3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 4/4/17

Ryan Braun, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Price: $4,000

On a slate lacking many true gas cans, you may find yourself looking at some middle-of-the-road matchups to fill out your lineup. One such game is the Milwaukee Brewers hosting the Colorado Rockies, featuring pitchers Zach Davies and Tyler Anderson, two pitchers who are hardly household names. The implied team total for each team is hovering around four runs.

Thus at first glance, Ryan Braun -- who hit 30 bombs and stole 16 bases last season -- would appear to be worth a look. The second-most expensive outfielder on the slate, Braun had a .254 ISO and a 39.1% hard-hit rate against lefties last season. Anderson just so happens to be left-handed. This all looks pretty good, no?

There's just one problem. Anderson is a groundball pitcher. Last year, he got righties to hit the ball on the ground 50.8% of the time.

You know who hits the ball on the ground a lot?

Ryan Braun. He had a 51.4% groundball rate against lefties last season.

When you combine a groundball pitcher with a groundball hitter you get...a lot of ground balls. This decidedly limits Braun's upside today and makes it unlikely he'll pay off that high price tag. There will be better opportunities to use Braun this season.