, mention Kevin Gosman has the highest strikeout projection on the plate for me. He gets the Yankees, which is still not a tough matchup, but it is tougher than it was, now that Aaron judges back and matching baseball is 460 feet, but Gosman is good. He has a high strikeout projection, slightly lower salary than Kershaw. I think he's more so a pivot. If Kershaw is going to be the runaway favorite among the high salary guys, I would go to Gosman. I just like Kershaw's matchup more over the night against Twins than said of Gosman against the Yankees. So that's the breakdown there. If you get the sense that Gosman will be pretty low rostered, I'm fine going there and being high on him for tonight. I think the Rangers work for stacking. They're facing Jared Schuster, who had good results in AAA, but still not a ton of strikeouts, not many ground balls either. Facing the Rangers who have a 120 WRC plus against Lefties, I think there's enough to go at Schuster here. So the Rangers probably number four for stacking for me tonight, but I would say feel good about Arizona above them in that three slot. Finally, going back to Oakland, I don't mind some A's bats night either. They're facing Tommy Henry, who is a Lefty. The A's hit Lefties pretty well. I mean, you know, in a small sample, they at least better than they've hit Righty so far. And Henry not getting many strikeouts, let's up a lot of fly balls. So it's important not to get too high in a game in Oakland, given that the temperatures there are always cooler, but I think both sides of this game are pretty interesting. So Oakland to me, at least a consideration for tonight. Sticking with Oakland, let's go now to our Dinger calls for today. Brent Rooker facing off with a guy who doesn't get strikeouts, let's up fly balls. Rooker this year has been phenomenal. Had schooled off a bit recently, but I still think he's in a good spot. So Brent Rooker to me, the boring home run call for this Dinger Tuesday, the fun home run call, gotta go Matt McClain, try to get his first career MLB home run. I know if you look at some other books, the home run odds McClain are actually shorter than guys like Fraley and stuff like that, which is a little bit odd, but you know, we're just kind of playing things. The fun way here McClain, looking for his first career, big league home run. I kind of want to have that fun, both fun and like the sense that he's not super, super chock, but also in the sense that it is a little bit more fun. McClain actually has the shortest home run odds of any reds batter for tonight. So if you're actually trying to bet, I would say Fraley a plus five sixties, probably the better option or steer at six to one, but for the Dinger call officially here on Dinger Tuesday, we'll go with Brent Rooker and Matt McClain. That is all that we have here for today on the solo shop. But coming up later on today, here on the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed, we're going to break down the PGA championship, the second major of the year for the PGA. We're going to break down guys, we want each salary tier, our top options over on Vandal for today to get you ready for the PGA championship, which tease off on Thursday to get all that and our podcasts as they go live. Make sure you are subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts. If you've got any questions for me, I am on Twitter at Jim Sonnis, J. I. M. S. A. N. N. E. S. You can also also follow the Fandwall podcast network at Fandwall podcast. I want to thank you all for tuning in for today. Good luck to you with your MLB DFS labs and your Dinger bets for a Dinger Tuesday. We'll talk to you once again tomorrow to break down Wednesday slate. This has been the solo shot right here on the Fandwall podcast network.