3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/9/18

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, New York Yankees

FanDuel Price: $4,800

We now have well over a month's sample with Giancarlo Stanton as a member of the New York Yankees, and the early returns are not very good. The truth lies in the plate discipline numbers, as Stanton's swinging-strike rate is at 17.2% after never being above 15.3% in his entire career. He has relied on his excellent power (45.0% hard-hit rate on the season), rather than any semblance of contact-making ability, for his offensive production.

However, in Rick Porcello he is facing a pitcher who not only is having a great start to the year but also one who has traditionally sapped power production. Porcello has just a 3.07 SIERA on the season, which is true ace-level production from an American League pitcher. Moreover, Porcello has been terrific in his career at forcing ground-balls and weak contact against right-handers. Right-handed batters have just a 28.1% fly-ball rate and 26.9% hard-hit rate against the Red Sox starter.

As a hitter who has relied on hard-hit balls so far this season, it is a tough matchup for Stanton. This isn't helped by the fact that he has a career 29.4% strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers. There's just too much working against him tonight.