MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 4/13/16

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 Wednesday.

Joe Mauer, 1B, Minnesota Twins

FanDuel Price: $2,800

I’ll admit that Joe Mauer's price tag this evening is awfully intriguing -- that is until you see that he is going up against the White Sox’s young pitching phenom, Carlos Rodon. Rodon has been superb against lefties so far in his short time in the Majors, as left-handed hitters had a wOBA of just .247 against him in 2015, and Rodon’s strikeout rate against lefties was 25.2 percent last season.

Mauer never really started struggling with lefties until the last couple of seasons. 2015 was a down year for Mauer altogether, and his splits were relatively similar to his overall numbers, no matter the handedness of the pitcher, but in 2014, Mauer had a wOBA of .298 against lefties, and his ISO was only .037.

Even though Mauer plays in a hitter's park, his numbers over the last few seasons at home are a bit concerning. Mauer is hitting only .263 at home over the course of the last two seasons, and last season, his wOBA when playing at home against lefties was just .277.

Corey Dickerson, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

FanDuel Price: $3,400

Corey Dickerson is coming into tonight on a nice three-game hitting streak, but the lefty runs up against Carlos Carrasco this evening. Though Carrasco is a right-hander and Dickerson hits well against righties, Carrasco has dominated left-handed hitting over his last two seasons.

In 2014, lefties hit just .192 off Carrasco with a wOBA of .236, and last season, things didn’t get much better, as lefties hit just .214 with a wOBA of .277. It gets even worse when Carrasco goes on the road. Last season when he pitched on the road, hitters had a wOBA of just .230, and lefties’ wOBA dropped to .214 when Carrasco left the friendly hitting confines of Progressive Field.

Even though his splits otherwise are pretty good, his transition to being a designated hitter is off to a slow start. When serving as the designated hitter this season, Dickerson is only hitting. 211 and owns an on-base percentage of just .250 to start the season.

Plus, Carrasco has a career fly ball rate below 30 percent. Dickerson likely needs to get ahold of one in order to make or exceed value, and I don’t see it with the hard-throwing Carrasco on the mound tonight.

Jason Kipnis, 2B, Cleveland Indians

FanDuel Price: $3,000

Another lefty with a tougher-than-average matchup tonight in Tampa is Jason Kipnis, who has to go up against Drew Smyly. The Rays' southpaw, Smyly, has been dominant against lefties throughout his career, and in a pitching-friendly park tonight, that shouldn’t change. Lefties facing Smyly have a wOBA of just .243 throughout his career, and their on-base percentage is just .235.

Kipnis’ power has declined some over the last few seasons, but his ISO also goes down to .103 against left-handed pitching, and his career slugging drops nearly 100 points from .443 against righties to .349 against lefties during his career.

Even though batter versus pitcher matchups don’t mean a whole lot for daily fantasy, it is interesting to note that Smyly has also owned Kipnis in their previous meetings. Kipnis is only 1-for-13 off of Smyly during his career, and his strikeout rate is 46 percent.