DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 8/27/18
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
Patrick Corbin ($11,500 on DraftKings): If there is one thing to really pick apart in Patrick Corbin's game it is the awful 42.3 percent hard-hit rate. However, with a 48.4 ground-ball rate and a 157 foot average batted-ball distance, one can assume most of these balls being hit so hard are hit on the ground. He has an elite 30.8 percent strikeout rate, 1.03 WHIP and 2.62 xFIP and has destroyed the San Francisco Giants this season. In 5 starts, he has 3 wins, 37 strikeouts in 32.2 innings and averaged 21.4 DraftKings points per game. He's an elite pitcher in an elite matchup.
Low-Priced Pitchers
Masahiro Tanaka ($9,500): As a -222 favorite — the largest on the slate — Masahiro Tanaka stands out at a pretty cheap price. Additionally, he has a solid 25.1 percent strikeout rate along with an elite 1.11 WHIP and 3.55 xFIP. He also has a high-upside matchup against the Chicago White Sox this evening. They are a team that strikes out at a 25.5 percent clip against right-handed pitching, which is the second-highest in the Majors. The White Sox had modest offensive numbers against righties but the strikeouts are what could set Tanaka apart.
Jon Gray ($8,700): Jon Gray is seemingly always under-priced. He has been more than $9,000 just twice in his last 10 games, a stretch in which he has scored at least 20 DraftKings points 7 times while averaging 7.1 strikeouts per game. On the season, he has a solid 27.1 percent strikeout rate, a not-so-great 1.27 WHIP but an elite 3.12 xFIP. The offence of the Los Angeles Angels is not typically a matchup you want to target but Gray's strikeout rate gives him the upside to pay off this low price-tag.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
David Peralta ($5,500): Among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances against right-handed pitching this season, David Peralta's .411 wOBA is the sixth-best, and he brings some solid power with a .268 isolated power (ISO). He's got a solid matchup against Giants' right-hander Chris Stratton, who has a lowly 17.7 percent strikeout rate, 1.52 WHIP and a 4.50 xFIP. Additionally, his 40.6 percent hard-hit rate and 90.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity don't bode well for him in this matchup.
Giancarlo Stanton ($5,200): Giancarlo Stanton is an absolute lefty-masher. In 2018, he has an incredible .453 wOBA and a .344 ISO, and tonight he should benefit from taking on White Sox southpaw Carlos Rodon. Rodon has some interesting numbers, as he has a nice 2.71 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, but his 4.88 xFIP indicates that there are some issues with him. He has a very ugly 43.8 percent fly-ball rate, but variance may be on his side there, as he has just an 8.7 percent home run to fly-ball rate. Stanton shouldn't have much issue with Rodon tonight.
Rhys Hoskins ($4,500): Normally taking on Stephen Strasburg is a matchup you would want to avoid. However, Strasburg has just 3 starts over the last 12 weeks and he has yet to eclipse 5 DraftKings points in any of those starts. He has struggled a bit with the long-ball this season, giving up an 18.7 percent home run to fly-ball rate and has an 89.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. Rhys Hoskins has had a lot of success against right-handed pitching with a very solid .371 wOBA and .269 ISO.
Value Hitters
Justin Smoak ($4,200): As a switch-hitter, Justin Smoak has much more success facing right-handed pitchers. He has a .369 wOBA and .244 ISO against righties and just a .314 wOBA and .133 ISO against left-handed pitching. His opponent is the Baltimore Orioles right-hander David Hess — a pitcher that has struggled immensely this season. He has a lowly 14.9 percent strikeout rate, a 1.40 WHIP and a slate-worst 5.77 xFIP. Additionally, his 47.2 percent fly-ball rate and 192 foot average batted-ball distance are the worst numbers on the slate as well.
Evan Gattis ($4,000): His overall numbers aren't the greatest, but Evan Gattis crushes left-handed pitching. He has done so with a .353 wOBA and an elite .295 ISO against southpaws in 2018. He is taking on a ground-ball pitcher in Brett Anderson tonight, who has allowed an average batted-ball distance of just 138 feet. Anderson does have a middling 4.12 xFIP on the year though, and in his start against the Houston Astros earlier in the season he lasted just three innings while giving up nine runs (seven earned). Not good.
Matt Chapman ($3,800): Yeah, the Athletics are taking on Gerrit Cole this evening. That is not ideal. However, Chapman has great numbers against right-handed pitching, with a .388 wOBA and a .269 ISO. He is pretty cheap at just $3,800 and Cole does give up deep fly balls from time to time, with a 32.4 percent hard-hit and 41.4 percent fly-ball rate, as well as a 187-foot average batted-ball distance. That could bite him if Chapman gets a hold of one. It's a tough matchup, but Chapman is cheap enough that he makes for an interesting tournament play.
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.
