MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 7/31/13

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as FanDuel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud as well. So once again, we have four optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader. One is for free here; the others can be found in our Premium section.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

Our baseball projections are updated throughout the day, so make sure to come back to double-check your optimized rosters for any last-minute lineup changes. Since most action happens later in the day, we will be ignoring the early games (if there are any) and focusing solely on the late contests. That way, you can use and tinker with our optimized rosters throughout the day.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud Optimized Rosters

For the optimal rosters for the other main players, be sure to check out our brand new Daily Fantasy Optimized Rosters for our Premium members. We know that you're killing it with our picks; maybe now you'll help us continue to help you win each night, every night.

Access to the optimal rosters is immediate, and you'll have it constantly updated for the latest injury news and updates from around the league. The best news of all? For new subscribers, you can use the promo code WELCOME and get it 50% off what was already the reduced price. Think of the savings!

Learn More About Premium

The Top Three Pitchers

Clayton Kershaw - Just for fun, look at StarStreet's projected fantasy points for SPs tonight. Most starting pitchers fall somewhere in the 3-6 projected FP range. Corey Kluber, who were going to touch on in a minute, is second with 6.44. And then you have Kershaw. He's at 8.02. That's how much more dominant we expect him to be tonight. He's got the high 25.5 percent strikeout rate, he's got the low 5.7 percent walk rate, he's got the matchup against a Yankees team that has the power of a chipmunk (second-lowest .370 slugging), even with Soriano in the fold. What more could you want from your main starter?

Corey Kluber - It's not exactly difficult to beat the White Sox. If Alex Rios is moved some time in the next several hours, it could be even easier. But still, with Kluber on the mound, it may not make much of a difference. His 23.7 percent strikeout rate and 5.7 percent walk rate give him an extraordinarily strong 4.16 SO/BB ratio, and he's really only brought down by a weak .322 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) allowed, way above the .296 MLB average. Good thing, then, that the White Sox only hold a .289 BABIP as a team, 23^rd in the majors.

Jenrry Mejia - Sample size alert! He's only 23 years old, has only started seven major league games, and his 1.645 career WHIP is surely a turn off. But with that said, that 7 IP, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB outing against the Nationals last week makes me extremely happy. Assuming that he's even a league average pitcher, I'd want him anyway going against a Marlins team whose OBP is the MLB's worst by .003 and whose slugging is the MLB's worst by .026. If you're feeling risky, Mejia's low cost makes him an extremely high-upside play.

Top High-Priced Hitters

Michael Cuddyer - I didn't want to throw him in here again. I really didn't. But man, when he's the only player to be named on every single one of our five optimized rosters, and one of two to be named on four (along with Kershaw and Adam Jones), it's a little tough to hold him back once again. For what seems like our 37^th straight day, he's our top projected point scoring batter overall, thanks to an insane .388 projected average and 0.29 projected homeruns. Even Mike Minor's 23.5 percent K rate won't be enough to stop him, thanks to Minor's average 2.8 percent homerun rate and high 24 percent line drive rate allowed.

Adam Jones - I just mentioned him, so I have to put him here for a second straight day, right? Don't mind me, I'm just here to inflict blunt force trauma until I get a few common threads beat into your brain: one of them is "You don't go away from Adam Jones unless the matchup is exceptionally poor". Former Oriole Erik Bedard, with his 3.1 percent homerun rate, 11.6 percent walk rate, and 41 percent of all hits allowed going for extra-bases, does not count.

Mid-Range Cost-Effective Hitters

Darin Ruf - No, I can't tell you where he'll actually be hitting in the lineup, because I'm not sure whether the three guys in the lineup ahead of him yesterday (Rollins, Young, Utley) will even be Phillies by first pitch. Ah, the fun of Daily Fantasy on Trade Deadline day. But regardless, Ruf remains a top play. His .389 OBP and insane .432 BABIP through 72 plate appearances this season are only dragged down by his 31.9 percent strikeout rate. But that's minimized when you face an average strikeout rate like Chad Gaudin, who we also see falling to earth from his currently unsustainable WHIP and BABIP.

Derek Jeter - You know, we're kind of liking this retooled Yankees lineup. Yes, they're going against Clayton Kershaw. However, Jeter's OBP is also 36 points higher against lefties for his career, and having another righty in Soriano to back him up can only help. If Jeter can even get to a fraction of his career .382 OBP and continue seeing the ball as well as a 14 percent strikeout rate, he's absolutely worth the flier before other fantasy players realize he's healthy and his cost shoots back up.