3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/23/19
Baseball is heating up, and there are plenty of DFS contests to choose from on FanDuel's main slate. While we have plenty of pieces geared towards guys you should target in your DFS contests, it's also important to avoid sub-optimal options who are overpriced and/or in tough spots.
Let's check out three players to consider fading on FanDuel's main slate for May 23.
Carlos Correa, Houston Astros (SS)
vs Chicago White Sox
FanDuel Price: $4,200
With a microscopic two-game slate on tap for tonight, stars are sure to be heavily rostered, including the white-hot Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros. But is that a solid investment?
If we are peeking at the resurgent Lucas Giolito, Correa's opponent, it may not be. Giolito has surged in 2019 by dominating same-sided bats, limiting them to a .280 wOBA and .282 slugging percentage.
Some could point to those marks as small sample size theater (91 plate appearances), but he was solid in this split in 2018, too. Spanning a much more expansive 373 plate appearances a season ago, the batted-ball profile was equally juicy -- just a 30.7% hard-hit rate and 33.3% fly-ball rate.
Correa has been in beast mode, but tonight could be challenging.
Yoan Moncada, Chicago White Sox (3B)
at Houston Astros
FanDuel Price: $3,600
The switch-hitting Yoan Moncada could see a heavy done of run tonight, and with nine homers and five steals on his resume this season, it's for good reason.
While his .911 OPS from the left side makes him tantalizing, Corbin Martin has excelled in this split, albeit in a very small space. Spanning 21 plate appearances, which is hard to draw many conclusions from, Martin has dominated his way to a .263 slugging percentage, including a 28.6% strikeout rate.
Drawing from such a small data set can be scary, but with only four pitchers going, we have to make some conclusions, and rostering Moncada could make for a long night.
Tommy Pham, Tampa Bay Rays (OF)
at Cleveland Indians
FanDuel Price: $3,400
The Tampa Bay Rays could be ready to score a pile of runs tonight -- their 4.98 implied team total ranks second-best on the slate -- meaning all those bats will be in play.
Is Tommy Pham, the slate's ninth-most expensive hitter, ready to rock? Not exactly. Adam Plutko, tonight's opposing starter, has performed far better against righties in his career. Over 188 total batters faced, Plutko owns a .308 wOBA and 23.9% strikeout rate.
While lefties have certainly enjoyed success against Plutko (.405 wOBA, .605 slugging percentage), it won't be quite as easy for the righties. Consider fading Pham on tonight's docket.
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. 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.
