MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 7/8/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jul 8th, 2016
Curtis Granderson is up against the very good reverse splits of Stephen Strasburg tonight. Who else should you steer clear from?

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 Friday.

Curtis Granderson, OF, New York Mets

FanDuel Price: $2,500

Curtis Granderson is coming off a big night on Thursday where he cranked two doubles and scored 27.4 FanDuel points. It is his third game of at least 18 fantasy points in his last five games, and tonight the Mets face off against their divisional rivals, the Nationals. While Granderson’s price is still appealing despite his recent hot streak, (8-for-20), his matchup tonight against Stephen Strasburg makes him a lot less desirable.

Strasburg has had excellent split stats against lefties this season. Lefties own a .246 wOBA against him in 2016, and the Nats’ righty has a 32.4 percent strikeout rate against lefties this season as well. His WHIP against them is 0.93, and lefties own a hard hit rate of just 24.8 percent against Strasburg.

Granderson’s wOBA against righties is .354, and his isolated power is good at .237 against right-handers. However, Granderson is hitting just .167 with five strikeouts in 23 plate appearances against Strasburg in his career, and Strasburg is locked in. The hot streak and the low price might not be worth it unless you're building a tournament stack against Strasburg.

Max Kepler, OF, Minnesota Twins

FanDuel Price: $3,500

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Max Kepler play twice this season in Indianapolis when he was still down with Rochester, and both times he got hits against the Tribe. He even drove in an RBI against a tough lefty in Kyle Lobstein on Memorial Day, and his recent play in the Majors has his price heading northward once again. He has four homers in his last six games, but tonight the young Twins outfielder has to face off against Cole Hamels.

So far in his brief career in the Majors, Kepler has struggled against lefties. He owns a .312 wOBA in 49 at-bats in the Majors against them, and his strikeout rate goes up to 29.1 percent.

Hamels, on the other hand, sits lefties down with great regularity. They have a .266 wOBA against him over 92 batters this season, and his hard hit rate against lefties this season is only 24.6 percent. With a career strikeout rate against lefties of 23.2 percent, it’s time to jump off the Kepler wagon.

Mark Teixeira, 1B, New York Yankees

FanDuel Price: $2,000

Since coming off the disabled list, Mark Teixeira has had some big, tournament-winning games, including a two home run effort this past Sunday. However, even with his price still at the bare minimum on Friday, it’s not enough to keep me from avoiding him against Corey Kluber.

Teixeira has had a lot of trouble batting on the left side against righties in 2016. In 132 at-bats, he has a strikeout rate of 32.9 percent, and his wOBA is only .262. His hard hit rate is just 25 percent against righties. Kluber makes even the cheapest Teixeira a very poor play.

Kluber has a .269 wOBA across 214 left-handed batters faced this season, and he is striking out almost as many lefties (23.8 percent) this year as righties (25.8 percent). He has the exact same hard hit rate of 27.0 percent against hitters from both sides of the plate, and even though he hasn’t been great at home against lefties, Kluber makes Teixeira hard to trust.