MLB

MLB Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 6/21/13

What 2-10 record? Cole Hamels has been pitching strong and has a dream opponent tonight.

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as FanDuel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud as well. So once again, we have four optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader. One is for free here; the others can be found in our Premium section.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

Our baseball projections are updated throughout the day, so make sure to come back to double-check your optimized rosters for any last-minute lineup changes. Since most action happens later in the day, we will be ignoring the early games (if there are any) and focusing solely on the late contests. That way, you can use and tinker with our optimized rosters throughout the day.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
Stephen StrasburgSP26.93$30,3000.89
Scott KazmirSP16.59$16,6001.00
Giancarlo StantonRF13.91$7,2001.93
Robinson Cano2B13.85$6,2002.23
David Wright3B13.55$6,2002.19
Paul Goldschmidt1B12.47$6,0002.08
Buster PoseyC13.35$5,8002.30
Desmond JenningsCF12.89$5,5002.34
Nate McLouthLF13.12$5,5002.39
Alejandro De AzaCF12.98$5,4002.40
Jimmy RollinsSS11.9$5,3002.25

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and Fantasy Feud Optimized Rosters

For the optimal rosters for the other main players, be sure to check out our brand new Daily Fantasy Optimized Rosters for our Premium members. We know that you're killing it with our picks; maybe now you'll help us continue to help you win each night, every night.

Access to the optimal rosters is immediate, and you'll have it constantly updated for the latest injury news and updates from around the league. The best news of all? For new subscribers, you can use the promo code WELCOME and get it 50% off what was already the reduced price. Think of the savings!

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The Three Top Pitchers

Cole Hamels - High strikeouts? Check - Hamel's got a 22.4 percent strikeout rate. Low walks? Check - Hamel's under the MLB average with a 7.0 percent walk rate. A weak opponent? Check - the Mets are in the bottom four of OBP and slugging while holding the third-highest strikeout percentage in the majors. If only Hamels could get down that hit total he'd be perfect, but it helps that the Mets' .274 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is the second-worst in the majors. Ignore the 2-10 record; Hamels is tonight's best value.

Stephen Strasburg - He's essentially the exact same projected pitcher as Hamels tonight, just with a slightly higher cost across most formats. (Although as you can see above, StarStreet is not one of them.) With his .264 BABIP, he'll give up slightly fewer hits than his Philadelphia counterpart, but his 7.9 percent walk rate means he's slightly more likely to walk guys as well. Still, I'm not going to argue with the most projected strikeouts of any pitcher tonight - 6.18 - and 0.42 projected wins.

David Phelps - Occasionally, we actually do recommend players that don't have a great chance of winning. And strangely enough, today that's a Yankee: Phelps holds 0.31 projected wins and 0.38 projected losses. But Phelps' 22.7 percent strikeout rate is the main reason this 5.46 projected strikeouts is third tonight behind Strasburg and Hamels, and his cost is low across most Daily Fantasy formats. Hector Santiago may have the projected wins as a mid-priced option, but Phelps has the stats.

Top High-Priced Hitters

Robinson Cano - Want your daily laugh? Robinson Cano is the highest cost 2B in only two of the five Daily Fantasy platforms that we run optimized rosters for. Aren't you cracking up? OK, maybe it's just me and my strange sense of humor, but you at least have to be smiling at the inefficiency you can take advantage of. Roberto Hernandez (aka Fausto Carmona pre-2011) holds a 3.6 percent homerun rate and .319 BABIP against, meaning Cano's 0.22 projected HR and .322 projected average have the chance to shine tonight.

David Wright - In his past 10 games, Wright has hits in nine of those games, five multi-hit games, 18 total hits, and three homeruns. Unfortunately for him, those stats have only resulted in four RBI and four runs because the Mets offense is less efficient than the Legislative branch of Congress, but still, how is he not farther up the third base cost rankings than third across the board? Seventh in Fanthrowdown?! Eight in FanDuel?!?! We've already demonstrated that we like Hamels tonight, but his .390 OBP value is too great to pass up.

Mid-Range Cost-Effective Hitters

Jimmy Rollins - Just like Wright, we've been on a Rollins kick recently as well. Traditionally, shortstops will be one of the lower-priced options on your team (particularly with Tulowitzki out), so why not ride a low-cost one that gets on base at a .327 clip? Where you see 3 for his last 17, I see four straight games of getting on base, sometimes twice, and scoring runs in three of those contests. Jeremy Hefner's advanced stats aren't as bad as his 1-6 record would make him seem, but with Rollins likely in the three hole tonight, he'll have plenty of opportunities.

Alejandro de Aza - It's all about those runs scored, and de Aza's 0.81 projected runs tonight are the most of any single batter. But that's what happens when you hit leadoff against a pitcher like Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie has only allowed a .258 BABIP against this season, but that's at the expense of an exceptionally high 4.9 percent homerun rate. de Aza himself has 0.16 projected HR tonight, while Alex Rios holds 0.17 and Adam Dunn leads all batters with 0.32. Don't be surprised if one of those guys drives him in.