5 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for 8/15/19
With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.
An 0-for-4 dud from a chalky high-priced slugger is a lot more common than a total dud from a top-priced NBA player or even than a stinker from a top quarterback or running back.
That means that it's not uncommon for value plays to end up doing the heavy lifting in carrying your lineup. The fact that they can be the difference between a good and a great lineup isn't much different than other sports, but value plays being able to make up for a whiff on a high-priced play completely is somewhat unique.
Let's get right into it and take a look at the top value options on today's slate.
Andrew Heaney, SP, Los Angeles Angels ($6,400)
Tonight’s main slate has very limited bankable pitching options. The three most expensive pitchers on the board are Sonny Gray (vs. Cardinals) for $9,800, Yu Darvish (at Phillies) for $9,400, and Julio Teheran (vs. Mets) for $9,100. But I may prefer Andrew Heaney to those three options, not even accounting the $3,000 dollar price drop from those guys.
Heaney has been a great strikeout pitcher so far this season with a 10.5 K/9 that goes along with a great 13.4% swinging-strike rate. The surface numbers of a 4.89 ERA and 1.35 WHIP aren’t great, but when they go along with the upside he’s shown at times this season in a great matchup against the Chicago White Sox, I’ll gladly take that risk at a low price over investing in one of the expensive starting pitchers tonight.
J.D. Davis, OF, New York Mets ($2,900)
J.D. Davis is still hitting the cover off of the ball. After another multi-hit performance last night, he's now slashing .397/.464/.759 with five home runs since moving into an everyday role.
Davis can just flat out hit when he gets everyday chances, which has been the case since Robinson Cano suffered his hamstring injury. The fact that Davis is still priced this low this far into his hot streak is shocking to me.
Josh VanMeter, OF, Cincinnati Reds ($2,500)
It’s been a bit disappointing to not see Josh VanMeter get full everyday chances following the trades of Yasiel Puig and Scooter Gennett, but he’s continued to start against right-handed pitching. In 109 major league plate appearances in the split, VanMeter has a .299/.376/.505 slash line, along with all four of his home runs.
VanMeter also has exceptional batted-ball data against right-handers. His 50.0% hard-contact rate and 32.9% line-drive rate are both great marks that indicate his success against righties is legitimate. His matchup tonight is Michael Wacha, a hurler that VanMeter should find success against and out-do his cheap price point.
David Peralta, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks ($3,100)
It’s a combination of a really good matchup and the platoon advantage for David Peralta tonight.
First, the platoon advantage -- on the season against right-handed pitching, Peralta is slashing .294/.359/.516. His quality of contact versus righties has also remained great, as Peralta has a 41.8% hard-hit rate against them.
Peralta will hit either second or fourth in the Arizona Diamondbacks lineup tonight, which is a great thing because the Diamondbacks should be in a position to score as they face Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez. On the season, Rodriguez has been awful. In 64 ⅓ innings, Rodriguez has a 5.32 ERA, 5.39 FIP, 1.48 WHIP, and a putrid 42:25 strikeout to walk ratio (K:BB).
The Diamondbacks should be in a position to put up big numbers on Rodriguez tonight, and with Peralta in the middle of the order, he should be able to take advantage.
Josh Rojas, 2B, Arizona Diamondbacks ($2,800)
Similar to Peralta, Josh Rojas gets a great matchup tonight. After putting up extremely productive numbers in the minors this season with 23 home runs, 33 steals, and a .332/.418/.606 slash line in 479 plate appearances, Rojas was called up earlier this week, and the extremely early results have been good.
With a cheap price and a spot in the middle of that Diamondbacks lineup against the aforementioned Dereck Rodriguez, Rojas will have a spot in all of my lineups tonight.
James Kohout is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, James Kohout also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username jt2115. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
