Jake Alu idle for Washington Thursday against lefty

Washington Nationals infielder/outfielder Jake Alu is not in the lineup for Thursday's series opener against left-hander Max Fried and the Atlanta Braves.

What It Means:

The left-handed hitting Alu will sit against a southpaw. Alex Call will cover left field for the Nationals and hit eighth.

numberFire’s models project Call ($2,500) for 7.8 FanDuel points on Thursday. Per our MLB Heat Map, the Nationals' implied total is a deflated 3.56 while the game total is the highest of the day (9.0). Fried has a sparkling 2.64 ERA and 2.81 xERA this season while limiting hard hits (32.5%) and walks (5.9%). His 25.3% strikeout rate is also solid and rates in the top 65th percentile among qualified starters this season.

Source: MLB.com