MLB

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

Akash Bhatia  —  @AkashBhatia24 Apr 19th, 2018
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Jake Arrieta, SP, Philadelphia Phillies

FanDuel Price: $8,300

Blame Jake Arrieta's age, blame that he didn't get a real spring training in, blame whatever you want. The fact remains that Arrieta, despite his solid ERA, has struggled to miss bats to start the season.

Arrieta is still forcing ground balls, but his SIERA is on an ugly trend since his breakthrough in 2015. His SIERAs since and including 2015 are 2.75, 3.94, 4.15, and 4.07. Essentially, since 2016 began, he has been an average National League pitcher.

He has also struggled mightily to miss bats in recent years. Opposing batters had a 8.7% swinging-strike rate against Arrieta in 2017, and that mark has slipped to 5.6% in 2018. While it is obviously a small sample, as part of the larger trend over the past three years, it is a significant concern.

Arrieta will also have to deal with one of the biggest surprise stories of the 2018 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates' offense. The Pirates rank in the top 10 in wRC+ against right-handed pitching, and their ability to avoid strikeouts against right-handers (17.5% strikeout rate in the split, third-best in the league) wipes away most of Arrieta's upside.

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