FanDuel Price: $4,600
When Josh Donaldson is facing a left-handed pitcher, you want him in your lineup. It’s that simple.
It’s not that Donaldson doesn’t fare well against righties -- he does -- it’s that he’s straight up mauled southpaws in his career.
For you visual learners out there, this poor little tike is a left-handed pitcher and the dogs are Donaldson.
We've got an offensive foul on Right Dog. The boy in blue -- little man's brother, I assume -- is the other left-handed starter who is just happy today is his day off.
OK, OK. Here’s some data:
| Plate Appearances | wOBA | Home Runs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs. LHP | 662 | .421 | 42 |
| vs. RHP | 1,862 | .350 | 71 |
It’s a small sample size, but those splits are even more pronounced this season. In 30 trips to the plate against a left-hander, Donaldson has a hard-to-believe .600 wOBA. And if you still need one more reason to jump on the Donaldson bandwagon, the game is in Toronto, where he posted a .428 wOBA last season.
Tonight, Donaldson will look to tee off against Rangers’ lefty Derek Holland, who has allowed 44 percent of balls in play this year to be fly balls. Our models rate Donaldson as Thursday’s third-ranked hitter, projecting him to total 14.47 points and giving him the second best odds (.31) of cranking a long ball. Toronto is a team to target as their 4.73 implied run total is the highest of the day.