5 Daily Fantasy Baseball Studs to Target for 5/18/16
Francisco Liriano, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates
FanDuel Price: $10,000
Francisco Liriano isn’t having a great season on the surface, with just a 3-2 record and a 4.99 ERA, but his peripherals give us room for optimism. His strikeouts per nine innings (K/9) is 10.44, his highest since his Minnesota Twins days. And with a 51.5 percent groundball rate, Liriano can limit damage when opposing batters do put the ball in play.
He’s shown great upside this season, striking out 10 batters in two of his seven starts. Tonight, he’ll face one of the best possible matchups when he hosts the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves have somehow only hit four home runs this season versus left-handed pitching -- and their other offensive numbers don’t look any better:
| Braves vs LHP | Total | MLB Rank |
|---|---|---|
| K rate | 25.6 | 26th |
| ISO | 0.065 | 30th |
| wOBA | 0.245 | 30th |
As a -185 favorite tonight with the best matchup on the board, Liriano is the top pitching option.
