Fantasy Baseball Pitch and Ditch: September 1

Let’s take a look at a potential pitch and ditch option for tomorrow’s games for those in daily leagues:

Vicente Padilla - Los Angeles Dodgers - vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
I know it seems odd to take the gamble on a pitcher who is currently carrying a 4.86 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, but the bulk of that damage came pitching in the AL.  He was solid in his Dodgers debut and gets to square off with one of the worst offenses in baseball.

The Diamondback entered Monday tied with the Royals for the league’s third worst average, currently at .254.  That’s a good sign for a pitcher who is currently sporting a batting average against of .283. 

While they do score some runs (especially recently as they scored 34 runs from 8/27-8/29, but the starting pitchers for Joe Martinez, Yorman Bazardo, and Bud Norris), they also strikeout a ton (currently second in the league at 1,022). 

Padilla has a career K/9 of 6.14 and hasn’t struck out more than five batters in a game this season.  In 2008, however, he had a 10 K game, a nine K game, and three 8 K games.  He’s not a big-time strikeout artist, but look for him to set a season high in this one.

He’s currently owned in 34 percent of CBS Leagues and 3 percent of Yahoo Leagues

My Prediction: 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 K and picks up a W

What is your prediction?  Do you think he’s worth gambling on?  If not him, who are you looking at for tomorrow?

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