Happy Friday from The Dongers Club. It’s a great day today as MacKenzie Gore makes his Major League Debut for the San Diego Padres and the entire league is recognizing my guy making his debut by wearing #42. Oh, wait, that’s for Jackie Robinson… Right… About Mr. Gore. We have a strict rule here in The Dongers Club which has worked out FAR more than it has busted for us and that is we don’t chase a dirt cheap SP making his debut when they are chalk. Here are all teh limitations with the rookies. The ceiling is a hard cap because they have a shorter leash than ever in their ML debut. The risk that a pitcher pulls a Mitch Keller or Jackson Kowar and can’t find home plate, let alone the catchers glove is extremely high and they’ll go through many full counts, have lots of walks and drive their pitch count up even higher. Advanced scouting on a pitcher is always easier than advanced scouting on a hitter and in game good veteran hitters can pick up when a pitcher does not have a third pitch after one inning. They get overhyped by “industry analysts” who want to be cool and think they did research overnight on a cheap SP to “pay up for all the bats”, which is not how you should play MLB DFS… All that said, MacKenzie Gore has been the pitcher which I have hyped and touted the most. He has gone through struggles in 2020/2021 with injuries and just being off with his command and timing, but his Fall work last year and Spring this year was back to the elite level which had him as the #1 pitching prospect in Baseball drawing comparisons to Clayton Kershaw. He’s a lefty who has a big leg kick and while the Kershaw comp is one I buy he really does his damage with his hard breaking Curve-Ball. If he utilizes his Change or Slider more then he will dominate. I expect Gore to have 1-2 innings tonight where he dazzles and one inning for sure where he gives up 2 hits, 2 walks and 1-2 runs scored as he gets into trouble, most likely the third inning. I have waited for this day for a few years, so that’s why I gave the full breakdown in the intro unlike other rookie pitchers which we…...
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