3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 4/4/18

Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle Mariners

FanDuel Price: $7,500

After blanking the Cleveland Indians over 5.1 innings of work on Opening Day, it may be tempting to say that The King is back. However, when examining Felix Hernandez's peripheral statistics from his 2018 debut, that does not appear to be the case. In fact, Hernandez's start confirmed that he is the same guy he has been since 2016 -- a thoroughly average starting pitcher.

While it is still a small sample, Hernandez' 3.97 SIERA so far in 2018 isn't all that different than the 4.19 mark he posted in 2017. Hernandez needed Cleveland batters to record a .143 BABIP in order to limit hits, but that's a number that is sure to regress to his career mark of .293. Moreover, the right-handers swinging-strike rate of 8.4% will be the lowest of his career if that continues beyond last week's start.

Obviously this is just a one-start sample, and against a tough Indians lineup at that. And it may be tempting to use him against a San Francisco Giants team that's scored just two runs through its first four games. However, the San Francisco Giants struck out just 19.6% of the time last year and added Evan Longoria (16.1% strikeout rate in 2017) and Andrew McCutchen (17.8%) in the offseason. In other words, they should have some positive regression coming their way, which could cap King Felix's upside.