DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 4/15/19
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 Pitchers
Noah Syndergaard ($10,000 on DraftKings): The most talented pitchers on the slate have the most difficult matchups, so we're going to go with Noah Syndergaard against the Philadelphia Phillies rather than Trevor Bauer against the offensively dominant Seattle Mariners. Thor has a tough matchup tonight, but he has been solid this season, going at least six innings in all three starts, striking out at least six hitters and throwing 98-plus pitches in them all. He's been giving up some runs, which is troublesome, but his strikeout upside should offset most of that tonight.
Joey Lucchesi ($9,000): He has yet to throw more than 90 pitches in any start, topping out at 87 to date, however, in two of his three starts he has put up more than 24 DraftKings points while getting torched for seven earned runs in his other and finishing in the negatives. Lucchesi is taking on the Colorado Rockies tonight, and they are a team that has struggled immensely this season. The Rockies have struck out at a 26.4 percent clip this season -- the sixth-most in the Majors, and their .250 weighted on-base average (wOBA) is the second-worst mark in all of baseball.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Matt Shoemaker ($8,000): In 2019, Matt Shoemaker has been dominant. His two beast mode games came against the Detroit Tigers and the Baltimore Orioles, in which he posted 30-plus DraftKings points in each, but he still had a solid outing in his most recent start against the Boston Red Sox. Tonight is not necessarily the easiest matchup against a Minnesota Twins team that has been solid this season, but Shoemaker brings some strikeout upside. He had a 25.4 percent strikeout rate -- including a 13.0 percent swinging strike rate -- in 2018, giving him plenty of upside in this spot.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Christian Yelich ($5,400): Apparently leaving the confines of Marlins Park has turned Yelich from a great player into a truly elite player. As some wondered if Yelich could repeat last season, he has certainly put that worry to rest -- at least early on. He has dominated to start the 2019 campaign, with a 1.064 OPS behind 5 home runs, 15 RBI and a .328 average through 16 games. Tonight, he'll take on the St. Louis Cardinals' Dakota Hudson, who has just 37 innings of Major League experience under his belt.
Pete Alonso ($4,800): I don't think Pete Alonso could have asked for a much better start to his MLB career. He is hitting for a .345 average with 6 home runs, 17 RBI and a 1.219 OPS through 15 games. However, his 30.6 percent strikeout rate could prove to be problematic as the season goes on. It is encouraging that as a rookie he is able to put up an 11.3 percent walk rate, though. And if you would have thought that about three weeks into the season we'd be taking hitters against Aaron Nola, I wouldn't have believed you. But Nola has struggled immensely this season, and until things turn around there's no real need to avoid him.
Tim Anderson ($4,500): Tim Anderson has been batting second against left-handed pitchers lately but is taking on a right-hander tonight, so he should settle in to the 6th spot. Either way, he's been on an absolute tear to start the season and is still smashing against right-handed pitching regardless of his spot in the order. In 33 plate appearances against righties in 2019, Anderson has hit for an elite .478 wOBA and a .313 isolated power (ISO). This is a small sample size, but it just shows how well he's been hitting the ball.
Value Hitters
Alex Gordon ($4,200): Alex Gordon looks like a new man this season. Gordon has multi-hit games in five of his last six and in over half of his games to start the season. He's taking on Chicago White Sox' right-hander Ervin Santana this evening and Gordon has brought plenty of of power against righties this season. His .423 wOBA and .231 ISO are are elite in 45 plate appearances against right-handers. His placement in the three-hole just goes to show the confidence that Ned Yost has in Gordon right now, and rightfully so.
Marcell Ozuna ($4,000): Freddy Peralta had an elite strikeout rate last season which is not a great stat to target hitters against, but his alarmingly high 41.4 percent hard-hit rate is certainly one we do want to target. He gave up a 52.0 percent fly-ball rate but just an 8.7 home-run-to-fly-ball rate, which is surprising. Given the hard-contact and fly-ball rates, the fact that the ball stayed inside the park so often is likely a bit of luck on Peralta's part. Ozuna was terrible against righties last season, but he has been crushing it this season, with an excellent .397 wOBA and an absolutely elite .341 ISO.
Jose Ramirez ($3,900): It's crazy that a slow start for Ramirez can bring his price tag down below 4K. This was a guy we were paying in the mid-to-high 5K range last season. I believe he even got into the low 6K range, so this is uncharted territory for Ramirez. Ramirez has a matchup against Yusei Kikuchi of the Seattle Mariners -- a pitcher that has struggled in his first season in the Majors. Ramirez wasn't crazy-good against lefties last season, but he still hit for a .344 wOBA and .203 ISO, so there is plenty of reason to believe that he can start turning things around tonight.
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.
