MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 8/25/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Aug 25th, 2016
Jason Kipnis has a tough lefty-lefty matchup against Cole Hamels. Who else should we shy away from on Thursday's shorter slate?

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 Thursday.

Matt Wieters, C, Baltimore Orioles

FanDuel Price: $2,400

Matt Wieters has been destroying the ball in the Battle of the Beltway series so far. He knocked in two RBI’s in Baltimore on Tuesday, and last night he smashed a homer and a double with four RBI’s. However, his red-hot two-game tear might come to an end tonight as he squares off against Max Scherzer

Wieters, a switch hitter, hasn’t been bad against righties, but against a pitcher like Scherzer, it’s not a matchup you want to target. Wieters has a .317 wOBA batting from the left side, but his hard-hit rate falls a full 4 percentage points against righties while his strikeout rate is 18.8%.

Scherzer has, of course, been dominating everyone this season, but while righties have gotten the worst of it, left-handers haven’t fared much better. They own a .311 wOBA and a 26.5% strikeout rate this season against Scherzer.

Jason Kipnis, 2B, Cleveland Indians

FanDuel Price: $3,500

Jason Kipnis has been struggling over his last six games. He is 3-for-23 at the plate in that span, and it might not get much better tonight against Cole Hamels. The Texas Rangers’ ace has been devastating against lefties this season, and while Kipnis hasn’t been bad against southpaws, he does post some troubling splits against them.

Kipnis has a nice .348 wOBA against lefties, but his ISO falls to .179 and his strikeout rate goes up over 5 percentage points to 24.6%. His hard-hit rate also falls to 28.7% against southpaws, and he has hit only 5 of his 20 homers this year against lefties.

Hamels is holding left-handers to a .249 wOBA. While his strikeout rate actually goes down to 21.3% against southpaws, left-handed hitters have a hard-hit rate of just 28.4% and a fly-ball rate of 26.3% against Hamels. He has only given up three homers to lefties this season, so Kipnis’ upside is certainly capped.

Kole Calhoun, OF, Los Angeles Angels

FanDuel Price: $3,000

Kole Calhoun is coming off a great fantasy night for those who rostered him, but after dropping nearly 25 FanDuel points on Wednesday, tonight's matchup makes him a big landmine, especially considering his big game may give him a boost in ownership.

Calhoun is up against J.A. Happ, who is having a fantastic season, especially against left-handed hitters. Lefties own a .287 wOBA against him, and he has also allowed only 3 homers to lefties over 113 batters faced.

Calhoun, on the other, hand has been very good against lefties this season, and he's fared well versus Happ throughout his career. Calhoun has hit two homers off Happ in his career, and he has a .361 wOBA this season against southpaws.

However, Calhoun’s career wOBA against lefties is just .322 with a 23.4% strikeout rate. With only 118 at-bats against lefties this season, Calhoun’s performance may be a flash in the pan, and at $3,000, he's probably not worth the investment.