3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 4/6/16
As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.
While you can get away with a zero from a hitter in daily fantasy, you certainly don't want to target guys whose matchups aren't enticing.
Here are three hitters you may want to lessen your exposure to or even fade altogether today.
Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox
FanDuel Price: $3,800
Boston is playing a game this evening in Cleveland, and a lot of factors are coming together at the same time to make this entire game one you might want to avoid from a hitting standpoint. However, one guy stands out in particular is Xander Bogaerts. The Sox have to go up against Carlos Carrasco. The hard-throwing right-hander is coming off a great season with a SIERA of 2.74, and he could shut down the Red Sox tonight.
However, another big factor in this one is the weather in the northern United States today. Cleveland is about to get rocked with some rain later on this afternoon, and more importantly, the wind looks like it will be blowing pretty hard straight in from center field tonight. The weather forecast is calling for around 25 mile per hour winds coming from the south, and that’s bad news for any hitter.
Carrasco also held right-handers to a wOBA of just .283 last season, and at home against right-handed hitting, his xFIP was 2.38. Last season, Bogaerts hit only .258 on the road against right-handed pitching, and his wOBA was only .280 in those games as well. His walk rate was only 3.5 percent on the road against right-handed pitching too, and he also struck out more, with a strike out rate of 16.9 percent, compared to 15.4 percent overall.
Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Price: $4,400
For his price this afternoon, combined with the pitcher's park he is hitting in, Miguel Cabrera is somewhat questionable. If you combine that fact that he has to go up against Jose Fernandez, Cabrera has a lot of landmine potential. Even though Cabrera is pretty solid no matter the handedness of the pitcher, Fernandez has been stellar against righties his entire career. Right-handers own a wOBA of only .205 against Fernandez and are hitting just .163 off of him.
If you take that into account tonight, along with the struggles that Cabrera has had against hard-throwers last season, you have a player who is simply too high priced for the pitcher and park he is facing. Fernandez’s fastball is hard to catch up to for any hitter, but at this stage of his career, Cabrera could be starting to have trouble with hard throwers. He hit only .270 against power pitchers in 2015, and his strikeout rate against power pitchers was nearly 27 percent.
Cabrera’s numbers started to decline last year to begin with, and while that could have been an outlier, his lack of home runs and RBI last season was concerning for a 32-year-old with a hefty injury history. It might be best to lay off today.
Charlie Blackmon, OF, Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Price: $4,400
Charlie Blackmon is another big bat with a tough matchup this afternoon, and his is Patrick Corbin. The D-backs’ lefty has always been great against left-handed hitting, and Blackmon has had trouble with lefties, especially away from home. Blackmon owned a wOBA of just .311 against left-handed pitching last season, and that number drops to .250 when he is on the road against lefties.
Corbin has been even better. Left-handed hitters had a wOBA of only .250 against him in 2015, and if you account for his entire Major League career, lefties have a wOBA of just .274 against him. Despite Chase Field being a hitter’s park, lefties have a wOBA of just .251 against Corbin through three seasons there.
Blackmon has also struggled at Chase Field throughout his career. In 119 plate appearances, his on-base percentage is just .274, which is the lowest of any park where he has at least 100 plate appearances. He is hitting just .259 in Arizona throughout his career.
