MLB

3 FanDuel MLB Hitters to Avoid on 7/6/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jul 6th, 2016
Left-handed hitting Gregory Polanco has a tough matchup against southpaw Jaime Garcia. What other hitters should you avoid?

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 night.

Gregory Polanco, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $2,900

Gregory Polanco followed up his massive two-homer day on Monday with an 0-for-5 outing against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. With rain in the forecast, everyone involved in the game a suspect play, but what makes Polanco even more unattractive is his matchup with Cardinals’ southpaw Jaime Garcia.

Overall, Garcia has been inconsistent this season, but he has been pretty good against left-handed hitters. He's limiting lefties to a .297 wOBA while racking up a 22.1% strikeout rate. Garcia’s FIP against southpaws is 2.38, and over his career, lefties own a hard-hit rate of just 24.3% against him.

Polanco, on the other hand, has been atrocious against lefties this season. He has a .299 wOBA and a sky-high 31.6% strikeout rate against southpaws. Polanco's career numbers --.244 wOBA and .194 batting average -- versus lefties are even worse, making him a player to avoid.

Trevor Story, SS, Colorado Rockies

FanDuel Price: $2,000

Trevor Story has gone from a DFS darling to fodder in just a few short months, and it won’t get any easier tonight as the Rockies head into San Francisco to play the Giants. Johnny Cueto is on the hill for San Francisco, and so far in his young career, Story’s splits against right-handers are concerning, even if it's not at first blush.

Story owns a .360 wOBA and .295 ISO against righties, both of which are good. On the other side of it, Story's strikeout rate versus right-handers is over 30%, and his hard-hit rate drops to 38.8%.

Cueto is not going to make things easy for the rookie, either. Righties have a .243 wOBA against Cueto this year. The Giants' hurler has pitched to an impressive 2.64 FIP and 0.94 WHIP against right-handers while allowing a meager 23.4% hard-hit rate.

Story is always a threat to knock one out of the park, but he is so boom or bust that it makes it hard to trust him against one of the better righties in the game.

Rougned Odor, 2B, Texas Rangers

FanDuel Price: $3,100

I could make a pun about a hard right hook here, but it’s likely been played out. It also might be Steven Wright throwing some right hooks tonight in the form of vicious knuckleballs.

The left-handed swinging Rougned Odor owns reverse splits, making him a guy to avoid against Wright, who has also been better against hitters of the opposite handedness. Wright is limiting left-handed hitters to a .247 wOBA and 20.2% hard-hit rate this season. Rangers' lefties, including Odor, might be guys you leave off your rosters tonight.

Odor’s wOBA against righties this season is .320. His strikeout rate climbs 2.5 points when he faces a right-handed pitcher, and his hard-hit rate drops to 31%. Against knuckleballs for the year, Odor is -1.88 runs above average.