DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Thursday 6/27/19
Every day is unique for daily fantasy baseball, which is both a blessing and a challenge. Although we can’t simply plug and play our favorite studs day in and day out, each slate presents us with a chance for a new gem to vault us up the leaderboards.
Through the use of numberFire’s tools, we can better identify the players primed to succeed each day, making the process of filling out a lineup just that much easier. In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy looking team to put up some big point totals.
Which names stand out for today on the DraftKings main slate? Let’s check it out, starting with the pitchers.
Pitchers to Target
High-Priced Pitcher
Stephen Strasburg ($11,900 on DraftKings): Far and away the best option tonight is Stephen Strasburg, who has an elite matchup against the terrible Miami Marlins. While Walker Buehler is also pitching, he will be in Coors Field against the Rockies, which is a terrible matchup. Strasburg has an elite 29.1 percent strikeout rate as well as a 3.21 xFIP against a Marlins team that has a 25.0 percent strikeout rate, which is the sixth-most in the Majors. Additionally, their .283 wOBA ranks 29th, which is completely abysmal.
Value Pitcher
Alex Young ($6,300): There are four pitchers priced at $8,300 or above, and the other four are priced $6,700 or below. With the significant gap in pricing, this makes it difficult to really pinpoint a cheap pitcher to roll with. Alex Young has the best matchup of them all, but he will be making his debut in the Majors tonight. In Triple-A this season, Young has a solid 24.8 percent strikeout rate, but last season he had just a 17.2 percent strikeout rate, so it's tough to determine which is real. He faces the San Francisco Giants, who strike out at a 24.5 percent clip against southpaws.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Ketel Marte ($5,500): Where did this power surge from Ketel Marte come from? The guy has been an absolute beast this season and as a switch-hitter, he has crushed from both sides of the plate. His numbers against righties are fantastic with a .382 wOBA and .245 ISO, but they are even better against lefties with a .409 wOBA and .317 ISO. Marte will face a righty in Giants starter Tyler Beede, who in 2019 has given up a 39.8 percent hard-hit rate and is rocking a horrendous 5.41 SIERA.
Joc Pederson ($5,400): Here is something kind of weird to see -- Joc Pederson is destroying right-handed pitching with a .385 wOBA and .354 ISO but has a lowly .201 BABIP. Is he really getting that unlucky, despite his dominance at the plate? We'll see how the rest of the season plays out with this. Well, Joc will be in Coors Field tonight to take on Peter Lambert, who has given up a 40.9 percent hard-hit rate this season with a 4.23 xFIP. That number isn't terrible, but in Triple-A, Lambert has a 4.91 xFIP this season and posted a 4.71 mark in 2018.
Value Hitters
Raimel Tapia ($4,000): On the other side of the Coors matchup, Raimel Tapia comes in at a relatively cheap price considering the hitting environment. However, Buehler is a pretty tough matchup, so it makes sense in that regard. Buehler's numbers across the board are pretty legit, but what could get him into trouble tonight are his 39.1 percent hard-hit rate and 36.3 percent fly-ball rate. Those two numbers have led to an 11.8 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate, which is one of the only negatives on his stat line.
Justin Bour ($3,700): There is probably some recency bias here considering Justin Bour crushed two home runs last night, but he still brings plenty of power against right-handed pitching, which makes him an intriguing option this evening. Sure, he is just as capable to go 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and while his .301 wOBA isn't very good, it's the .283 ISO against righties that make him an option. There is a lot of power with Bour, particularly against Oakland Athletics pitcher Tanner Anderson, who has given up a 37.5 percent hard-hit rate in his career, though in just 26 innings.
Ryan Sheppard is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Sheppard also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username donkshow_. 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.
