DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 8/28/18
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 Pitcher
Max Scherzer ($12,600 on DraftKings): Tonight's slate is absolutely flooded with elite pitching. However, Max Scherzer stands out above the rest, as he likely has the easiest matchup. He's taking on the Philadelphia Phillies, who strike out at a 25.1 percent clip against right-handed pitching. Additionally, both their team weighted on-base average (wOBA) and wRC+ are in the bottom third of the league. Scherzer leads the slate with an insane 34.6 percent strikeout rate, and both his 0.89 WHIP and 3.04 xFIP sit as the second-best marks.
Jack Flaherty ($10,400): In 4 straight starts, Jack Flaherty has put up 27-plus DraftKings points with at least 7 strikeouts in each. On the season, he has a very good 31.0 percent strikeout rate along with a 1.05 WHIP and 3.33 xFIP. Additionally, he has limited opposing hitters to an 86 mile-per-hour average exit velocity, which is among the best on the slate. He doesn't have that easy of a matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Flaherty and the St. Louis Cardinals are the sixth-biggest favorites on the slate, with a -155 moneyline.
Low-Priced Pitchers
Lance Lynn ($7,800): Lance Lynn and the New York Yankees are the second-largest favorite on the slate at -231. Lynn has had quite the roller coaster ride since arriving in New York, but there are plenty of reasons for optimism this evening. As mentioned, the Yankees are huge favorites, and Lynn smashed in his start against the Chicago White Sox earlier in the year, going 7.1 innings, picking up 9 strikeouts and dropping an elite 36.7 DraftKings points. The White Sox strike out at a 25.5 percent clip against right-handed pitching which is the second-worst in the Majors, putting Lynn in a great spot for a repeat performance.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Christian Yelich ($5,700): Christian Yelich has been bringing a lot of power to his game over the last 10, smashing 5 home runs while hitting for a .295 AVG with a 1.036 OPS. He has also had plenty of success against right-handed pitching this season, with a .380 wOBA and a solid .227 isolated power (ISO). Tonight he has an elite matchup against Cincinnati Reds' Anthony DeSclafani, who has a 22.1 percent line-drive rate. Additionally, his 41.3 percent hard-hit rate and 37.4 percent fly-ball rate have resulted in a slate-worst 19.3 home run to fly-ball rate.
Max Muncy ($5,400): The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the slate with a 6.41 implied run total as they take on the Texas Rangers' Ariel Jurado. Jurado has been brutal in limited innings, with a 1.55 WHIP and 5.02 xFIP, along with a 45.4 percent hard-hit rate. His 92.6 mile-per-hour average exit velocity has led to an 18.2 percent home run to fly-ball rate. Max Muncy has crushed right-handed pitching this season with an incredible .403 wOBA and .340 ISO. He has 4 home runs over his last 10 games and looks to continue that dominance
Paul Goldschmidt ($5,100): Remember when Paul Goldschmidt was struggling earlier in the year and people were freaking out? The thing is, he was only struggling against right-handed pitching and was crushing lefties as usual. On the season, Goldy has smashed southpaws to the tune of a .428 wOBA and a .290 ISO. Tonight he's taking on Madison Bumgarner, who has struggled this season with a 1.24 WHIP and 4.27 xFIP. Additionally, he has a very ugly 40.3 percent hard-hit rate and a 23.3 percent line-drive rate, which bodes well for Goldschmidt and his power.
Value Hitters
Nelson Cruz ($4,300): Although he has been struggling a bit lately, this is still much too cheap for Nelson Cruz, considering the way he still dominates right-handed pitching. In 2018, he has put up a .373 wOBA and a .254 ISO, and tonight he takes on San Diego Padres' Jacob Nix — a pitcher that has struggled immensely this season despite pitching just 11.2 innings. Now, keep in mind this is an extremely small sample size, but Nix has a brutal 12.7 percent strikeout rate, 1.63 WHIP and a 5.05 xFIP. Additionally, his 40.5 percent hard-hit rate is among the worst on the slate.
Hunter Renfroe ($4,200): Felix Hernandez is a former Cy Young Award winner, but his career is on a crash course at just 32 years of age. This season he has a weak 17.8 percent strikeout rate, 1.42 WHIP and 4.73 xFIP. Additionally, he has a 38.7 percent hard-hit rate and 14.9 percent home run to fly-ball rate. Giving up hard contact like that could get him into trouble tonight against Hunter Renfroe, who has been pretty good in the power department against right-handed pitching, with a .336 wOBA and .247 ISO.
Tyler White ($3,900): Considering how dominant he has been, Tyler White seems incredibly miss-priced. Not only do White's season-long numbers against righties warrant a higher price-tag, with a .409 wOBA and .309 ISO against right-handed pitching, his recent numbers are just insane. Over his last 10 games, White has averaged 11.8 DraftKings points per game. This is a result of crushing 4 home runs and picking up 12 RBI while hitting for a .342 AVG with a 1.153 OPS. He's taking on Oakland Athletics' Edwin Jackson, who has a 4.82 xFIP, 38.5 percent hard-hit rate and a 23.4 percent line-drive rate which is the second-worst on the slate.
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.
