5 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for 9/6/19

With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.

An 0-for-4 dud from a chalky high-priced slugger is a lot more common than a total dud from a top-priced NBA player or even than a stinker from a top quarterback or running back.

That means that it's not uncommon for value plays to end up doing the heavy lifting in carrying your lineup. The fact that they can be the difference between a good and a great lineup isn't much different than other sports, but value plays being able to make up for a whiff on a high-priced play completely is somewhat unique.

Let's get right into it and take a look at the top value options on today's slate.

Luke Voit, 1B, New York Yankees ($3,200)

Since coming back from the injured list five games ago, Luke Voit has started all five games and has stayed in the middle of the order, hitting sixth in each of those five outings. That will come in handy tonight given the New York Yankees' matchup.

Tonight the Yankees will face Boston Red Sox starter Jhoulys Chacin. Chacin hasn’t pitched since July 24th, and prior to that he had been in a 10-start stretch in which he had a 7.08 ERA. He has looked pretty much completely washed up in 2019 as shown by his increase in walk rate and the increase in his homers allowed -- with his rate of homers per nine (HR/9) up from 0.8 to 1.9 this season.

It’s a great matchup for the Yankees lineup to tee off. Voit is the only Yanks bat I can consider a value, but they’re really all good plays.

Brandon Nimmo, OF, New York Mets ($2,400)

Robinson Cano, 2B, New York Mets ($2,400)

Both of these New York Mets hitters fit into similar categories for me as talented hitters who have extremely small price points given their production, making them great values tonight thanks to their matchup.

Starting with Robinson Cano, he had shown signs of getting out of the season-long slump he had been on before being injured, and he has followed it up by going 12-for-18 with two home runs and (most encouragingly) just one strikeout since his return. His price is going to skyrocket soon, and tonight is a chance to take advantage of the weirdly low salary he’s at.

Brandon Nimmo’s production hasn’t been as stellar as Cano’s, but when he’s at his best, Nimmo is a great power-speed source with elite plate discipline. Since his return, he’s drawn six walks in 12 plate appearances and has hit fifth in the batting order in his two starts.

These two would both be values at these prices if they had a tough matchup, but given that they face Zach Eflin, they’re both even more enticing tonight. Eflin was very lucky to have the start to the season he had, and since the beginning of July, regression has hit him hard. In his last 38 innings, Eflin has allowed a 6.87 ERA with a 13-to-26 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Eflin has also been significantly worse against left-handed hitters, surrendering an .871 OPS to them on the season, compared to a .706 OPS to righties.

Ramon Laureano, OF, Oakland Athletics ($2,800)

Ramon Laureano returns from the injured list tonight and is immediately a great value.

Laureano had been enjoying a breakout season before his injury, capped off by a 53-game hot stretch in which he had been hitting .319 with 16 home runs and a 1.029 OPS in his last 211 plate appearances.

Laureano faces Detroit Tigers right-handed pitcher Spencer Turnbull. It’s a good matchup for a few reasons -- the main one being that Laureano’s slugging percentage (.532) against right-handed pitching is great for a matchup where Turnbull has allowed three home runs in his last 12 2/3 frames.

Gavin Lux, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers ($2,400)

Again, it’s chalky, but from a value standpoint, it has to be done for your lineups. Gavin Lux has immediate Bo Bichette-level impact ability, and he's going to be a nightly consideration until he’s priced up.

Lux’s matchup tonight is a bit tough against San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija, but it’s not worth over-complicating. Until Lux is priced equally to the top middle infielders, he has to be considered a value stick every night.

James Kohout is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, James Kohout also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username jt2115. 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.