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
Zack Wheeler ($10,600): Zack Wheeler is probably the top option on the slate when you factor in matchup and the numbers. He has a solid 26.0 percent strikeout rate while limiting opponents to just a 33.1 percent hard-hit rate. His 3.91 SIERA is decent, and he has a great 6.1 percent walk rate. He has an elite matchup against the Miami Marlins, a team that has struggled against the board. The Marlins have a 25.3 percent strikeout rate against right-handed pitching, which is the fifth-highest mark on the slate. In addition to that, their .281 wOBA against righties is dead last in the Majors.
Dinelson Lamet ($8,500): There is one main issue with Dinelson Lamet this evening -- he has yet to throw 90 pitches in a game this season. While he is still being eased in, that is a bit of a concern, but his numbers have been pretty good. He's got a 29.1 percent strikeout rate with a 3.94 SIERA. The matchup against the Seattle Mariners is good enough that he could put up an acceptable amount of points even on a somewhat limited pitch count. Seattle has a 25.1 percent strikeout rate, the seventh-most in the Majors, and their .318 wOBA is also a number we can attack.
Value Pitcher
Conner Menez ($7,200): With just one career start, there is not much to go off here, so let's peep what Conner Menez has done at the Triple-A level. This season, he had an elite 33.9 percent strikeout rate but a horrific 11.3 percent walk-rate in Triple-A. We'll see how that works out for him in a difficult matchup against the Washington Nationals. With just a 20.9 strikeout rate against lefties, the Nationals are ranked 24th in strikeout rate, and their .343 wOBA is the fourth-best. Again, this is a tough matchup for Menez, but he's cheap(ish) with a fantastic Triple-A strikeout rate. There are worse dart throws.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Mike Trout ($5,700): The best player in baseball has a pretty good matchup tonight as he'll face Cincinnati Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani. Mike Trout has smashed right-handed pitching this season, putting up an absolutely incredible .455 wOBA and .388 ISO in the split. DeSclafani has actually been relatively solid, but giving up a 41.4 percent hard-hit rate is going to cause you plenty of issues. As such, he is giving up 1.66 homers per nine.
Carlos Santana ($5,000): When looking at Carlos Santana for tonight, I definitely thought he was older than 33, but here we are. He's dominated right-handed pitching this season, putting up an elite .338 wOBA and .274 ISO in the split. His matchup against Texas Rangers hurler Ariel Jurado is a great one, considering Jurado sports an ugly 4.98 SIERA. In addition to that, his 44.2 percent hard-hit rate and 24.6 percent line-drive rate are awful, and they put Jurado in a tough spot this evening against a Cleveland Indians offense that had been hot prior to last night.
Kris Bryant ($4,400): Oakland Athletics lefty Brett Anderson is a pitcher who relies heavily on his 52.1 percent ground-ball rate to produce outs. He has a slate-low -- and abysmal -- 12.0 percent strikeout rate to go along with an brutal 5.25 SIERA. Kris Bryant has smashed left-handed pitchers in 2019, and tonight he'll look to pounce on the opportunity against Anderson. With an elite .454 wOBA and .359 ISO in the split, it is tough to see a scenario in which Bryant isn't a great play. Of course baseball is baseball and anybody can go 0-for-4, but this matchup is about as good as it gets for Bryant.
Value Hitters
Joc Pederson ($4,000): First and foremost, Joc Pederson is always a pinch-hit threat, which is a big concern. But when he's in the game and taking on a right-handed pitcher, he smashes. A .359 wOBA and .293 ISO in the split is dominant, and this price tag seems relatively cheap as a result. He does have an interesting matchup against big-time ground-ball pitcher in Miles Mikolas. With the veteran righty sporting a 50.6 percent ground-ball rate and just a 17.3 percent strikeout rate, it's obvious how Mikolas gets his outs. Mikolas also has an elite walk-rate, at just 4.0 percent.
Jose Martinez ($3,300): Jose Martinez is typically a hitter I only use against left-handed pitchers, because he has been so dominant against them. He has a tough lefty matchup tonight against Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw, and as great as Kershaw has been, he is still vulnerable as he is giving up a horrific 42.1 percent hard-hit rate. Now, he has a 50.6 percent ground-ball rate and modest 31.1 percent fly-ball rate, so a lot of those hits are being kept on the ground. But when they're in the air, he gives up a 14.7 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate, which bodes well for Martinez and his elite .455 wOBA and .317 ISO against southpaws.
Isan Diaz ($2,900): Isan Diaz has two games in the Majors so far, but his numbers in Triple-A this season were very encouraging. He put up an incredible .403 wOBA and .273 ISO, which included 26 home runs in 435 plate appearances. These are solid power numbers, and although he has a tough matchup in the aforementioned Wheeler, the price tag and power upside is certainly intriguing. Wheeler's strengths were mentioned above, and there aren't that many warts to pick in Wheeler's game. But this is a price tag/power upside play here.
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.