MLB

4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for 4/30/16

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl Apr 30th, 2016
Jonathan Lucroy has huge upside against the Marlins today. Who else should you target for big time fantasy value?

Building daily fantasy baseball lineups can be intimidating. On any given slate, you have a massive number of options in front of you and a ton of factors to consider.

We're here to help take some of that burden off and break down some hitters who you can slot into your lineup for nice and cheap, while still being well-positioned to provide your lineup with solid fantasy production.

Let's take a look at where we can find value on today's slate.

Jonathan Lucroy, C, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Price: $2,900

The Brewers have the advantage of playing at home tonight at the hitter friendly Miller Park, and have a pretty good matchup against Marlins' lefty Wei-Yin Chen. Chen's career 4.03 SIERA, 18.6 percent strikeout rate and 1.24 home runs per nine are all pretty unimpressive, and he struggles against right-handed hitters especially, allowing a .334 wOBA and 4.18 xFIP.

Jonathan Lucroy is a guy that excels against left-handed pitching, and could give Chen fits tonight. Over his career, Lucroy has a .360 wOBA and .182 ISO against lefties, with a 37.0 percent hard-hit rate and a 38.1 percent fly-ball rate.

Everything is lined up nicely tonight for Lucroy to offer huge home run potential, making him a steal at a sub-$3,000 price tag.

Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers

FanDuel Price: $3,000

The Dodgers are another team playing at home tonight with a favorable matchup. Colin Rea only has 11 games of Major League experience to draw from, but he hasn't looked great, sporting a 4.22 SIERA. His Minor league numbers don't inspire a ton of confidence either -- before being called up last year he posted a 4.39 ERA in six Triple-A games.

Adrian Gonzalez won't make Rea's transition to the Majors any smoother. He has hit for a .380 wOBA and .228 ISO against right-handed pitchers over the course of his career with a 37.4 percent hard-hit rate.

The Dodgers have lefty-heavy lineup, putting them in a great spot against Rea, and their likelihood for a big game adds some nice value to every bat in the order as well.

Chris Carter, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Price: $3,200

Once again, we're targeting Wei-Yin Chen and his propensity to give up home runs. Chris Carter may be incredibly inconsistent, but he has huge upside.

Carter strikes out a ton against lefties, with a 30.3 percent strikeout rate, but also has a career .341 wOBA and .220 ISO. He has posted a 47.6 percent fly ball rate and 37.3 percent hard hit rate against left-handed pitchers. Against a guy like Chen, who has a high home runs per nine, and in Miller Park, it's easy to like Carter's chances of going yard tonight.

Chase Utley, 2B, Los Angeles Dodgers

FanDuel Price: $3,000

Back to attacking Colin Rea with this one. Chase Utley hits right-handers very well, and like Gonzalez, benefits from being in an offense likely to find a lot of success tonight.

Utley has a career .367 wOBA and .201 ISO against righties, with only a 13.2 percent strikeout rate. He has had a solid start to the 2016 season as well, hitting .288/.380/.413 with a .352 wOBA.

Utley will likely hit from the lead-off spot tonight, and will see plenty of chances to work against Rea.