Daily Fantasy Baseball: Positive Batted-Ball Regression Candidates for Week 5
Mookie Betts, OF, Boston Red Sox
It's perhaps too easy to highlight Mookie Betts as a candidate for positive regression, but with his salary on FanDuel inching below $4,000 last week, it's clear that there's some potential value to squeeze out from the stud Boston Red Sox outfielder.
Of course, Betts' current .269/.374/.490 batting line is only a letdown by the standards of last year's cosmic breakout, while his hard contact rates (39.5%) and expected stats (.498 xSLG, .360 xwOBA) show a performance at the dish that's been strong but not outright dominant.
What makes it easy to be bullish on Betts is the fact that the 26-year-old has thus far been a plate-discipline Goliath, working a 16.1% reach rate and 4.1% swinging strike rate that both contend for the very stingiest marks in the majors.
With the Red Box drawing one of the softer pitching schedules in week 5 against the Athletics and White Sox (to say nothing of the prime hitting venues in Guaranteed Rate Field and Fenway Park), Betts looks every bit the daily fantasy stud despite the subdued results.
