4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 7/24/17
Gerrit Cole, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates
FanDuel Price: $8,700
At face value, a road matchup against the San Francisco Giants is appealing as the Giants' have the second-lowest implied total (3.64) on the slate, but Gerrit Cole doesn't offer the upside we crave for DFS tournaments.
For starters, Cole hasn't been getting whiffs this season. His strikeout rate is a solid 21.4%, but his swinging-strike rate of 8.7% isn't as enticing. He's posted a single-game swinging-strike rate of more than 10.0% in just 2 of his last 12 starts, although both occurrences have come in July.
The Giants are last in wOBA, but they don't strike out much, sporting the 26th-lowest strikeout rate (19.4%).
There's also the issue of Cole's home-road splits.
| Split | Hard-Hit Rate | Fly-Ball Rate | wOBA | xFIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 30.0% | 29.9% | .293 | 3.59 |
| Road | 35.2% | 36.0% | .345 | 4.00 |
Cole gives up significantly more hard-hit balls and fly balls away from home. and he's generally just all-around not as good outside of PNC Park. The low implied total gives Cole some cash-game appeal, but when you combine his splits with his strikeout issues, he's hard to get excited about for tournaments.
