MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/3/16

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.

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins

FanDuel Price: $3,200

In the few times I have included Giancarlo Stanton as a player to avoid, he has either gone hitless or smashed a huge home run. Those seem to be the only options with Stanton this season from a DFS standpoint. He has become one of the ultimate tournament plays, and he has paid off in two of his last three games, but there are other times, like tonight, where he may be a player to avoid altogether.

Stanton is going up against Noah Syndergaard tonight, so it's going to be tough to justify any Marlins -- even the studs. Right-handed hitters have a wOBA of only .214 against Syndergaard in 2016, and while he is striking out lefties at an insane clip of 36.1 percent, his strikeout rate against righties is still close to 30 percent this season. More importantly for his matchup with Stanton tonight, Syndergaard is only walking 1.6 percent of the right-handed hitters he has faced this season, and righties own a hard hit rate of just 23.8 percent against him.

Stanton’s biggest issue this season has been against other righty pitchers. Stanton is hitting only .200 against them this season with a wOBA of .332. His strikeout rate against righties is over 34 percent, and his hard hit rate drops from 68.4 percent against lefties to 32.1 percent against righty pitching.

Melky Cabrera, OF, Chicago White Sox

FanDuel Price: $2,900

Melky Cabrera and the White Sox are up against Jordan Zimmermann tonight, and more so than most White Sox tonight, Cabrera has a tough matchup against the Tigers’ ace. Cabrera is another player who can make or break your tournament lineups on any given night because he is on an eight-game streak of either scoring zero or double-digit fantasy points.

This season, however, Cabrera has struggled much more as a left-hander batting against righty pitching. His wOBA is .311 this season as a lefty against a righty. His fly ball rate also lowers to 28.1 percent against right-handed pitching this season, and for his career, his wOBA is .329 against right-handed pitching.

Zimmermann, on the other hand, has been better against lefties this season than against righties. Lefties have a wOBA of .266 against him in 2016, and the sample size is not bad at 117 total batters. He also has a lower fly ball rate against lefties this season at 36.2 percent, and even though his strikeout rate against lefties is down this season, his career rate against them is almost 19 percent. With the way Cabrera has struggled from the left side of the plate, don’t expect a big game from him against Zimmermann.

Randal Grichuk, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

FanDuel Price: $2,800

Randal Grichuk has been moved down in the Cardinals' lineup recently. He's back home tonight, where his wOBA is more than 100 points higher than on the road, he has to deal with Johnny Cueto.

Against righties this season, Grichuk’s wOBA is .319. Furthermore, Grichuk’s career strikeout rate is nearly 30 percent against right-handed pitching, and his fly ball rate is nearly eight points lower against righties than lefties for his career.

Cueto has dominated righties, who have a wOBA of only .247 through 191 total batters this season. Righties also have a hard hit rate of just 21.3 percent against Cueto this season, and considering Grichuk’s struggles to get the ball elevated against righties, it may be a home game that you can lay off the Cardinals' outfielder.