3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 4/19/18

Eduardo Rodriguez, SP, Boston Red Sox

FanDuel Price: $7,100

Eduardo Rodriguez has been great in his two starts this year, posting a 2.65 SIERA. However, it is important to acknowledge that these two starts came against the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles, both of whom rank among the 10 worst teams in strikeout rate against left-handed pitchers. Rodriguez has a far tougher task on Thursday, however.

The Los Angeles Angels pose one of the toughest threats in baseball against left-handed pitchers. It starts with their plate discipline, as they rank in the top five with just an 18.3% strikeout rate in the split. They combine that with a solid 11.2% walk rate against left-handed pitchers, which is a top-10 clip in baseball. They also crush the ball to the tune of a 38.1% hard-hit rate against left-handed hitters, the sixth-best mark in baseball.

All of that translates to a top-five wRC+ against left-handed pitching. With his ownership likely to be at a fairly decent level thanks to his strong start and the lack of other good pitching options on this slate, Rodriguez's floor is low enough to make him an avoid in MLB DFS.

Akash Bhatia is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Akash Bhatia also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username tenswimrun1. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.