DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 7/6/18
Every day is unique for daily fantasy baseball, which is both a blessing and a challenge. Although we can’t simply plug and play our favorite studs day in and day out, each slate presents us with a chance for a new gem to vault us up the leaderboards.
Through the use of numberFire’s tools, we can better identify the players primed to succeed each day, making the process of filling out a lineup just that much easier. In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy looking team to put up some big point totals.
Which names stand out for today on the DraftKings main slate? Let’s check it out, starting with the pitchers.
Pitchers to Target
High-Priced Pitcher
Chris Sale ($14,000 on DraftKings): Chris Sale has been one of the most dominant pitchers this season and is taking on the worst offense in the Majors. The Kansas City Royals are dead last with an 80 wRC+ and .289 team weighted on-base average (wOBA). Although they do not strikeout much, with just a 20.1 percent strikeout rate -- good for a top five mark, Sale has an absurd 36.1 percent strikeout rate to go with his 0.89 WHIP, 2.56 xFIP and 27 percent hard-hit rate. There is little reason to think Sale cannot dominate this horrible Royals team.
Lance McCullers ($11,900): The Houston Astros are hosting the Chicago White Sox and are massive -270 favorites -- the second-highest on the slate. Lance McCullers has been having a solid season with a 1.15 WHIP and 3.41 xFIP while sporting a respectable 25.7 percent strikeout rate. The White Sox have been a very strikeout-happy team, whiffing for outs at a 25.5 percent clip. There is still some hidden offense in Chicago, but the strkeouts are where McCullers has elite upside this evening.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Felix Pena ($6,600): The Los Angeles Angels haven't been too keen on letting Felix Pena go deep into games yet, so there is some cause for concern on what his pitch count may be. However, he's put up a solid 25.3 percent strikeout rate in little time. Over his last 14.1 innings, he's struck out 17 hitters, which is encouraging for tournaments. But Pena has a difficult matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers (winners of four straight), so this play is not for the faint-hearted, becasue if he struggles he won't have the long leash to rack up strikeouts to make up for it.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
J.D. Martinez ($5,700): A great mix of both power and batting average, J.D. Martinez has been an absolute beast this season. He's hitting .327 with a .625 slugging percentage, 71 RBI and an MLB-best 26 home runs. He has had the most success against right-handed pitching, as indicated by his elite .438 wOBA and .339 isolated power (ISO). He's got a cupcake matchup against Jason Hammel, who has a 1.54 WHIP, 5.03 xFIP and 45.8 percent hard-hit rate, all of which are among the bottom three on the slate.
Shin-Soo Choo ($4,800): The Texas Rangers haven't been great against right-handed pitching this season, but one hitter specifically has: Shin-Soo Choo. Choo has absolutely feasted on righties this season, putting up an insane .406 wOBA and an equally impressive .248 ISO. The matchup is also a great one as he'll take on the Detroit Tigers' Jordan Zimmermann, who has given up an 88.4 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and a 197 foot average batted-ball distance. That doesn't bode well for him against Choo and company tonight.
Eddie Rosario ($4,800): This could be a toss-up between Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar as both have very similar numbers against right-handed pitching. However, the high .307 batting average as well as the power/speed combo (18 home runs and 6 stolen bases) overall this season complement Rosario's .408 wOBA and .276 ISO against right-handed pitching very well. Opposing pitcher Dylan Bundy has some ugly numbers, with an 89.2 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 193 foot average batted-ball distance, which have resulted in a 46.3 percent fly-ball rate and 15.1 home run to fly-ball rate.
Value Hitters
Matt Adams ($3,700): Last night, Matt Adams returned from the DL with a bang. He went 4-for-5 while picking up 3 runs in the process. He should be back in the lineup again tonight considering how much he's crushed right-handed pitching this season (a .418 wOBA and .326 ISO). His adversary will be Dan Straily of the Miami Marlins, a pitcher with some horrendous numbers in 2018. He's got an abysmal 4.82 xFIP, 48.3 percent hard-hit rate, and 38.5 percent fly-ball rate, which has led to his 20 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.
Niko Goodrum ($3,700): Despite troubles across the board, somehow Bartolo Colon is still pitching in the Majors. The veteran has given up a 44.3 percent hard-hit rate, 22.3 percent line-drive rate and an 18.9 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. Additionally, he has a slate-worst 14.5 percent strikeout rate. There isn't anything too special about Niko Goodrum's .319 wOBA, but he does have some decent pop with a .230 ISO against righties -- that and the matchup is too good to ignore.
Ketel Marte ($3,400): Ketel Marte has actually shown a decent amount of power in his 116 plate appearances against left-handed pitching this season. He's put up a very solid .384 wOBA and .250 ISO against southpaws and looks to continue that this evening against Joey Lucchesi of the San Diego Padres. Lucchesi actually has some solid numbers this season, but has struggled with the long ball. He's giving up a 39.6 percent hard-hit rate which has, in large part, contributed to his 20.8 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate in addition to the 10 home runs he's given up over his last 10 games.
Ryan Sheppard is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Sheppard also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username donkshow_. 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.
