DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Wednesday 7/25/18
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
Tyler Skaggs ($10,200 on DraftKings): He's the most expensive pitcher on the slate, and a large part of that stems from the other top guns -- Jon Gray and Charlie Morton -- pitching in Coors Field. Skaggs' numbers are solid, with a 24.8 percent strikeout rate, 1.22 WHIP and 3.53 xFIP, and he is taking on a Chicago White Sox team that struggles against left-handed pitchers. The White Sox have a 25.9 strikeout rate against southpaws, which is the second-worst in the Majors, and their 87 wRC+ (22nd) and .297 team weighted on-base average (24th) are just as appealing for opposing pitchers.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Charlie Morton ($8,800): As mentioned above, Morton is pitching in Coors Field and gets a modest matchup against the Colorado Rockies. However, he leads the slate with a 31.2 percent strikeout rate and 143 foot average batted-ball distance. Additionally, he has a very solid 1.15 WHIP and 3.10 xFIP. Now, he takes on a Rockies team that strikes out at a 23.4 percent clip against right-handed pitching and their 80 wRC+ is the third-worst in the Majors.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
J.D. Martinez ($5,600): You could go with Mookie Betts ($6,000) here, too, as both crush right-handed pitching. But the $400 in savings in Martinez is nice. Plus, he brings more power to the table. The big righty slugger has absolutely smashed right-handed pitching this season, with a .445 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and .361 isolated power (ISO). His opponent -- the Baltimore Orioles' Dylan Bundy -- hasn't been great this season, as he has a horrendous 89.5 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 197 foot average batted-ball distance.
Jose Altuve ($5,000): He doesn't have as much power as some of the other Houston Astros, but Jose Altuve leads the team in wOBA against right-handed pitching, with a .392 mark. His .148 ISO definitely needs some wor, but given that we are in Coors Field, it should help offset the weaker power. The Colorado Rockies will be rolling with Gray tonight, and while he has a very good 2.84 xFIP, his 1.44 WHIP, 34.3 percent hard-hit rate and 25.5 percent line-drive rate could get him into trouble against a very good Astros lineup.
Value Hitters
Justin Upton ($4,200): Justin Upton has been pretty solid against right-handed pitching this season. He's got a respectable .363 wOBA and a decent .226 ISO. However he does have a very solid matchup tonight against the Chicago White Sox and James Shields. Shields has an abysmal 5.07 xFIP to go along with his slate-worst 42.9 percent fly-ball rate. The Statcast numbers don't do him any favors either, as he has an 88.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity as well as a 191 foot average batted-ball distance.
Mark Canha ($3,600): Here we go again with Mark Canha against a left-handed pitcher. This time the victim appears to be Martin Perez. Perez has slate-worst numbers in numerous categories such as his 12.4 percent strikeout rate, 2.08 WHIP, 5.48 xFIP, 45.8 percent hard-hit rate, 21.4 percent home run to fly-ball rate and 89.7 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. Not good. Canha has elite numbers against lefties, putting up a very powerful .386 ISO along with an elite .432 wOBA this season.
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.
