MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 5/25/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp May 25th, 2016
Giancarlo Stanton has been slumping of late, and given his matchup, he's not worth playing tonight in DFS.

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 Wednesday.

Trevor Story, SS, Colorado Rockies

FanDuel Price: $4,000

Trevor Story has been one of the biggest stories in MLB so far in the early part of 2016, but lately his hot hitting has subsided a bit. If you take away his huge home run and 3-for-5 day against the Cardinals last week, Story has just 5 hits over his last 29 at-bats.

Pitchers are starting to figure Story out a little better, especially right-handed pitchers. Story has a wOBA of .352 against righties this season compared to .427 against lefties. While he is striking out a lot this season, he has a strike out rate of 30.7 percent against righties, and his BABIP drops from .435 against lefties to .325 against right-handers.

With Steven Wright on the hill for Boston tonight, Story has another tough battle with a tough right-hander. Wright has been good against hitters from both sides of the plate, but righties own a wOBA of .257, and they have a strike out rate of 27.3 percent against him this season. Story might get ahold of one tonight, but he is nowhere near a cash game play tonight.

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins

FanDuel Price: $3,300

Speaking of slumps, Giancarlo Stanton only has 5 hits in his last 37 at-bats, but he did get ahold of one and homer in yesterday’s game. However, now Stanton and the Marlins are going up against Matt Andriese, who has been solid all season, especially against right-handed hitters.

Andriese owns a wOBA against of .274 versus right-handers for his career, and this season he has been even better at .224. He has been even better against lefties, but Andriese’s numbers this season can't be ignored. Even though it’s a small sample size, Andriese has a BABIP against righties of .211 this season, and Stanton faces a tough road.

Stanton has a wOBA of only .327 against righties this season and an average of just .197. His strikeout rate against righties this season is nearly 35 percent, and his ISO and BABIP drops 80 and nearly 100 points respectfully against righties this season. These numbers aren’t far off from his career numbers against righties. His career wOBA against them is .374, and his strikeout rate is close to 30 percent.

Starlin Castro, SS, New York Yankees

FanDuel Price: $2,900

Starlin Castro's move to New York seems to have helped him statistically this season. His numbers are mostly on pace for career bests, but his matchup tonight is one that may not be as favorable. Tonight the Yankees are facing off against Marco Estrada and the Blue Jays, and right-handers have had a lot of trouble with Estrada this season.

Estrada’s wOBA against is only .239 versus righties through 114 batters faced this season. He's striking out right-handers at a clip of 25.4 percent, and righties’ BABIP is only .227 against Estrada this season.

Castro’s wOBA against righties is .301 this season, and he's a career .276 hitter against righties, but this season it has dipped to .257 through 109 at-bats. His BABIP is .273 this season against right-handers as well, and for his career, his hard-hit rate is just 26 percent against right-handed pitchers. With how well Estrada has been pitching, Castro might not be a good option at shortstop.