MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 5/2/18

Akash Bhatia  —  @AkashBhatia24 May 2nd, 2018
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Ryan Braun, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Price: $3,500

Ryan Braun has had a nice start to the season, as he already has nine combined home runs and steals. However, he has a tough matchup against the Cincinnati Reds' Luis Castillo.

Castillo has been a bit snakebitten so far this season, as he has a 7.85 ERA despite a decent SIERA (4.62) and excellent 13.5% swinging-strike rate. Since his breakthrough 2017 season, Castillo has been nasty against right-handed hitters, holding them to a .293 wOBA, 26.9% strikeout rate, 21.8% fly-ball rate, and 26.6% hard-hit rate.

While Braun hasn't exactly struggled with right-handed pitching, his numbers against them pale in comparison to his numbers against southpaws. When facing a right-hander compared to a left-hander, his wRC+ drops from 167 to 130, his strikeout rate rises from 14.9% to 19.6%, and his hard-hit rate falls from 39.0% to 35.1%.

Based on the career platoon splits, we want to target Braun against southpaws or right-handed pitchers that allow a lot of hard contact. Castillo does not fit that bill, so Braun isn't a guy to go out of your way to target tonight.

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