3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/16/19
Baseball is heating up, 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 16.
Ronald Acuna, Atlanta Braves (OF)
vs St. Louis Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $3,800
The suddenly slumping Ronald Acuna of the Atlanta Braves has had a tough go of it as of late. Over his last eight games, the young slugger has only a .200 batting average with a .643 OPS.
It's certainly a blip on the radar for this wonderful player, but opposing hurler Adam Wainwright is unlikely to make tonight any easier for Acuna. The former ace righty was limited to only 40 1/3 innings pitched last year, but he was tough against same-sided bats, holding them to a 25.8% hard-hit rate.
While 2019 is still young, it's been more of the same. Righties have recorded only a .262 wOBA versus Wainwright, including a 25.5% strikeout rate, so it appears they are having a hard time squaring up the St. Louis Cardinals' starting pitcher.
Acuna is likely to break out soon, but it may not happen tonight against Wainwright.
Julio Teheran, Atlanta Braves (SP)
vs St. Louis Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $8,100
It could be runs galore tonight in Atlanta as this game currently sports an over/under of 10.0. Over his first 50 1/3 innings pitched, Julio Teheran hasn't given us much reason to think he could shut down the Cards.
By nearly any metric or measure, it's been a rough go for Teheran this season. He's impressively improved his strikeout rate to 24.3%, up from 22.4% a year ago, but he's still sporting a double-digit walk rate (10.3%), and his batted-ball profile is ugly. Hitters have bashed Teheran for a 42.8% hard-hit rate and 40.7% fly-ball rate on the year.
Similar to last year, when he allowed a 1.33 home runs per nine innings pitched (HR/9), Teheran is having trouble with long-balls as that mark has increased to 1.42 HR/9.
Fold in a Cardinals offense that leads the league in hard-hit rate (43.3%) and ranks 11th in team wOBA against righties (.332), and Teheran could be hitting the showers early.
Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs (3B)
at Cincinnati Reds
FanDuel Price: $4,400
One of the game's best hitters takes aim at a breakout starting pitcher, and it's likely that Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs could have his hands full.
First, there's a reason to consider rostering Bryant. Since April 26th, he's ripped six home runs, essentially carrying the Cubs' offense as of late.
However, he is up against one of the best pitchers in baseball tonight in Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds. In Castillo's 56 1/3 innings in 2019, righties have managed a meager .204 slugging percentage and .189 wOBA against him, including a silly 33.3% strikeout rate.
The batted-ball profile doesn't reveal a much prettier result, either, as Castillo has allowed a 27.0% hard-hit rate on the year.
Bryant is hot and is hitting in a park friendly to offense, but Castillo isn't a guy we want to pick on.
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.
