3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/16/16

As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

While you can get away with a zero from a hitter in daily fantasy, you certainly don't want to target guys whose matchups aren't enticing.

Here are three hitters you may want to lessen your exposure to or even fade altogether on Thursday.

Kendrys Morales, 1B, Kansas City Royals

FanDuel Price: $2,600

Kendrys Morales got a rest on Wednesday, but heading into Thursday, he should be back in the Royals’ lineup. However, even if he's starting for Kansas City tonight, he doesn't have that favorable of a matchup -- the Royals are facing off against a resurgent Justin Verlander.

Morales, a switch hitter, has had a mixed season at the plate. On one hand, he has a wOBA of .362 as a right-handed hitter against lefties, but against righty pitching this season, Morales has a wOBA of only .232 batting from the left side. His strikeout rate has sky rocketed against righty pitching to 26.6 percent, and his fly-ball rate of 31.3 percent against righties is far lower than his 50 percent mark against lefties.

Verlander, on the other hand, is picking up where he left off last season in his marks against left-handed hitters. For the second time in as many seasons, Verlander is on pace to post better numbers against lefties, with a wOBA of .259 through 156 total batters. He's got strikeout rate of nearly 29 percent against lefties this season, and lefties own a hard-hit rate of only 23.2 percent against Verlander this season.

Russell Martin, C, Toronto Blue Jays

FanDuel Price: $3,100

Russell Martin has been on fire as of late, averaging 19.7 FanDuel points in his last four starts. Production like that is hard to ignore. But because it’s hard to ignore, daily fantasy players might be flocking to Martin tonight on a short slate.

That could be dangerous against Aaron Nola this evening.

Nola has been a tough matchup for right-handed hitters this season, who own a wOBA of .251 through 176 total batters. And while he has been much better on the road compared to at home, his splits against righties make Martin look a lot less appealing. Righties have a strike out rate of nearly 30 percent against Nola this season and an xFIP of 2.15. They also own a hard-hit rate of just 19.5 percent.

Despite Martin’s recent successes, his overall numbers against righties this season make him a less-than-confident play. Martin’s wOBA against righties is .269 through 128 at bats this season, and on the road, his wOBA drops to .227 against righties. His BABIP against pitchers of the same handedness is .258, and his hard hit rate goes from 59.4 to 25.8 percent against righties.

Derek Norris, C, San Diego Padres

FanDuel Price: $2,700

Derek Norris had a nice game on Wednesday night with two RBI, and now he gets a chance to parlay that into another big night tonight. However, he and the rest of the Padres are facing off against Tanner Roark, who has been pretty good against right-handed batters.

Roark has actually been better against lefties this season, but overall his career numbers tell the story. For his career, righties have a wOBA of just .268 and a strikeout rate of 20.9 percent. Even more impressive has been his batted ball stats this season -- righties own a hard hit rate of just 14.3 percent and a fly ball rate of 16.4 percent in 2016.

Norris has struggled against righties. His wOBA is .250 this year against them, and his Isolated Power drops to .141 from .197 when he faces right-handed pitchers. Norris’ strikeout rate is also 26.7 percent this season through 135 at-bats against righties.