3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 6/8/18

Eric Hosmer, 1B, San Diego Padres

FanDuel Price: $3,600

Eric Hosmer looked like he was going to end up as a victim of a slow winter free-agent market, but the San Diego Padres swooped in to sign him to an eight-year deal. He's done well in his debut season with the Padres so far, but there are some concerning signs.

While Hosmer's hitting the ball hard (38.4%), his strikeout rate and ground-ball rate are up to 21.6% and 57.0%, respectively. Now he has always been a ground-ball hitter, but a mere 18.6% fly-ball rate is taking things to an extreme.

This evening, Hosmer will square off against Miami Marlins southpaw Caleb Smith. While Smith has had difficulties with walks and keeping the ball on the ground, there's no question that he has been extraordinarily successful in the facet of pitching that matters most: missing bats. In fact, Smith has a 29.6% strikeout rate in 2018.

Moreover, Hosmer has struggled mightily to offer much upside against left-handed hitters. In his career, he has just a 29.5% hard-hit rate and a putrid 24.6% fly-ball rate. This is good for just an 87 wRC+, well below average. That certainly doesn't sound like someone worth paying $3,600 for, and that is why Hosmer is a fade in this spot.

Akash Bhatia is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Akash Bhatia also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username tenswimrun1. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.