MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 5/2/18

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl May 2nd, 2018
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Bryce Harper, OF, Washington Nationals

Price: $4,900

The Nats' offense is also in a solid spot with a 4.61 implied total against Pittsburgh righty Ivan Nova.

Nova is pitching well in 2018, but that's over a small six-game sample. He has posted a SIERA of 4.45 or worse in two of the last three seasons, and his batted-ball profile looks a lot like the one that led to a 4.45 SIERA in 2017, giving up a 33.3% hard-hit rate with only a 16.2% soft-hit rate. He has an especially bad 5.47 xFIP against left-handed bats to start 2018, and that spells trouble against Bryce Harper.

Since the start of the 2017 season, Harper has tagged right-handed pitchers for a 36.5% hard-hit, 13.0% soft-hit and 41.1% fly-ball rate, which has translated to a massive .445 wOBA and a .343 isolated slugging (ISO). Those numbers are more than strong enough to put him in an outstanding spot to take advantage of this matchup.

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