DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 7/23/18
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
Jacob deGrom ($12,200 on DraftKings): Having their game postponed yesterday has worked out great for Jacob DeGrom, who went from a matchup against the New York Yankees to now facing the San Diego Padres. His numbers are elite, and he leads the slate with a 30.7 percent strikeout rate and 2.74 xFIP. His 0.97 WHIP is second to only Corey Kluber's. The Padres strike out 25.9 percent of the time against right-handed pitchers, which is the highest in the Majors.
Ross Stripling ($10,200): Coming in $2,000 cheaper than DeGrom, Ross Stripling is in another great matchup. He's got a 28.1 percent strikeout rate, 1.08 WHIP and 2.80 xFIP -- all of which are among the top five on the slate. The matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies is a good one as they strike out 25.7 percent of the time against right-handed pitching. Additionally, the Phillies have a .314 team weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 94 wRC+, both of which are 19th-best.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Luke Farrell ($4,800): Mid-range pitching isn't the greatest this evening, so we're digging real deep with Luke Farrell, who is likely on a pitch count. He's been a relief pitcher this season with the Cubs, starting just once in 19 appearances and picking up 30.3 percent strikeout rate and 11.5 walk rate. It is not the easiest matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks given that the D-Backs do have some powerful bats in their lineup, but they have struck out at a 24.5 percent clip against right-handed pitching in 2018. Their 82 wRC+ versus righties sits 26th, and their team wOBA of .296 in the split also checks in 26th.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Matt Carpenter ($5,500): Talk about a dude who is locked in. Matt Carpenter just had his six-game home run streak snapped, a streak in which he smashed eight long balls. Over his last 10 games, Carpenter has been a man-on-a-mission, racking up a .441 average, 1.822 OPS, 8 home runs, 12 RBIs and 12 runs scored -- which led to a 17.5-point DraftKings average over the 10 outings. A matchup against the struggling Luis Castillo should be great for Carpenter as Castillo is giving up a 38.3 percent hard-hit rate and 18.4 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.
Eddie Rosario ($5,100): Eddie Rosario smashes right-handed pitching with a .397 wOBA and a .250 isolated power (ISO) in the split. He's having a great season, putting up a .309 average, 19 home runs, 62 RBIs while chipping in the occasional stolen base with 6. Taking on Luis Santos is a great way to inflate his numbers as Santos has a brutal 1.88 WHIP, 37.5 percent line-drive rate and 208-foot average batted-ball distance.
Kris Bryant ($4,400): He isn't having his best season, but Kris Bryant at this price seems just too cheap. He has hammered left-handed pitching this season, putting up an insane .508 wOBA and .448 ISO. The matchup against Patrick Corbin probably doesn't look great on the surface. However, behind some of the sparkling numbers of Corbin, there are others that suggest he could be exposed. He's giving up a 43.1 percent hard-hit rate, 23.3 percent line-drive rate and 88.6 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. A lot of these hard-hit balls are ground balls as he has a 48.1 percent ground-ball rate, but Bryant is more than capable of lifting one.
Value Hitters
Mark Canha ($3,900): First off, Mark Canha was held out of the lineup on Sunday with hamstring cramps, so be sure to check the Oakland Athletics' starting lineup to ensure he's playing. If he is, Canha has been a great hitter for the A's against left-handed pitching. He's smashed them to the tune of a .415 wOBA and .372 ISO in 2018. It is a great matchup as the A's -- a team with a 5.23 implied run total -- take on Cole Hamels. Hamels has given up slate-worst numbers with his 43.7 percent fly-ball rate and 20.2 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.
Cody Bellinger ($3,900): With Phillies' Zach Eflin coming off the disabled list, Cody Bellinger is in a prime spot to take advantage of a couple missed starts. Bellinger has shown quite a bit of power against right-handed pitchers this season with a .353 wOBA and .245 ISO. Additionally, his last 10 games could look considerably better if anybody before him in the lineup could get on base. In that span, he hit for a .342 average and .917 OPS but picked up one RBI off of 13 hits.
Ryan Rua ($3,500): This could be a tough one as there is a good chance Ryan Rua bats in the bottom-third of the order, and given his splits, there is also a chance he sees only two or three at-bats as he is more of a specialist against left-handed pitchers. That makes sense as he has a lot of power. Although his .331 wOBA isn't the greatest, he does bring a .288 ISO to the table. His .189 BABIP against lefties shows he could have even better numbers this season with some more luck going his way. The matchup against Brett Anderson is a superb one. Anderson has a horrendous 1.86 WHIP, 4.94 xFIP with an 89.4 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. Rua just needs one swing to pay off this cheap price tag.
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.
