Sorare MLB GW46 Breakdown | Man of Steele
I have a pretty awesome podcast episode coming out on Monday.
I recorded yesterday with Steve, aka Aced Out, after several requests from the community.
Aced has one of the largest galleries in the game, and just an overall cool perspective into the world of baseball, coming from his relationships with MLB personnel and players through past business and his officially licensed clothing line, Aced Out Clothing.
The ratio of him talking to myself talking was about 99-1, but I intentionally gave him the floor for the whole 75 minute episode.
I told him after the show that he should have his own Sorare show, as his past experience as a San Diego sports talk show host and knowledge/personal investment into the game of Sorare make him an excellent candidate.
Maybe after listening to the episode on Monday more people will feel the same way.
Oh, and there may be at least one more Sorare employee making an appearance on the show in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned.
Let’s dive into GW46!
⏪ Game Week Rewind
We have the new “dark mode” activated for this breakdown. In my brief search I couldn’t find a way to switch back so we will stick with this one for now.
Anyways, Justin Steele finished as the top overall scorer with a 12-strikeout, 8 inning game versus the Giants.
It was a season-high in K’s for Steele who now sits in 9th place in xFIP (3.44).
Tyler Glasnow actually racked up more K’s (14) than Steele in his start against Boston, but he allowed one run and pitched two fewer innings (6).
Mariners’ reliever Matt Brash outpaced all other bullpen arms this week with three appearances against the Reds and Rays.
The other notable arm here is once again Cole Ragans, who doesn’t have a Sorare card but continues to dominate in the reliever slot as a starting pitcher.
His advanced stats show a 34.2% K-rate and a 2.52 xFIP.
Notorious undervalue Seiya Suzuki led all hitters this week by going 9-17 including 2 homers, 9 RBI’s, 3 doubles, and a triple, proving that he really can do it all on offense.
Altuve put on quite the power display this week, homering 5 times over just two games, including 3 times in the first three innings on Tuesday.
I read a stat that Altuve hit his third homer before the 7-8-9 hitters had their first at bat for the Rangers.
📋 Roster Movements
In:
Hunter Greene - Returning from Covid to make his next start vs. Cardinals
Michael Conforto - Rejoined the Giants, took live batting practice Tuesday
John Means - Made final rehab start, should make his next start with Orioles
Out:
Sandy Alcantara - Placed on the 15-day IL with right forearm flexor strain
Jorge Soler - Placed on the 10-day IL with right oblique strain
Shohei Ohtani - Day to day with inflammation in right oblique
Gary Sanchez - Out for season with right wrist fracture
Michael Soroka - Placed on the 15-day IL with right forearm inflammation
Andrew McCutchen - Out for season due to partial tear of Achilles tendon
Matt Manning - Out for season after fracturing right foot with line drive
🔎 Multi Game Monitor
All teams play three games!
⚾️ Pitching Primer
Logan Webb and Alex Cobb vs COL
I’ll lean Webb here, but both these Giants pitchers stand out quite a bit against the porous Rockies offense.
Webb won’t light the world on fire with strikeouts, but he currently ranks 2nd in xFIP (3.01), while Colorado possesses a very minimal run-scoring threat (last place in wRC+) especially going from the best hitters-park in the league to the worst.
The Rockies also strikeout at the third-highest clip (25.4%), which is a boost to Webb’s unspectacular K-rate.
Cobb has flashed upside recently, most notably against the struggling Reds offense in this park, and I can see him being a worthwhile start in this matchup.
Limited Prices: ~$7 Webb, ~$2 Cobb
Kevin Gausman vs KCR
Gausman stands out as arguably the top option on the slate with his elite numbers and a matchup against the Kansas City Bobby Witts.
But seriously, Witt is the only thing to be worried about on this entire team.
They strikeout exactly league-average (23.1%), but are 26th in team wOBA (.301), and one notch above Colorado for the worst wRC+ in the majors (85).
Gausman and his splitter, which he throws a whopping 38.5% of the time, have the second-highest K% (31.4%), and the third-lowest xFIP (3.12) on the year.
Not that the Royals possess one, but Gausman offers a very limited home run threat as well (0.9).
Limited Price: ~$11
Other Starters Include:
~$15 Zac Gallen at CHC
~$13 Justin Steele vs ARI
~$8 Jesus Luzardo at PHI
~$13 Corbin Burnes at NYY
~$10 Pablo Lopez vs NYM
~$26 Gerrit Cole vs MIL
~$9 Aaron Nola vs MIA
~$11 Blake Snell at HOU
~$9 Zach Eflin vs SEA
~$4 Jon Gray vs OAK
📞 Call To The Bullpen
There is no advantage to be had with all teams playing three games this week.
I think taking some kind of combination of relievers who should be in competitive series’, who are also relievers who often get save chances is our best bet.
Series I think can stay close:
CLE/LAA, ARI/CHC, SEA/TBR
Closer Options:
~$10 Emmanuel Clase
~$3 Carlos Estevez
~$4 Paul Sewald
~$8 Adbert Alzolay
~$9 Andres Muñoz
~$4 Pete Fairbanks
~$7 Camilo Doval
~$9 Devin Williams
💰 Stacks
Dodgers
The Dodgers will play a three-game series in Washington and face MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, and Trevor Williams.
This is quite the mismatch with the Dodgers being one of the best offenses in the league, ranking 2nd in ISO (.201), 2nd in wOBA (.342), and 2nd in wRC+ (117).
If it wasn’t for some team in Atlanta they’d be leading the league in these categories.
On the Washington side, Gore has around a 4 xFIP, but Irvin and Williams are both north of 5.
Williams gives up 2.2 homer runs per 9 innings, while Gore gives up almost 2.
I expect to see some homers in the Nation’s Capital this weekend.
~$98 Mookie Betts
~$65 Freddie Freeman
~$8 Will Smith
~$15 Max Muncy
~$12 James Outman
Giants
We will stick with the west coast and highlight the Giants offense this week who will get Rockies pitching in GW46.
San Fran will face Ty Blach, Chase Anderson, and Peter Lambert.
The Giants’ offense won’t blow you away with their advanced stats this season, ranking in the bottom half in most of the offensive metrics, but this is more of a matchup-based play.
I can see a two-man stack of Conforto/Estrada or Conforto/Flores being a solid play this week.
The best part about these guys is that they all come cheap in the Sorare marketplace.
~$1 Austin Slater
~$4 Thairo Estrada
~$2 Mitch Haniger
~$2 Michael Conforto
~$4 Wilmer Flores
Other Stacks To Consider:
Cardinals, Blue Jays, Braves, Rangers
Value Options (Under $20):
Middle Infield:
~$11 Isaac Paredes, ~$8 Ezequiel Tovar, ~$5 Daulton Varsho, ~$10 JP Crawford
Corner Infield:
~$10 Teoscar Hernandez, ~$15 Spencer Torkelson, ~$16 Bryan Reynolds, ~$12 Ryan Mountcastle
Outfield:
~$15 Seiya Suzuki, ~$8 Adam Duvall, ~$12 Eddie Rosario, ~$17 Jordan Walker
There you have it, the Sorare MLB Slate Breakdown for Game Week 46.
All statistics referenced in this newsletter were pulled from Fangraphs.
All prices references were pulled from the Limited tier.
I release these every Monday and Friday prior to lineup lock to help you all with preparing for the slate and setting your teams.
I hope to see everyone at the top of the leaderboards!
Also, follow me on Twitter @Hunter_Himself!
Thanks for reading!