MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 4/8/16

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.

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 Friday.

Freddie Freeman, 1B, Atlanta Braves

FanDuel Price: $3,200

Freddie Freeman and the Braves take on Jaime Garcia and the Cardinals this evening in an early-evening game from Atlanta. Freeman has homered once this season, but his other two games so far this year have been lackluster. Now he has a tough matchup with a lefty, who has struggled to stay healthy, but when Garcia is healthy and pitching well, he is very tough on left-handed hitting.

Garcia’s wOBA and batting average against for lefties is not that much better than his splits against righties. However, he's better at striking out lefties. Left-handers have a strikeout rate of 21.6 percent against Garcia, who owns an 18.2 percent mark against righties.

Coincidently, Freeman also strikes out a ton versus lefties. In 2015, Freeman’s strikeout rate against left-handed pitching was 28.3 percent compared to just 17.2 percent against right-handed pitching. Freeman’s wOBA dropped to .300 from his overall number of .364, and he had a slugging percentage of just .316 against lefties last season, compared to .530 against right-handed pitching.

Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox

FanDuel Price: $3,600

This will be Xander Bogaerts' second trip to the landmines article in less than a week, and for good reason. Last season, Bogaerts' home runs took a tick downward, but he raised his batting average a full 80 points to .320, and he raised his BABIP to .372 from .296. However, the young shortstop is starting the 2016 season slowly, and it won’t get any easier tonight in Toronto against Marcus Stroman.

Even though he was hurt last season in Spring Training, Stroman came back late in the season and went right back to dominating, especially at home. In just a few home starts last season, Stroman’s opponents had a wOBA of just .224, and that was not an outlier. In 2014, opposing hitters had a wOBA of just .244 against him when he pitched at home, and righties’ wOBA against him at Rogers Centre was just .239.

For Bogaerts, it may be another night to forget against Stroman. The Red Sox shortstop owns a wOBA of just .253 when batting on the road against right-handed pitching, and his on-base percentage drops to just .260 on the road against righties during his career. It might get worse before it gets better for Bogaerts.

Billy Butler, 1B, Oakland Athletics

FanDuel Price: $2,600

Billy Butler is also a guy who faces a tough matchup on Friday night, as the A’s head into Seattle to face the Mariners and Taijuan Walker While Butler tended to hit poorly against lefties last season, Walker is a right-hander that Butler may have some issues with as well.

Last season, Butler really struggled against the fastball, and Walker has a good one. Walker has a good cutter, splitter and curveball, too, but Butler, for some reason, could not catch up to the fastball last season in Oakland.

He had  -1.09 fastball runs above average per 100 pitches last season, which was, by far, the lowest of his career. With Walker finding the strike zone more last season, lowering his walk rate to 5.7 percent from 11.3 percent in 2014, Butler faces an uphill battle this evening if Walker is making his pitches.

Walker also pitches really well at home. Most pitchers tend to pitch well at Safeco Field, one of the most friendly pitcher's parks in the country. Walker owned a wOBA against of just .300 last season at Safeco, and that number dropped to .289 when he was at home against righties. Butler is a career .252 hitter at Safeco, but last season, he hit just .206 there, and his strikeout rate was 26.8 percent in 41 plate appearances. In his last three years playing at Safeco, Butler is hitting just .169.