DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 6/28/19
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
Jose Berrios ($10,800 on DraftKings): Jose Berrios has been dominant this season. His 4.7 percent walk rate is the best on the slate and while his 22.9 percent strikeout rate isn't fantastic, it is good enough for tonight's matchup against the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox are striking out at a 25.7 percent clip against right-handed pitching. In addition, they have just a .305 wOBA which ranks 24th in the Majors. Berrios looks like he could be getting a bit lucky with just a .276 BABIP and a 2.84 ERA compared to a 4.10 SIERA, but there is still high upside.
Mike Clevinger ($9,600): He only has three starts this season due to injuries, but Mike Clevinger has been ridiculous. A 46.8 percent strikeout rate is an insane rate, but he also has a silly .160 BABIP so obviously this small sample size is skewing the results significantly. He has a decent matchup tonight against the Baltimore Orioles, a team that has struggled at times this season. They have a 23.1 percent strikeout rate which sits middle-of-the-pack at 13th, but their .294 wOBA is way down, ranked 26th which presents elite upside for Clevinger.
Value Pitcher
Elieser Hernandez ($6,500): At the bargain price of $6,500, Elieser Hernandez is a fantastic cheap option tonight. There are some concerning numbers as he's giving up a 40.7 percent hard-hit rate, but his 24.4 percent strikeout rate and 17.0 percent line-drive rate are great. Again, we're dealing with a small sample size so those numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt. However, he is facing the struggling Philadelphia Phillies who have a 22.9 percent strikeout rate which is the 14th-most against right-handed pitching and a .312 wOBA which ranks 17th. For a team that came into this season with high expectations, this is an intriguing matchup for Hernandez at a bargain-basement price.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Cody Bellinger ($6,000): It is not that often you see a hitter priced over $6k on DraftKings, but tonight we have Cody Bellinger sitting at exactly that as he takes o a terrible right-handed pitcher in Coors Field. Does it get much better than that? Bellinger has a ridiculous .466 wOBA and .364 ISO in this split and has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball this season. Antonio Senzatela has been brutal this season with a 38.2 percent hard-hit rate and 23.8 percent line-drive rate which are terrible numbers to have, especially when heading into Coors Field.
Mike Moustakas ($4,900): Mike Moustakas has been pretty awesome this season and especially smashed right-handed pitching. He's putting up an elite .386 wOBA and a .295 ISO which puts him in a great spot tonight against Pittsburgh Pirates struggling right-hander Chris Archer. He's giving up a slate-worst 44.4 percent hard-hit rate and a 40.0 percent which has led to another slate-worst in a 23.7 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.
Nelson Cruz ($4,900): In his first season with the Minnesota Twins, Nelson Cruz has been pretty solid — especially against left-handed pitching. With 64 plate appearances against southpaws this season, Cruz's .401 wOBA and ridiculous .346 ISO put him in a great position against Chicago White Sox' Justin Nicolino. He has not pitched in the Majors since 2017 and his numbers in 2019 in Triple-A are terrible. He has an xFIP over 5 and a strikeout rate under 20 percent which are simply terrible.
Value Hitters
Jose Altuve ($3,900): He has been pretty good since he came back from injury, so I don't really understand why he still sits under $4,000. In just 42 plate appearances with an unfathomable .514 wOBA and .462 ISO. His opponent is Seattle Mariners' left-hander Tommy Milone — a pitcher that has actually put forth some decent numbers this season. Though there are still concerns over his 38.6 percent hard-hit rate and 43.9 percent fly-ball rate which has led to a 14.0 percent home-run-to-fly-ball.
Jorge Soler ($3,800): Jorge Soler has brought an incredible amount of power to the plate this season, especially against right-handed pitching. With a .350 wOBA and a ridiculous .294 ISO, Soler has an intriguing matchup against Sean Reid-Foley of the Toronto Blue Jays. He has a career 4.62 xFIP and while his 33.0 percent hard-hit rate isn't that bad, his 25.0 percent line-drive rate is pretty bad.
Brian Dozier ($3,400): I honestly thought Brian Dozier was older than 32 years old. It feels like, to me anyway, that he's been around forever. Anyway, he has basically become a platoon player at this point, at least from a statistical standpoint. He has a horrific .271 wOBA and .153 ISO against right-handed pitching but an elite .447 wOBA and .333 ISO against left-handed pitching. Last season he was terrible across the board, but at least it seems we can count on him against left-handed pitchers this season. Tonight against Detroit Tigers' Daniel Norris seems like a good spot to continue his southpaw dominance.
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.
