DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Wednesday 6/6/18
Every day is unique for daily fantasy baseball, which is both a blessing and a challenge. Although we can’t simply plug and play our favorite studs day in and day out, each slate presents us with a chance for a new gem to vault us up the leaderboards.
Through the use of numberFire’s tools, we can better identify the players primed to succeed each day, making the process of filling out a lineup just that much easier. In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy looking team to put up some big point totals.
Which names stand out for today on the DraftKings main slate? Let’s check it out, starting with the pitchers.
Pitchers to Target
High-Priced Pitcher
Shohei Ohtani ($11,100 on DraftKings): In just his first season in the Majors, the 23-year-old Japanese phenom, Shohei Ohtani, has been everything that was expected of him both on the mound and at the plate. He has put up an elite 31.3 percent strikeout rate -- which leads the slate -- and has a solid 1.08 WHIP and 3.26 xFIP. Although the Kansas City Royals do not strike out, they have struggled at the plate in general, with just a .307 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 91 wRC+.
Jose Quintana ($8,800): Here, we have the opposite situation as Ohtani. Jose Quintana has struggled to produce strikeouts with just a 22.4 percent strikeout rate (though it was 26.2 percent in 2017), and his 1.41 WHIP and 4.26 xFIP are nothing great. However, he's taking on a Philadelphia Phillies team that strikes out a ton. They strike out the second-most in the Majors, at a 25.6 clip, and their 91 wRC+ is among the bottom third in baseball. It's a great matchup for Quintana, but he has had his blunders along the way so there is certainly some risk here. And that makes him an ideal tournament option.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Jon Gray ($7,500): Jonathan Gray has a solid 26.2 percent strikeout, but his 3.07 xFIP leads the slate. On the other hand, he has a horrible 1.48 WHIP, so it'll be interesting to see which Gray shows up tonight. He'll be facing a Cincinnati Reds team that is pretty average across the board. They have a team wRC+ of 94 -- 17th -- and their wOBA is .311, which places them 18th. And, to make matters worse, their 21.4 percent strikeout rate puts them 21st. It's an average matchup against an average team, but Gray is pretty cheap and has strikeout upside to return value.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
J.D. Martinez ($5,000): He has struggled against lefties a bit in 2018, but in 2017 J.D. Martinez absolutely smashed left-handed pitching. He put up an insane .531 wOBA and a .516 isolated power (ISO). He'll be set to face the Detroit Tigers' Blaine Hardy, who has struggled this season. He has a very poor 4.86 xFIP on a 48.6 percent fly-ball rate. If you allow that high of a percentage of fly-balls to Martinez, you're going to get into trouble eventually.
Khristopher Davis ($4,900): Somehow the 45-year-old Bartolo Colon is still pitching in the Majors, and he's doing so by giving up hard-hit ground balls. His 42.9 percent hard-hit rate is the worst on the slate, as is his 22.4 home run-to-fly-ball rate. However, he's only giving up a 31.6 percent fly-ball rate, but when they go in the air, they are gone. He's given up 15 home runs, which is tied for the second-most in the Majors. Khris Davis gets the luxury of taking on Big Sexy tonight, and he hit for a ton of power against righties last season, with a .369 wOBA and a very nice .293 ISO.
Jose Abreu ($4,300): Let's take a look at some numbers for Minnesota Twins pitcher Jake Odorizzi. He has a 1.35 WHIP, 5.00 xFIP, 35 percent hard-hit rate, 54.3 percent fly-ball rate and a 215-foot average batted-ball distance. These do not sound like encouraging numbers for him, but are very encouraging to see when targeting opposing hitters. Jose Abreu was very good against righties in 2017, putting up a .361 wOBA and a .239 ISO as well as similar numbers in 2018, with a .365 wOBA and .217 ISO.
Value Hitters
Joey Gallo ($4,000): You're playing Joey Gallo for one reason and one reason only: home runs. He has a brutal .206 average, but 16 home runs and 36 RBI more than make up for it in terms of fantasy production. In 2017, he smashed righties with a .364 wOBA and .350 ISO. The Texas Rangers are taking on the Oakland Athletics, who will throw a struggling Daniel Mengden on the mound. One good thing for Gallo is that Mengden has just a 16.2 percent strikeout rate, and his 36.5 percent hard-hit rate isn't doing him any favors either.
Ian Kinsler ($3,500): The Los Angeles Angels have a premium matchup as they host Ian Kennedy and the Kansas City Royals. Ian Kennedy has been so bad this year, with a slate-worst 1.62 WHIP and 28.6 percent line-drive rate. His 41.2 percent hard-hit rate, 89.2 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 205-foot average batted-ball distance are all among the bottom-four on the slate. While Kinsler, in general, has been terrible against righties this season, his last 10 games have seen him pick it up. He's batting .300 with a .949 OPS and 3 home runs. If he can get on base, the power behind him should be able to knock him in a couple times.
Curtis Granderson ($3,500): Curtis Granderson provides a lot of power against right-handed pitchers, as indicated by his solid .343 wOBA and even better .255 ISO in 2017. His power has slipped this season, with just a .174 ISO, but the wOBA (.341) is still there. Opposing pitcher Sonny Gray has been awful, as his 1.60 WHIP is second-worst on the slate. He also has a brutal 34.7 percent hard-hit rate and 89.5 mile-per-hour average exit velocity against, so it's a spot to target a player like Granderson at or near the top of the lineup.
Ryan Sheppard is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Sheppard also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username donkshow_. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
