MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 6/19/19

Baseball is heating up, and there are plenty of DFS contests to choose from on FanDuel's main slate. While we have plenty of pieces geared towards guys you should target in your DFS contests, it's also important to avoid sub-optimal options who are overpriced and/or in tough spots.

Let's check out three players to consider fading on FanDuel's main slate for June 19.

Jon Lester, Chicago Cubs (SP)

vs Chicago White Sox
FanDuel Price: $7,500

After dropping the first game last night to the Chicago White Sox, Jon Lester takes the ball for the Chicago Cubs in an attempt to get them back on track.

Hold on, my friends.

While the Sox certainly provide upside potential for Lester, ranking fourth-worst in strikeout rate (25.3%) and ninth-worst in team wOBA (.307), let's not ignore how bad Lester has been recently.

Spanning his last six starts, covering only 32 innings pitched, Lester has recorded a 7.59 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, and given up nine long balls, averaging 20.2 FanDuel points per start. And that's a number inflated by a 46-point outing against the Los Angeles Angels.

With a 42.1% hard-hit rate and 36.0% fly-ball rate, things could get ugly in this cross-town showdown tonight for the southpaw.

Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox (OF)

vs Minnesota Twins
FanDuel Price: $3,500

Is the matchup between the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins a potential playoff preview? It likely could be a potential ALCS showdown between these heavyweights, and one of the pitching breakouts of 2019, Kyle Gibson, takes the ball for the Minnesota Twins.

Gibson has soared this season due to major improvement against left-handed batters like Andrew Benintendi. This season in 163 plate appearances, lefties have struggled to a .322 wOBA, 22.1% strikeout rate, and 26.1% fly-ball rate.

Returning Monday from a quad injury, Benintendi has smacked only one home run since May 31st. With a slight breeze blowing in tonight, Benintendi makes for an easy fade.

Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies (3B)

at Arizona Diamondbacks
FanDuel Price: $4,200

Who stinkin' needs Coors Field? Not Nolan Arenado, that's who.

After a monster night at the plate where he ripped his 18th home run of the season, Arenado was happy to get back on track -- prior to last night's big effort, he had hit only one extra-base hit in his last 13 games.

All joking aside, Arenado clearly does his best work in Denver -- this season, he's logged a 1.060 OPS, versus a respectable .899 mark on the road. In 2018, that gap widened from a .772 road mark to an 1.105 home mark.

And we still haven't even discussed the excellence of Zack Greinke, Arenado's opponent tonight. Despite pitching in his age-35 season, Greinke has recorded a gorgeous 2.65 ERA, 3.85 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), 23.7% strikeout rate, and tidy 3.9% walk rate.

Greinke's been a nuisance to batters from both sides of the plate, but especially righties, who have logged only a .277 wOBA in 2019. Factoring in the negative park shift, Arenado's poor run of form, and Greinke's outstanding work, Arenado should be avoided.



Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.