MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 9/13/19

Gabriel Billig Sep 13th, 2019
Anthony Rendon has a tough righty-righty matchup with Mike Soroka, who has limited right-handed hitters to a .234 wOBA. Who else should you fade tonight?

While we have plenty of pieces geared towards guys you should target in your DFS contests, it's also important to narrow down your shortlist of plays and avoid the suboptimal ones who are overpriced and/or in tough spots.

Let's check out three guys to consider fading on tonight's FanDuel main slate.

Gerrit Cole, SP, Houston Astros

FanDuel Price: $12,000

Gerrit Cole has been nothing short of spectacular this season and figures to end the year with north of 300 strikeouts. His matchup tonight with the Kansas City Royals is not at all a concern as they have struggled at the plate all year.

So, why is Cole an avoid tonight?

Take a look at the other pitching options on the slate like Luis Castillo ($10,600) or Charlie Morton ($9,600). There is an abundance of high-end pitching on the slate and paying $12,000 for Cole is not worth it considering the alternatives. To expand on the game-theory angle, it is likely Cole will see a high percentage of ownership and therefore pivoting could be a winning move.

Anthony Rendon, 3B, Washington Nationals

FanDuel Price: $4,300

Anthony Rendon has carried the Washington Nationals over the course of the second half and has accumulated 7.0 WAR, per FanGraphs, with a wRC+ of 162. Although he has not received as much attention as Cody Bellinger or Christian Yelich (before the injury), Rendon should be regarded as a legitimate MVP candidate.

However, he has a tough matchup tonight with rookie righty Mike Soroka, who has held righties to a .234 wOBA and only four home runs in 95 innings. Rendon has roughly even splits, but with the tough matchup, he should be avoided in favor of Manny Machado ($4,100) at Coors Field.

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals

FanDuel Price: $3,700

As the St. Louis Cardinals attempt to fend off both the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central, they will lean on Paul Goldschmidt to be an anchor in their lineup.

After a slow start, Goldschmidt has picked it up and has hit 29 home runs for the Cardinals. However, he has a tough matchup against righty Adrian Houser, who has held righties to a lowly .266 wOBA in 2019. Goldschmidt experiences an increase of roughly four percentage points in strikeout rate against righties and has a nearly 50-point drop off in wOBA.

With plenty of other options, leave Goldschmidt on the bench tonight. Consider Luke Voit ($3,400) as he takes on the Toronto Blue Jays.

Gabriel Billig is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Gabriel Billig also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username gpbbsb. 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.