4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/16/17

Jonathan Lucroy, C, Texas Rangers

FanDuel Price: $2,700

The Texas Rangers have an excellent 4.83 implied team total, and Jonathan Lucroy has recently moved up to batting cleanup, but this is still a spot to avoid using him.

Lucroy has had a lackluster season, with just a .298 wOBA and .101 isolated power (ISO). He only has two home runs, leaving the 24 he hit last year seem like a distant memory.

Curiously, he's striking out at a career-low 5.7% rate, and has a career-high 91.8% contact rate, but he's hitting the ball on the ground an uncharacteristic 53.8% of the time with just a 21.5% hard-hit rate. It certainly seems like he's making more contact at the expense of his power, although it's worth noting he's had slow starts before.

Despite the high implied team total, opposing pitcher Jerad Eickhoff does have a strong career 24.8% strikeout rate against righties. Those strikeouts haven't materialized as often this season, but he's still held same-side bats to a 25.9% hard-hit rate.

If Lucroy continues to bat cleanup, he could have some future value, particularly if he starts showing some power again. But as it stands, with low homer upside in a potentially undesirable matchup, it's hard to recommend him over other punt catcher options.