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
Jose Berrios ($10,200): There are so many aces tonight that you really need to narrow things down. Jose Berrios has a solid matchup against the Chicago White Sox -- a team that has had struggles with strikeouts against right-handed pitchers this season. So far, the White Sox have struck out 26.7 percent of the time, which is the second-most against righties in the majors. Berrios has a career 23.0 percent strikeout rate, which isn't great, but it gives him plenty of upside tonight against the free-swinging White Sox. In addition, Berrios has the best offence playing for him which gives him a better opportunity for the win.
Noah Syndergaard ($10,100): Thor was pretty dominant last season. While his strikeout rate wasn't the greatest, just 24.1 percent, so many of his other numbers were elite. He had just a 6.1 percent walk rate, an incredible 21.9 percent hard-hit rate and allowed just 0.52 HR/9. Thor's matchup against the Detroit Tigers is one of the best you can have as the Tigers strike out at a 26.1 percent clip against righties -- the fourth-most in the Majors. In addition, their .274 weighted on-base average (wOBA) is the second-worst in all of baseball in the same split.
Value Pitcher
Pablo Lopez ($7,500): Pablo Lopez has actually been better this season than his ugly 5.06 ERA would indicate. He a 3.70 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) which leads me to believe that he has been getting a bit unlucky. He has a good-not-great 24.5 percent strikeout rate, but his 53.0 percent groundball rate is elite. He has a very boom-or-bust matchup tonight against the Washington Nationals who have, on paper, a solid batting order. The Nats strike out at a 25.3 percent rate against right-handed pitching though, which is the sixth-most in the majors, and their .294 wOBA ranks 23rd.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Nolan Arenado ($5,600): It's a Coors Field night with two bad pitchers on a 14-game slate. This is a "fade at your own risk" situation, but Nolan Arenado taking on a left-handed pitcher in Coors Field is just about as elite of a matchup as one can have. In his career, Arenado has a ridiculous .487 wOBA and a .378 isolated power (ISO) against lefties at home — numbers that hold up over 532 plate appearances. He'll take on John Means who has some decent numbers but is going into a very tough situation tonight.
Joey Gallo ($5,500): Joey Gallo has completely turned a corner in his career this season. While he has been completely dominant against right-handed pitching as usual with a .451 wOBA and a .396 ISO, it is his batting average that has me more intrigued. Gallo has a career .214 AVG and has yet to have a season over .210. However, through 183 plate appearances in 2019, Gallo has an incredible .293 AVG. One would assume that this will regress, a bit anyway, but if Gallo has turned this corner with his batting average than we have one of the most valuable hitters in all of baseball.
Rhys Hoskins ($4,700): Rhys Hoskins is a right-handed hitter that has much more success against right-handed pitching than he has against left-handed pitching. So far in 2019, he has smashed for a .375 wOBA and a .257 ISO, and in 2018 he brought even more power with a .380 wOBA and an incredible .288 ISO. He's got a premium matchup against Chase Anderson — a right-handed pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers that gave up a 36.3 percent hard-hit rate and a 44.2 percent fly-ball rate, leading to a 15.4 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate in 2018.
Value Hitters
Stephen Piscotty ($3,700): In 56 plate appearances this season, Stephen Piscotty has had his way with left-handed pitching. He has put up an elite .431 wOBA and .255 ISO against southpaws, and he brings that into a solid matchup tonight. The Seattle Mariners' Wade LeBlanc will be on the mound, and he has struggled this season, giving up an astonishingly bad 42.3 percent hard-hit rate and 46.5 percent fly-ball rate, which has led to a brutal 18.2 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. A lot of this can be attributed to his four home runs allowed in his last start, but still, six home runs in four starts is a terrible way to start the season.
Chris Davis ($3,600): He has certainly turned things around since ending his hitless streak. Since then, Davis has put up a .351 wOBA and a .247 ISO against right-handed pitching. While these numbers are not elite, they are solid -- especially for a hitter at this price. Furthermore, he's going to have the benefit of playing in Coors Field tonight against right-hander Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman has actually been better against lefties than righties, but he has still given up a .333 wOBA and .457 slugging in the split.
Jose Ramirez ($3,600): This one may not seem worth it, but Jose Ramirez is dirt cheap due to his play this season and his incredibly difficult matchup. He's taking on Tampa Bay Rays' ace Blake Snell, a left-handed pitcher that has been dominant this season. We're banking on some previous success with this play, as Ramirez put up respectable numbers against righties last season. as indicated by a .344 wOBA and a .203 ISO. This season those numbers are down to .301 wOBA and .132 ISO but that is also why he is so cheap. It's a risky play but he has the talent to return value on this price tag with one swing of the bat.
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.