DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Wednesday 5/8/19
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 ($10,400 on DraftKings): Chris Sale started the season off real poorly and had people questioning if there was a bit of a decline coming to him with a dip in his velocity. However, things have certainly started to turn around for Sale. He has three straight 23-plus DraftKings points games with only one including a win, and he put up at least eight strikeouts in each. He'll take on a Baltimore Orioles team that strikes out at a 25.8 percent clip against left-handed pitching.
Matt Boyd ($9,500): Will the real Matt Boyd please stand up? Who is this guy? Boyd has been completely dominant and essentially pitched like an Ace this season. In seven starts, he has put up 16-plus DraftKings points in each, with five games eclipsing 21 fantasy points. He has not allowed more than three earned runs in any game and had nine-plus strikeouts in four of them. He has had some difficult matchups along the way against the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees (before all of the injuries) and the high-scoring Kansas City Royals. He has a 32 percent strikeout rate this season, but his opponent — the Los Angeles Angels — only strike out at a 14.9 percent clip against southpaws, the lowest in the Majors.
Value Pitcher
Brett Anderson ($6,500): Trying to find some extreme value here, Brett Anderson is a little bit interesting against the Cincinnati Reds this evening. After Mike Fiers threw a no-hitter last night against these same Reds, there is some hope for Anderson tonight. Now, he certainly will not throw a no-hitter, but this extreme groundball pitcher — a 55.6 percent groundball rate — has a pretty good matchup against a Reds team that hasn't had much success against lefties. They have a .293 weighted on-base average (wOBA) against left-handed pitchers this season, which ranks 24th in all of baseball.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Trevor Story ($5,600): Madison Bumgarner was dominant in Coors Field last night, but tonight the Colorado Rockies have a way better matchup against Derek Holland. In 2018, Holland gave up a 38.8 percent hard-hit rate and a 35.8 percent fly-ball rate which led to an 11.2 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. Now, those numbers are not horrible, but to bring them into Coors field tonight against some of the power these right-handed hitters bring, could be troublesome. Trevor Story is one of those power hitters that crushed left-handed pitching last season, putting up an insane .442 wOBA and a .355 isolated power (ISO).
Andrew Benintendi ($4,900): He may not necessarily bring a lot of power — and often gets lost in the shuffle with the other power hitters in Boston — but Andrew Benintendi is a great hitter and has a premium matchup tonight. His .376 wOBA and .184 ISO from last season are solid and his 2019 numbers are similar, but slightly worse, with a .352 and .167 ISO. He may be able to bring out some of his power tonight against Orioles right-hander Andrew Cashner. Last season, Cashner gave up an ugly 13.6 home-run-to-fly-ball rate which was a result of a 32.5 percent hard-hit rate, 36.2 percent fly-ball rate and an 88.7 mile-per-hour average exit velocity.
Eddie Rosario ($4,600): The Minnesota Twins didn't get to Aaron Sanchez like they did to Marcus Stroman, but they get another chance at racking up runs tonight as they take on Toronto Blue Jays' Trent Thornton. Thornton has struggled against lefties in the early part of his career, giving up a .334 wOBA and a .507 slugging percentage against lefties. Eddie Rosario had an elite .352 wOBA and .509 slugging percentage against right-handed pitching last season — numbers that are down a bit this season but should pick right back up.
Value Hitters
Rowdy Tellez ($3,800): Rowdy "Roddy" Tellez absolutely destroyed right-handed pitching last season. Although it was just 50 plate appearances, the insanity that was his .503 wOBA and .400 ISO were eye-opening. Of course those numbers have come down this season, but still, with a .329 wOBA and .234 ISO, he remains a solid and cheap option when facing right-handed pitching. Tonight he'll take on Minnesota Twins' righty Kyle Gibson — a pitcher that gives up plenty of power. In 2018 Gibson gave up an abysmal 39.0 percent hard-hit rate and although his 28.0 fly-ball rate was low, when he allowed hitters to get the ball in the air he gave up a 14.8 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.
Stephen Piscotty ($3,600): Last season, Stephen Piscotty took a step forward with his production against right-handed pitching. In doing so he hit for a .357 wOBA and a .232 ISO in this split. However, his career numbers are a worse as he's hit for a .330 wOBA and .172 ISO. Lucky for him, tonight's matchup against the Cincinnati Reds' Sonny Gray is a pretty good one. Although Gray keeps the ball on the ground for the most part with his 50.0 percent groundball rate last season, when he gives up fly balls they often leave the park. He had a very good 27.1 percent fly-ball rate but an ugly 13.3 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate and while tonight's ballpark is huge in Oakland, if Piscotty gets a hold of one, it could be gone.
Ryan O'Hearn ($3,600): This left-handed pitcher just obliterated right-handed pitching last season. Much like Tellez, O'Hearn tore a strip off the ball with his .458 wOBA and .393 ISO against righties but his was in a sample size much larger with 129 plate appearances. Those numbers are of course down a bit this season, but they are still great with a .347 wOBA and a .221 ISO. He'll take on Brad Peacock who is an elite strikeout pitcher but one that struggles to keep the ball in the park. His 40.1 percent fly-ball rate and 29.4 percent hard-hit rate led to an 18.0 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.
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.
