MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 7/15/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jul 15th, 2016
Miguel Sano has a tough battle with Carlos Carrasco tonight. Who else should you fade after the All-Star Break?

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.

Miguel Sano, OF, Minnesota Twins

FanDuel Price: $3,700

Miguel Sano was hot coming off the disabled list and into the All-Star Break, and in the month of July he has three homers and nine RBI. However, all of that production came in just three games, and in baseball’s return to action tonight, Sano gets a tough matchup against the Indians’ Carlos Carrasco.

Carrasco has been very good himself since coming off the disabled list. The 158 righties he's faced this year own a wOBA of .285, a strikeout rate of nearly 25 percent, and a hard-hit rate of 30.9 percent against him.

While Sano has been hot, he has a 34.9 percent strikeout rate against righties, second-worst among qualified hitters. His .208 ISO against righties, compared to .343 against lefties, isn't worth the risk. Against a pitcher like Carrasco, I would lay off him tonight.

John Jaso, 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $3,100

I’ve never been much of a fan of John Jaso, and with a talent like Josh Bell down in Triple-A, his days as the Pirates’ first baseman are probably numbered. He can’t play against lefties, and tonight, the Buccos face a tough righty in Stephen Strasburg, who is coming off some nice rest and whose reverse splits have really limited lefties as well.

Strasburg has a .248 wOBA against lefties this season, and his strikeout rate against them is higher than against righties at 32.3 percent. Lefties have a 24.4 percent hard-hit rate against Strasburg this season, and even though Jaso is much better against righties, it still isn’t a great matchup tonight.

Jaso has a .338 wOBA against righties this season in 244 at-bats. However, his hard-hit rate is actually lower against righties at 24.2 percent, and his fly ball rate is also just 24.2 percent against righties. Don’t roster Jaso tonight against Strasburg.

Travis Jankowski, OF, San Diego Padres

FanDuel Price: $2,300

Since Jon Jay went down with injury, Travis Jankowski has been playing well for San Diego. However, the value lefty has the chance to be a complete landmine tonight against Madison Bumgarner.

Jankowski has a .221 wOBA against lefties this season. In his 46 career at-bats against lefties, Jankowski’s numbers don’t improve much: a .245 wOBA. Jankowski has a career strikeout rate of 28.8 percent against left-handers, and his hard-hit rate is just 12.1 percent against them.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Bumgarner owns a .217 wOBA and a 34.4 percent strikeout rate against lefties this season. They have a 24.1 percent hard-hit rate over 96 batters faced this season, so the Padres' young outfielder is not a player you want to target tonight.