3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/7/19
Baseball is here, and there are plenty of DFS contests to choose from on FanDuel's main slate. While we have plenty of pieces geared towards guys you should target in your DFS contests, it's also important to avoid sub-optimal options who are overpriced and/or in tough spots.
Let's check out three players to consider fading on FanDuel's main slate for May 7.
Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia Phillies
at St. Louis Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $4,600
In his fledgling career, Dakota Hudson, tonight's opposition for the Philadelphia Phillies, has exhibited some downright violent splits. Lefties have smashed Hudson for a .602 slugging percentage and .444 wOBA, whereas righties have been held in check with a .214 slugging percentage and .205 wOBA.
The sample size isn't huge by any means, but in 130 total right-handed batters faced, Hudson has limited them to only a 16.7% fly-ball rate, as well. There's just not a ton of upside today for Phillies' righties.
An 0-for-4 effort last night snapped a saucy streak for Rhys Hoskins, who had hit for 9.5-plus FanDuel points in eight straight contests. There's a good chance that Hoskins suffers a rough evening for the second day in a row.
Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies
vs San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price: $4,500
Does everyone remember Madison Bumgarner being an ace? Because he sure looks like he could be returning to form so far in 2019.
It's been a bumpy few years for Bumgarner, who has suffered a myriad of strange injuries and hasn't performed well to boot. But this season, MadBum owns a strong 3.72 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) spanning 43 2/3 innings, and he has absolutely dominated same-sided bats. Lefties hold only a .163 wOBA and 35.9% strikeout rate against him in 2019. And while 2018 was rough for Bumgarner, he still owned this matchup, limiting lefty bats to a .283 wOBA and 27.6% strikeout rate.
Charlie Blackmon has been mashing recently, recording an average of 17.2 FanDuel points per night over his last eight games, and he's part of a Colorado Rockies team with a slate-best implied total of 5.36 runs. But Blackmon looks like one to pivot off of today in a tough lefty-lefty spot.
Matt Chapman, Oakland Athletics
vs Cincinnati Reds
FanDuel Price: $4,100
The winless Tyler Mahle, tonight's starter for the Cincinnati Reds, may not be getting a lot of love in fantasy circles, but he's actually been pretty solid so far this season. Covering 33 innings, the righty has upped his strikeout rate to 24.4% (from 21.7% last season), and his fly-ball rate has dipped down to 28.4%.
Righties have especially had a hard-time with Mahle, and that's where trouble lies for Matt Chapman. Though the Oakland Athletics hold a solid 4.30 implied total, Mahle has limited right-handed hitters to a .288 wOBA, 27.7% strikeout rate, and 21.4% fly-ball rate.
With a slew of righties as part of this lineup, including Marcus Semien, Stephen Piscotty, and Khris Davis in addition to Chapman, Oakland could have a tougher time than what oddsmakers think. Chapman has been good against righties in his career, but he's putting the ball on the ground a lot more against them this season (45.2% ground-ball rate) than he is versus southpaws (35.7%).
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. 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.
