Daily Fantasy Baseball: Positive Batted-Ball Regression Candidates for Week 5
Yangervis Solarte, 2B, San Francisco Giants
Yangervis Solarte has been off the radar for season-long and daily players alike after putting in a dismal second half with the Toronto Blue Jays last season (.175/.204/.223 in 109 plate appearances) and then landing a utility role on the San Francisco Giants, one of the weakest offenses in the league.
A combined 15 runs and RBI in 59 plate appearances thus far with the Giants certainly speak to that diminished lineup strength, while Solarte's forgettable .222/.276/.352 doesn't seem to show significant enough improvement on his awful late-season showing last year.
There are some glimmers of intrigue in Solarte's advanced stats, though. Never much of a Statcast darling (Solarte's xSLG of .316 is actually lower than his actual mark), Solarte has distinguished himself by stroking 39% line drives, the highest mark among qualified MLB hitters. But perhaps most interesting is what Solarte isn't doing with his bat: the infielder is averaging career lows in terms of out-of-zone swings and swings overall.
This choosy approach might aid a return to form for a retooling Solarte, with a 64.3% medium contact rate that could shift towards extra-base power given the right adjustment. Seeing if the 31-year-old can turn on the power won't cost daily players much at all, with Solarte trending near minimum salary at FanDuel.
Tom Whalen is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Tom Whalen also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username whalentc. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
