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
Gerrit Cole ($12,800 on DraftKings): (NOTE: Cole's start was postponed yesterday but is in the same elite spot tonight). Gerrit Cole is expensive, but he is also the best pitcher on the slate. Cole has been exceptional in 2018, leading the slate with a 35.1 percent strikeout rate along with an elite 1.03 WHIP and 2.98 xFIP. He has been utterly dominant and has an elite matchup this evening against the Baltimore Orioles. They are a team that has a 23.5 percent strikeout rate against right-handed pitching, which is the eighth-worst mark. Additionally, they have a team weighted on-base average (wOBA) of .305, which is 24th.
Hyun-jin Ryu ($11,100): In terms of raw numbers, Hyun-jin Ryu isn't that far behind Cole on the slate. In fact, he actually has a slightly better WHIP (1.01) and xFIP (2.97). He also has a great strikeout rate at 28.5 percent which is among the top five tonight. He's going to take on the San Francisco Giants — a team with a 23.2 percent strikeout rate against left-handed pitching, which is the seventh-most. Additionally, the Giants have struggled to produce much offense against southpaws with a 28th-ranked wOBA (.287) and a 28th-ranked wRC+ (80).
Low-Priced Pitcher
Lucas Giolito ($5,800): Lucas Giolito went on a bit of a run in August. Over a six-game stretch he put up 19-plus DraftKings points (DKpts) five times, with just one dud in the middle. However, he has really fallen off the wagon over his last four starts — eclipsing 10 DKpts just once. Giolito doesn't have too many numbers worth highlighting, but there has been some improvement in the second half. For example, his strikeout rate has jumped from 13.6 percent to 20.1 percent, which is encouraging despite the number still being low. Giolito is pretty cheap in a decent matchup, and has shown some signs of improvement over the last two months.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Christian Yelich ($6,000): Christian Yelich has been an absolute beast this year and is trying — albeit a long-shot with such little time left — to grab the NL triple crown. He's been on fire over his last 10 games with .417 AVG, 1.460 OPS, 3 home runs and a whopping 15 RBI along with 2 stolen bases. He has done most of his damage against right-handed pitching to the tune of a .422 wOBA and a .276 isolated power (ISO). He's going to be facing Jordan Zimmermann, who has a 37.6 percent hard-hit rate and 42.5 percent fly-ball rate, which has led to a 15.3 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate (HR/FB).
Anthony Rendon ($5,900): The Washington Nationals are in Coors Field tonight to take on the Colorado Rockies and obviously this hitting environment is the best there is. Now, it will be Kyle Freeland on the mound for the Rockies and he's been decent enough this year that we probably wouldn't target him if this was in Washington. But given that it is in Coors Field, the hitters all get a big bump. Not to mention that Anthony Rendon has been great against left-handed pitching this season. He has put up a .381 wOBA and .276 ISO — numbers that will be inflated in Colorado.
Francisco Lindor ($5,200): This price seems somewhat low considering he had been in the high-$5,000 range for a long time. Although he has struggled with a .227 AVG over his last 10 games, he has still hit 3 home runs which is what we're looking for. He has brought plenty of upside against right-handed pitching with a .352 wOBA and a .247 ISO and takes on the Kansas City Royals' Ian Kennedy tonight. Kennedy has a 1.39 WHIP and 4.57 xFIP, which aren't great, and his 26.5 percent line-drive rate is going to get him in to a lot of trouble against the Cleveland Indians.
Value Hitters
Hunter Renfroe ($4,300): I don't know why I keep writing up hitters against Patrick Corbin considering he has a slate-best 2.60 xFIP and the third-best WHIP (1.06). However, when you have a 42.2 percent hard-hit rate and 24.2 percent line-drive rate, you are bound to get into trouble even if there are a lot of ground balls mixed in. Then we get to Hunter Renfroe, who has 3 home runs in his last 10 games. Additionally, he has had plenty of success against left-handed pitching this season with a solid .343 wOBA and a .242 ISO.
J.T. Realmuto ($4,300): The Miami Marlins have basically traded everybody away except for J.T. Realmuto. Poor J.T. But he keeps trucking along with 21 home runs and 73 RBI on the season for the lowly Marlins. He's had the most success against right-handed pitching as evidenced by his .376 wOBA and .220 ISO. The matchup this evening against Corey Oswalt is a fantastic one. Oswalt has a brutal 15.5 percent strikeout rate, along with a 1.35 WHIP and 4.86 xFIP. His 33.7 percent hard-hit rate, 37.6 percent fly-ball rate and 88.0 mile-per-hour average exit velocity have all contributed to the worst HR/FB rate on the slate at 18.9 percent.
Rhys Hoskins ($4,200): Rhys Hoskins has really struggled as of late, with a .162 AVG and .657 OPS over his last 10 games. However, he has hit two home runs in that same time frame and has a pretty decent matchup against Mike Foltynewicz. Folty has a 35.2 percent hard-hit rate and 38.3 percent fly-ball rate along with an 88.2 mile-per-hour average exit velocity, and while these numbers aren't necessarily terrible, Hoskins crushes right-handed pitching and is at a pretty solid discount here due to his recent struggles. Hoskins has a .377 wOBA and an equally impressive .282 ISO against righties.
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.