Feb 19, 2016; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; MLB baseball show the new logo at Arizona Diamondbacks spring training camp at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

MLB Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks April 17

Welcome to the Sunday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy column focused on providing analysis for the upcoming MLB FanDuel slate. The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big pay day!\n
The Sunday slate kicks off at 1:05PM EST with 14 day games and one additional Sunday Night game featuring the Dodgers and the Giants setting us up for a great all day slate!

I will continue to track winning GPP lineups and compare trends over 5 day periods to help us understand what it takes to remain profitable. I HIGHLY recommend each of you do this each morning to look back on the previous night and understand how the winning lineups are constructed in the games you participate in.

The view below compares the 5 day period April 10-14 and the winning GPP scores from a selection of GPP entries I have entered over the past week with a comparison to how Friday April 15^th slate played out.

• Average Top GPP Finish Points Scored: 224 Points(5 day) – April 15(255)
• Average SP Salary: $7,500 (5 Day) – April 15 ($7,200)
• Hitter/Pitcher Percentage of Salary Spent: 21/79 (5 Day) – April 15: 21/79
• $ Value Per Point: $6.4 (5 Day) – April 15: 7.3

Friday’s slate was incredibly high scoring as there were multiple high offensive outputs across the league. What is interesting about this slate is that although the scores were up the basic roster construction remained consistent with the previous 5 days winner’s in that they continue to target mid-tier starting pitching and utilize roughly a 20/80 split when constructing their roster. With so many aces on the bump Friday night, it was Joe Ross found at the top of the winning entries – who I had featured yesterday in Picks and Pivots April 15  – keeping up with the theme of mid-tier SP being the key building block for winning GPP entries.

Now on to the picks…