MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 9/26/16

Andrew McCutchen has been hot in September, but his hit streak is in danger against Kyle Hendricks tonight.

As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

While you can get away with a zero from a hitter in daily fantasy, you certainly don't want to target guys whose matchups aren't enticing.

Here are three hitters you may want to lessen your exposure to or even fade altogether on Monday.

Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $3,100

It’s been a year to forget for Andrew McCutchen, but he is coming into Monday night with a 13-game hitting streak and is hitting .312 in the month of September with 6 homers and 18 RBI. He has been a fantasy value often this month, but he is on the other side of things tonight as the Pittsburgh Pirates face off against Kyle Hendricks and the Chicago Cubs.

Hendricks has been devastating against righties this season, as they own a .237 wOBA against him. Hendricks’ strikeout rate against right-handers is also 23.2 percent, and he has a hard-hit rate of 27.0 percent.

McCutchen’s recent hot streak can’t be ignored in tournaments, but he is far from a cash game option tonight. He has a solid .336 wOBA against righties this season, but at home against righties, it drops to .314. He is also a career .182 hitter against Hendricks in 11 at-bats with a strikeout rate of 41.7 percent, making him a player to avoid in cash games tonight.

Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, New York Yankees

FanDuel Price: $3,000

Jacoby Ellsbury is 2 for 30 coming into Monday’s game, and that is not the type of recent performance that’s attractive in MLB DFS. What also makes Ellsbury firmly a landmine this evening is his upcoming battle with J.A. Happ.

Happ has been up-and-down this season, but he has looked good in his last three starts, and he has looked good pretty much all season against lefties. They have a .278 wOBA and 29.4 percent fly-ball rate against the Toronto Blue Jays’ southpaw this season, which has led to Happ only allowing 3 homers to left-handers in 145 at-bats this season. His career home runs per nine innings is also 0.88 against left-handers.

Ellsbury’s power has gone down a lot over the last two seasons, and he only has 1 homer off a lefty this season in 184 plate appearances. He also has just a .256 wOBA and a 25.9 percent hard-hit rate against southpaws this season.

James McCann, C, Detroit Tigers

FanDuel Price: $2,300

With only 10 games on the slate tonight, being contrarian at catcher might be hard to do. With everyone loading up on Victor Martinez and Gary Sanchez, looking elsewhere is certainly worth it in tournaments. However, James McCann is far from a value sleeper at the position against Corey Kluber.

McCann homered last week and has scored three runs in the last four games he has started. While he has been platooning at catcher, he should be back in there today after the day off Sunday. However, with a .222 wOBA over 209 at-bats against righties this season, he is running up against a buzzsaw in Kluber tonight.

Kluber has held righties to a .263 wOBA behind a 29.4 percent strikeout rate this season. The former Cy Young winner has allowed a hard-hit rate of just 27.0 percent to righties, and he should be good for a few strikeouts tonight against McCann.