I am feeling a bit risky this Wednesday afternoon. I will be targeting the Reds yet again, and backing a rookie making his second MLB start. That rookie is named MacKenzie Gore. MacKenzie is a consensus top 100 prospect in the MLB, and gets a great chance to show his talent this afternoon. He has a 4 pitch arsenal that includes a mid 90s 4 seamer, curveball, slider, and a change up. While his slider is more towards the average side, his other 3 pitches are above average and his curveball should be responsible for several whiffs tonight.
Gore has terrific strikeout numbers in the minor leagues. He only made one start there this season before getting called up, but he recorded 7 K on 63 pitches. Throughout the rest of his minor league career, he had 311 strikeouts in 238.1 innings, 1.31 K per inning. Obviously coming up the majors is a different test, but at least for today it may feel as if he is still in the minors when he looks at this Reds lineup. The Reds have accumulated 45 K in 153 at bats, a 29.4% rate.
He threw 63 pitches in his minor league start to open the season, and 73 pitches in his first major league start so I would think the Padres are open to stretching him into the 80 range today. His line on most books is sitting at a very juiced 4.5 line. Like I said earlier, I am feeling risky so I am heading over to Fanduel for ALT lines and grabbing him at 6+.
