MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 7/18/19

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Jul 18th, 2019
Noah Syndergaard looks to have an enticing matchup, but the Giants have been hot at the dish. What other fades should we consider?

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 July 18.

Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets (SP)

at San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price: $9,200

Playing in one of baseball's friendliest parks in Major League Baseball, coupled with a gorgeous over/under of 7.0 runs, Noah Syndergaard should be our pick to roster, right?

What if I told you that the San Francisco Giants, Syndergaard's opponent, were one of the hottest teams in baseball at the dish? Over the last 30 days, the Giants rank ninth in team wOBA (.340), seventh in isolated power (.213, ISO), and are striking out at only a 21.2% clip. Their batted-ball profile portends it's for real, too -- their hard-hit rate stands at 43.9% (fourth) over the same time frame.

Add in that Thor has seen a slight decline in strikeout rate this season (23.4%), and he may not be the obvious pick at pitcher he seems to be.

Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians (1B)

vs. Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Price: $4,200

Carlos Santana has been absolutely smashing at the dish lately. Since the calendar flipped over to July, Santana owns a .928 OPS while averaging over 13 FanDuel points per game.

With temperatures nearing 90 degrees in Cleveland, is the slugging first baseman ready to launch another ball into orbit? He may have a tall task against southpaw Matt Boyd.

First and foremost, Santana has been far more effective this season as a left-handed hitter (.968 OPS, .568 slugging percentage) versus as a right-handed hitter (.889 OPS, .467 slugging percentage).

But Boyd has been nasty against righties, too -- holding them to a .301 wOBA and a 32.1% strikeout rate.

Santana has been a great choice at the C/1B slot, but even with the Cleveland Indians showing a 4.97 implied total tonight, he may not be the best pick.

Nelson Cruz, Minnesota Twins (OF)

vs. Oakland Athletics
FanDuel Price: $3,800

I'll be the first to admit it -- I keep expecting Mike Fiers to lose some steam, but the dude has been absolutely dealing. He takes on a very strong Minnesota Twins offense tonight, and he could make life tough on Nelson Cruz.

Righties have really struggled against Fiers in 2019, recording a .285 wOBA and .205 batting average this season. Fiers won't record a ton of strikeouts, but he will keep the ball in play.

As good as Cruz continues to be, he is making his living off of lefties in 2019 (.985 OPS), versus against same-sided arms (.886 OPS).

The Twins have the highest implied team total at 5.78 runs, meaning they should see a lot of ownership, but be wary of rostering Cruz.


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.