MLB

4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for Monday 5/24/21

Anthony Santander is batting in the heart of the Orioles' lineup and draws a plus matchup against Matt Shoemaker. Which other low-salaried players could excel tonight?

With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.

An 0-for-4 dud from a chalky high-salaried slugger is a lot more common than a total dud from a top-salaried NBA player or even than a stinker from a top quarterback or running back.

That means that it's not uncommon for value plays to end up doing the heavy lifting in carrying your lineup. The fact that they can be the difference between a good and a great lineup isn't much different than other sports, but value plays being able to make up for a whiff on a high-salaried play completely is somewhat unique.

Let's get right into it and take a look at the top value options on today's slate.

David Peterson, SP, New York Mets ($8,000)

In the value range at pitcher, Frankie Montas deserves consideration in a plus matchup versus the Seattle Mariners, but David Peterson is also in an enticing spot against the road-tripping Colorado Rockies.

In fact, Peterson is the beneficiary of a slate-low 2.99 implied total, which says something given that Peterson comes in with a 4.97 ERA. But pitcher-friendly Citi Field is a massive park factor shift from Coors Field, and Colorado has been truly abysmal in away games, posting a 58 wRC+ and 27.5% strikeout rate.

Additionally, despite the inconsistent results, Peterson owns favorable peripheral numbers, including a 3.43 SIERA and 28.9% strikeout rate. He's been hurt by the long ball a bit, but an inflated 26.1% homer-to-fly-ball rate could be flukey, and he's also inducing grounders at a high clip (52.6%).

Peterson has FanDuel high scores of 55 and 47 points this season, so don't rule out a productive outing tonight.

Andrew Vaughn, 1B/OF, Chicago White Sox ($2,300)

The Chicago White Sox are pretty much on an island by themselves when it comes to their implied total (4.77), and on a slate lacking other top offenses in plus matchups, they'll almost certainly be very popular. Opposing pitcher Kwang-Hyun Kim is hardly a scrub, but the White Sox are a brutal matchup for left-handers, and Kim has a pedestrian 23.7% strikeout rate and 39.7% ground-ball rate.

Andrew Vaughn figures to be the lowest-salaried bat in the lineup, making him an easy value despite batting low in the order. The top prospect may not be hitting for average, but his Statcast metrics have shown promise, including a 74th percentile barrel rate.

Anthony Santander, OF, Baltimore Orioles ($2,500)

We don't often look towards the Baltimore Orioles for offense, but a struggling Matt Shoemaker puts them on our radar tonight. Shoemaker has poor numbers across the board with a 5.39 SIERA, 14.0% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate over eight starts. Most importantly, he's getting lit up by the long ball, already allowing 10 on the season.

Shoemaker is performing worse versus left-handed batters (6.42 xFIP), so switch-hitter Anthony Santander should be a priority in any Baltimore stacks. Although Santander hasn't been able to duplicate his 2020 numbers thus far, he's played well since returning from the injured list on Friday and appears to be locked into the cleanup spot. If nothing else, we can expect him to supply some pop, as he owns a .211 ISO for his career.

Eric Haase, C, Detroit Tigers ($2,500)

The Detroit Tigers may very well have the best matchup on the board, making them another unusual team to stack up for our bats. Left-hander Sam Hentges has been roughed up for a 6.46 ERA and 2.09 WHIP across 15.1 innings, and his underlying numbers don't offer much encouragement, as he's displaying a 4.89 SIERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, and 11.8% walk rate. Public projection systems on FanGraphs are universally bearish on Hentges, pegging him for a season ERA of 4.88 or worse the rest of the way.

Despite a lack of success against lefties this season, the Tigers will likely field a lineup made up entirely of righties and switch-hitters, so even they should theoretically be able to capitalize on this golden opportunity. Everyone has a salary below $3,000, so I could list any number of guys here, but Eric Haase is one name who stands out.

Haase only has eight games under his belt this season, but he's already logged four barrels, which is a promising sign for his power. He's also demonstrated pop in the minors, which includes a .291 ISO in Triple-A a couple of seasons back. In a lineup short of impact bats, Haase looks like a guy to mix into any Detroit stacks, and he could bat as high as fifth.