MLB

The Top 5 FanDuel Hitting Performances of the First Half

Jim Sannes  —  @JimSannes Jul 14th, 2016
The first half produced some big-time offensive performances for MLB DFS. Which games topped the charts?

We all got our fill of offense during Monday's home run derby, right?

Uh, no. Such a thirst can never be adequately quenched.

Thankfully, the first half of the season gave us plenty of material on which to sip. There were 3,082 home runs prior to the All-Star break, and hitters punched out a grand total of 228,558.6 FanDuel points.

Some hitters were more generous than others in their distribution of deliciousness, racking up over 70 points in a single night. Those are the types of totals that'll both melt your face off and make your pocketbooks swoon if you invest at the right time.

In our never-ending quest to see more offense, let's run down the five highest-scoring DFS nights by hitters in the first half of the season. All scores will be based on FanDuel's current scoring rules, which went into effect near the end of April.

1. Kris Bryant, June 27th

FanDuel Points: 81.8

The power of the sparkle compels you. Do not underestimate Kris Bryant.

Against the Cincinnati Reds on June 27th, Bryant filled the statsheet the way few have ever done. He slugged three home runs and two doubles, making him the first player since Josh Hamilton in 2012 to get 16 total bases in a single game. Not shockingly, that's going to bust a few records.

Only 19 players have had at least 16 total bases in a game since 1913, but even fewer did so in the same fashion as Bryant.

He good.

Bryant also had a 63.8-point game back in April, making him the only player this year with multiple games above the 60-point mark. That seems worthy of a salute.

2. Michael Saunders, June 17th

FanDuel Points: 73.6

Whenever he has been healthy, Michael Saunders has shown that he can hit. And, boy, did he ever do that in the middle of June.

A triple-dong performance in which he drove in eight runs vaulted Saunders to near the top of the list, and it most certainly wasn't a fluke. He's rocking a 40.0% hard-hit rate this year, the 17th-best mark among all qualified hitters. Against righties, that shoots up to 43.0%. This the best ball he has played in his life, and it comes as a healthy member of one of baseball's best offenses, making his fantasy value enormous.

Looking at Saunders' game logs, you may note he has hit just one home run since that 73.6-point night. Although that's true, it's not time to sound the alarms just yet. His hard-hit rate in that span is a gaudy 48.2%, meaning we could see more of these big-time performances in the second half.

3. Yasmani Grandal, July 8th

FanDuel Points: 72.6

Poor Yasmani Grandal couldn't catch a break earlier in the year. Through his first 219 plate appearances, he was stinging the ball with a 34.6% hard-hit rate, yet his slash was a lowly .183/.301/.371. He had homered in three of his previous six games -- so you knew his luck was turning around -- but then he done busted the lid off his no-good season.

That'll do wonders for the ol' triple slash line.

After his single-handed slaughtering of the San Diego Padres, Grandal's slash bumped up to .204/.317/.435. That got the good vibes rolling into the All-Star break, and if Grandal's peripherals are any indication, we should expect those numbers to look even better once action resumes.

4. C.J. Cron, July 2nd

FanDuel Points: 72.5

All of the demons that left Yasmani Grandal zipped straight across the city over to C.J. Cron.

Cron was having a really nice season this year, accented by his 72.5-point night on July 2nd. He slammed two home runs and a double while driving in five runs and scoring five himself. That gave him nine RBI's in a two-night span, and he followed it up with another double dong on July 5th. Dude was straight cooking.

Then, on the same night Grandal went bonkers, this happened to Cron.

Now, he's expected to miss six to eight weeks. The baseball gods be cruel, but at least Cron unleashed his silliness before they got a hold of him.

5. Aaron Hill, May 7th

FanDuel Points: 70.1

The Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers don't have the league's best teams, but they most certainly played one of the most exciting games this year.

Back on May 7th, the Reds got out to a 4-0 lead through the first three innings, and they extended it to 6-1 in the fifth.

Then Aaron Hill came to play.

With the score at 6-3 in the sixth, Hill blasted a two-run bomb to cut the deficit to just a run. The score stayed 6-5 until the eighth, when Hill worked his magic again, blasting his second dinger of the night to tie it up.

The game eventually went to extra innings. The first three Brewers in the 10th inning singled, loading the bases for whom? You've probably guessed it by now.

That's three taters, including the game-tying and go-ahead shots in the final few frames, to go with seven RBI's. If that doesn't earn you a trade to a contending team -- which Hill got in going to the Boston Red Sox this month -- I don't know what will.