3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 5/23/16
As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.
While you can get away with a zero from a hitter in daily fantasy, you certainly don't want to target guys whose matchups aren't enticing.
Here are three hitters you may want to lessen your exposure to or even fade altogether on Monday.
Joey Votto, 1B, Cincinnati Reds
FanDuel Price: $3,300
Joey Votto and the Reds have an extremely tough matchup tonight as they head into Chavez Ravine to play Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. While most of the Reds are landmines tonight, Votto’s tough lefty-lefty matchup makes him a player you want to avoid at all costs.
Votto owns a wOBA of just .245 against lefties so far this season through 43 at-bats. He did post a .436 wOBA against lefties last season, but don't get cute against Kershaw. Votto’s strikeout rate against lefties this season is 28 percent, and his ISO drops from .181 against righties to .070 against lefties. His fly ball rate against lefties this season is also only 17.2 percent.
Kershaw is crushing lefties this season, and that is no fluke due to a small sample size. Left-handers own a wOBA of just .152 off him this season through 56 total batters faced, and for his career, lefties have a wOBA of only .246. So far this season, his strikeout rate against left-handers is an insane 46.4 percent, and his fly ball rate is only 17.9 percent. Stacking against the best pitcher on the slate can be a wise tournament strategy, but tonight, that's not the case for Votto.
Matt Kemp, OF, San Diego Padres
FanDuel Price: $2,700
Matt Kemp has been struggling mightily to start the season, and his price tag keeps going down. He has been rumored as being available through a trade, and it’s sad to see a guy who once was a DFS stud fall so fast. He is in the midst of a 1-for-28 slump, and to make matters worse, he is going against an extremely tough matchup tonight against Johnny Cueto.
Cueto has owned right-handers this season. They have a wOBA of just .257 against him through 160 total batters, and they have a strikeout rate of 21.9 percent.
Not only is Kemp struggling overall at the plate this season, but also right-handed pitchers have been able to get him out with relative ease. He has a wOBA of .259 this season against them, and his ISO drops significantly against righties -- down to .187 compared to .333 against lefties. This is apparently the start of a rough trend for Kemp as well. He is hitting just .249 against righties in his last 605 at-bats. With Cueto on the hill, it’s not a risk you want to take, especially with his most recent slump.
Curtis Granderson, OF, New York Mets
FanDuel Price: $3,100
Speaking of slumps, Curtis Granderson is another player who has found getting on base via hitting has been tough this season. He is still walking a lot for the Mets, but tonight he has to face off against Gio Gonzalez.
There is also the chance of rain in the forecast for tonight, so risking rostering too many Mets or Nationals might not be wise, but for Granderson, his struggles this season against lefties have been even worse than his overall numbers. His wOBA against lefties is .271, and his strikeout rate is 34.1 percent through 42 at-bats against left-handed pitching this season. Last season saw similar struggles for Granderson. He hit only .183 off lefties in 126 at-bats, and only two of his 26 home runs came off pitchers of the same handedness.
Gonzalez, on the other hand, has owned lefties this season and throughout most of his career. Lefties own a wOBA of .237 through 40 total batters faced, which is continuing his performance against them last season where they had a wOBA of .281 through 170 total batters. This season, they have a hard hit rate of 29 percent, so don’t expect big things from Granderson tonight.
