5 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for Friday 5/21/21

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-salaried slugger is a lot more common than a total dud from a top-salaried 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-salaried play completely is somewhat unique.

Let's get right into it and take a look at the top value options on today's monster 15-game slate, which locks at 7:05 PM Eastern.

Mike Minor, SP, Kansas City Royals ($7,600)

Every team is playing on tonight's main slate, which means there will be no shortage of pitchers to pay up for. However, if you want to stack your lineup from top to bottom, roster someone like Mike Minor could be the ideal way to go.

Tonight, Minor and the Kansas City Royals are taking on the Detroit Tigers, a team that has struggled mightily against southpaws this season. As a team, Detroit has a 33.7% strikeout rate and a 58 wRC+ against lefties, both of which are comfortably dead last in the league.

Minor hasn't been as bad as his 5.56 ERA would suggest -- he currently sports a 4.21 xERA and 4.24 SIERA, according to FanGraphs. The lefty also possesses a respectable 24.4% strikeout rate, and he should get a bump in that category against the Tigers -- he totaled nine punchouts against them in April.

Dom Nunez, C, Colorado Rockies ($2,500)

According to numberFire's Matchup Heat Map, the Colorado Rockies currently sport an insane 6.31 implied total, which is 1.12 more runs than the next closest team. It makes sense -- Colorado will be at Coors taking on Seth Frankoff, a pitcher who's spent his career hovering in the minors for various different organizations.

This season, Dom Nunez has smacked four dingers and driven in 10 runs in just 58 plate appearances at home. In the 50 of those that have come against right-handers, Nunez has managed a .856 OPS to along with a salivating .330 ISO.

Sure, the sample size is tiny, but seeing as though he's the only viable Rockies hitter with a salary under $3,200, we'll take what we can get.

Mike Brosseau, 2B/3B, Tampa Bay Rays ($2,100)

The Toronto Blue Jays will be turning to left-hander Anthony Kay on the mound tonight, which means it's officially Mike Brosseau time for the Tampa Bay Rays.

For his young career, Brosseau has a rock-solid .845 OPS and .256 ISO when he has the platoon advantage. And with the Rays implied for 4.87 runs tonight, he could certainly have a hand in that.

While Kay's 3.94 SIERA implies that he's been unlucky this season (his ERA is a brutal 7.24), he is still ceding 1.32 round-trippers per nine innings.

Starlin Castro, 2B, Washington Nationals ($2,400)

In 196.2 innings since the start of 2019, Baltimore Orioles starter Jorge Lopez has a 6.41 ERA, 5.15 FIP, and is surrendering a whopping 1.9 dongs per nine innings. Wowza.

We'll definitely want to have some exposure to some Washington Nationals bats tonight, and while that could be an expensive stack, Starlin Castro is plenty affordable and would allow you to pay up for the likes of Juan Soto ($4,200), Trea Turner ($4,200), Kyle Schwarber ($3,500), and Josh Bell ($3,500).

Over his last 15 games, Castro has gotten on base at a .397 clip, amassing the same number of free passes (9) as strikeouts (9).

Stephen Piscotty, OF, Oakland Athletics ($2,100)

The Oakland Athletics are also squaring off against a struggling pitcher, Jose Quintana. While the veteran has certainly not fallen short in the strikeout category -- he's whiffed 41 batters in 25.1 innings -- he has pitched to a 8.53 ERA (awful) and 4.69 xERA (still not great).

Quintana has also served up his fair share of dingers, allowing an average of 1.42 per nine innings so far in 2021.

Meanwhile, in 182 plate appearances versus southpaws since the start of 2019, Stephen Piscotty has a respectable .302 average and a .343 wOBA. He's certainly worth considering, especially if you're paying up for one of the top pitchers.