MLB

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 6/17/19

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

Luis Castillo ($10,000 on DraftKings): Normally a matchup against the Houston Astros would be far down your list, but they are pretty banged up right now and make for an interesting target from a pitching standpoint. Luis Castillo leads the slate with a 29.1 percent strikeout rate along with an elite 56.8 percent groundball rate. However, his 11.5 percent walk rate is troublesome and he's certainly been getting a bit lucky with a .239 BABIP and a 2.20 ERA vs. a 4.02 SIERA. The Astros injuries have piled up that Castillo would still put up a big number due to his strikeout upside.

Kenta Maeda ($9,000): Kenta Maeda has a modest 25.3 percent strikeout rate and a 4.24 SIERA, but it is the home matchup against the San Francisco Giants that is most intriguing. The Giants have struggled this season, as one would expect, with a 27th ranked wOBA of .290 against right-handed pitching. They have been a bit better in terms of their strikeout rate, but it is still in the lower half of the Majors, as their 23.4 percent strikeout rate sits as the 11th most against righties. The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently -255 favorites which is the largest on the slate.

Value Pitcher

Danny Duffy ($7,500): With the injuries to Mitch Haniger and Ryon Healy in addition to the trade of Edwin Encarnacion, the Seattle Mariners roster is starting to look very depleted — especially the one they will be throwing out against a left-hander in Danny Duffy. While he hasn't been an ace or anything, Duffy has put up 14-plus DraftKings points in six of his nine starts — failing to reach five innings pitched in just one. While his numbers across the board are average at best, we're hoping the very weak Mariners lineup helps inflate the stats for Duffy.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

Mike Trout ($5,600): Mike Trout is simply the best. No matter how quiet of a season he seems to be having, he sits second in the Majors with a 4.6 WAR. This has him sandwiched between two people that have gotten a ton of hype in Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich. But then there is Trout, who just does his thing and dominates as always. Against right-handed pitching this season he has an incredible .446 wOBA and .349 ISO and takes on one of the worst in Edwin Jackson. Jackson has a 41.0 percent hard-hit rate and an absurd 3.28 HR/9 in 2019 and has no chance against a healthy Los Angeles Angels lineup — especially if Justin Upton is back.

Gary Sanchez ($5,000): Gary "The Goat" Sanchez continues to be easily the best catcher at the plate. While there are other facets of his game that are troublesome, we mostly don't care about that in DFS unless it costs him at-bats. Yonny Chirinos will be the main pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays today and he has given up a modest 31.4 percent hard-hit rate, but a 24.4 percent line-drive rate and 35.4 percent fly-ball rate are not ideal. Sanchez has smashed right-handed pitching to the tune of a .401 wOBA and .375 ISO.

Juan Soto ($4,500): In 2018, rookie Juan Soto crushed right-handed pitching with a .401 wOBA and .231 ISO. His numbers are a bit down in 2019, and rightfully so, but they are still a very good .382 wOBA and .218 ISO. Tonight, the Washington Nationals take on Philadelphia Phillies struggling right-hander in Jake Arrieta. He has given up a 38.3 percent hard-hit rate and while his 27.1 fly-ball rate is solid, his 20.0 home-run-to-fly-ball is a disaster. Soto brings enough power to take advantage of this.

Value Hitters

Khris Davis ($4,000): After a very hot start to the season, Khris Davis has really struggled at the plate. However, he is still a hitter that brings an immense amount of power against right-handed pitchers. In 2018, Davis hit right-handed pitchers to the tune of a .374 wOBA and an elite .315 ISO. Tonight he gets one of the worst in the Majors in Baltimore Orioles' righty Andrew Cashner. Cashner has given up a 39.4 percent hard-hit rate and 33.3 percent fly-ball rate which has resulted in a 14.7 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. In addition, he has a brutal 16.8 percent strikeout rate and equally ugly 8.6 percent walk rate.

Jose Ramirez ($3,700): This is a very interesting matchup for Jose Ramirez tonight because Lance Lynn has solid numbers and could possibly be getting unlucky in the process. He has a 4.40 ERA but just a 3.98 SIERA — sixth-best on the slate — and his .349 BABIP is brutal. However, with that bad luck comes other numbers that are really ugly and that are his 38.8 percent hard-hit rate and 23.7 percent line-drive rate. The high line-drive rate could be a product of the poor BABIP, though, so that is worth noting. Jose Ramirez' struggles this season have been well documented, but he hit right-handed pitchers well last season with a .410 wOBA and .315 ISO in that split.

Rowdy Tellez ($3,400): Rowdy Tellez obliterated right-handed pitchers as a rookie in 2018. Although it was just 50 plate appearances, Tellez put up an insane .503 wOBA and .400 ISO against righties. Those numbers have taken a steep hit with a .270 wOBA And .193 ISO in 2019, but a matchup against Angels right-hander Felix Pena could turn things around again. Pena, despite a solid 3.86 SIERA, has given up a 39.2 percent hard-hit rate and 24.2 percent line-drive to go along with a 36.3 percent fly-ball rate and a 17.5 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.



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.