5 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for Wednesday 5/26/21

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-salaried slugger is a lot more common than a total dud from a top-salaried 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-salaried play completely is somewhat unique.

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

Mike Minor, SP, Kansas City Royals ($7,200)

Once you get past the high-salaried aces in Tyler Glasnow and Trevor Bauer, there's some solid value in sub-$9,000 options like German Marquez or even Marcus Stroman, who go toe to toe in a duel of poor offenses -- although keep an eye on the weather if you choose to go there.

But should you look even further down the salary list, you'll find Mike Minor with the sixth-lowest pitching salary on the board despite a high-upside matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays' active roster has the league's third-worst strikeout rate versus lefties (29.8%) and a below-average 95 wRC+.

Add in run-suppressing Tropicana Field, and Minor is in a great spot to put up one of his best scores of the season. Although he's mostly endured underwhelming results, the veteran southpaw owns a solid 4.00 SIERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, and 8.2% walk rate.

Hunter Renfroe, OF, Boston Red Sox ($2,200)

The Boston Red Sox boast a slate-high 5.64 implied total against left-hander Drew Smyly, so they should be one of the night's most popular stacks. And it's the righty sticks we want to hone in on, as Smyly has posted a 5.75 xFIP and 16.0% strikeout rate in the split while allowing both free passes and dingers.

Enrique Hernandez is the conventional value leadoff man, but there are a ton of low-salaried righties we can roster in the bottom half of the order, and stacking them up could be a way to differentiate a bit in tournaments.

Hunter Renfroe is one such slugger, and while his power has been slow to come around in 2021, he's consistently produced with the platoon advantage throughout his career, sporting a stellar .372 wOBA and .299 ISO.

Eugenio Suarez, 3B/SS, Cincinnati Reds ($2,600)

Eugenio Suarez is batting leadoff again tonight, making him an easy guy to like in a plus spot versus Joe Ross. While Ross is allowing home runs to both righties and lefties alike, his strikeout rate dips to just 17.0% versus righty sticks, which bodes well for Suarez, who strikes out far too often at 33.7%.

Despite the punchouts, Suarez still makes opposing pitchers pay with his power, notching 10 bombs on the season with a 14.5% barrel rate. He should have the opportunity to add to his tally tonight.

Starlin Castro, 2B, Washington Nationals ($2,200)

The top half of the order will cost you a decent chunk of cap space if you stack the Washington Nationals, so nabbing Starlin Castro as the fourth choice to round out your stack might be the way to go.

Lefties get the easier draw versus Jeff Hoffman, as he's upped his strikeout rate against right-handed batters (29.1%), but Hoffman also owns a career 5.11 xFIP and 20.6% strikeout rate in righty-righty matchups, so we could also be dealing with small sample size noise.

Furthermore, Hoffman is walking far too many batters this year (12.4%), which is something he's often struggled with, potentially opening up scoring opportunities for just about anyone in a Nats stack.

Castro isn't showing a lick of power in 2021, but a 17.3% strikeout rate means he puts the ball in play often, and he's locked into the five-hole on most nights, giving him plenty of chances to knock runners in.

Alex Dickerson, OF, San Francisco Giants ($2,200)

Merrill Kelly may be coming off a surprisingly effective outing against the Dodgers, but he remains a hurler we want to attack more often than not due to his modest strikeout rate and his tendency to allow home runs.

Both righties and lefties are in play for the Giants, but against lefties, Kelly is showing a 4.63 xFIP, 17.0% strikeout rate, and 37.0% ground-ball rate, so someone like Alex Dickerson should be able to do some damage. Dickerson may not have eye-popping numbers so far this season, but a 74th percentile xwOBA and 72nd percentile xSLG are promising signs, and he's performed well at the plate since returning from the injured list 10 days ago.