DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 4/10/18
Every day is unique for daily fantasy baseball, which is both a blessing and a challenge. Although we can’t simply plug and play our favorite studs day in and day out, each slate presents us with a chance for a new gem to vault us up the leaderboards.
Through the use of numberFire’s tools, we can better identify the players primed to succeed each day, making the process of filling out a lineup just that much easier. In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy looking team to put up some big point totals.
Which names stand out for today on the DraftKings main slate? Let’s check it out, starting with the pitchers.
Pitchers to Target
High-Priced Pitchers
Jacob deGrom ($12,400 on DraftKings): Let's try this again. Noah Syndergaard was not a huge success yesterday against the Miami Marlins, but let's see if Jacob DeGrom can do what we expected from Thor. The Marlins strike out at about a league-average clip so far this season as their 23.3 percent strikeout rate ranks them 17th. However, their .274 weighted on-base average (wOBA) is way down at 28th. DeGrom has elite upside as his 28.9 percent strikeout rate and 3.44 skill-interactive earned run average (SIERA) are both top four on the slate.
Patrick Corbin ($9,200): Patrick Corbin has had two great outings this season, with one being exceptional. His two outings include a 24.0-DraftKings-point start with 8 strikeouts and a 43.3-DraftKings-point outing with 12 strikeouts. Corbin has historically had better numbers at home in Arizona, but tonight he is on the road -- at a pitcher-friendly park -- to take on the San Francisco Giants. However, the Giants have been pretty mediocre this season, and Corbin's insanely hot (and unsustainable) 41.7 strikeout rate in 2018 should gives him nice upside tonight, and he probably won't see much ownership given the arms available on this slate.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Aaron Sanchez ($7,500): Aaron Sanchez had a very forgettable 2017 season. He pitched awful and had a couple stints on the disabled list because of blisters on his finger(s) -- it was a disaster all around. However, his 2016 season was much better as he led the American League with a 3.00 ERA and finished seventh in AL Cy Young voting. He doesn't overpower hitters with strikeouts as he had just 7.55 strikeouts per nine innings in 2016, but his 54.4 percent ground-ball rate paints a picture of how he garners outs. The bright side tonight is that he is taking on the Baltimore Orioles, who lead baseball in strikeouts at a 28.2 percent rate, so he may indeed have some strikeout upside tonight.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Rhys Hoskins ($5,400): Honestly, it feels dirty paying this much for "Rhys Lightning," but he destroyed right-handed pitching in his short-stint in the bigs last season and has continued that in 2018. Last year, Hoskins had an incredible .421 wOBA and .333 ISO against righties. In 2018, he has been smashing both lefties and righties as he has put up a .429 average to go with a 1.374 OPS and 2 home runs.
Carlos Correa ($5,100): The Houston Astros are in a premium matchup tonight as they face on Jake Odorizzi and the Minnesota Twins. Carlos Correa had plenty of success against right-handed pitchers last season as his .380 wOBA and .239 isolated power (ISO) in the split would indicate. He is fortunate enough to take on a pitcher in Odorizzi who gave up a 36.8 percent hard-hit rate and 47.3 percent fly-ball rate in 2017, both of which are worst on the slate, and that led to a horrific 1.88 home runs per nine innings, which is the second-worst mark on the slate.
Yoenis Cespedes ($4,800): Yoenis Cespedes has certainly struggled in terms of batting average this season as he is hitting just .189. However, he does have three home runs and that is something that he could build on tonight. The New York Mets are taking on the Marlins, who are putting Caleb Smith on the mound. He has a horrible, slate-worst mark of 1.93 home runs per nine innings, and that coincides with his 215-foot average batted-ball distance, also worst on the slate. Cespedes has had plenty of success against left-handed pitching, putting up a .366 wOBA and .321 ISO in 2017 against southpaws.
Value Hitters
Kike Hernandez ($4,200): This is really pushing the idea of "value" hitters, but Kike Hernandez smashed left-handed pitching last season with a .390 wOBA and an elite .309 ISO. Tonight, he is taking on lefty Sean Manaea, who has had a lot of success this season. However, last year Manaea struggled with giving up hard-contact as his 33.3 percent hard-hit rate and 88.8 mile per hour average exit velocity would indicate.
Curtis Granderson ($3,300): With Curtis Granderson and Steve Pearce playing a platoon in left field, we should see Grandy leading off tonight against righty Andrew Cashner. This is a great matchup because Cashner cannot strike out anybody as he sports a slate-worst 12.2 percent strikeout rate from 2017. Granderson, on the other hand, was successful against righties, especially in the power department, as he had a respectable .343 wOBA and a strong .255 ISO in the split last season.
Adrian Beltre ($3,200): I don't know what Adrian Beltre has done to the folks over at DraftKings, but his price just keeps falling. Sure, he's old and off to a bit of a slow start, but he is still a hitter that has smashed left-handed pitching throughout his career. He has a .381 wOBA and .220 ISO in his career against lefties, numbers that were even better last season with a beastly .464 wOBA and .254 ISO. He's still hit 7/16 over his last four games including three doubles and two walks. The problem is just one RBI and three runs. Once he starts picking up some RBI and Runs, his price will certainly shoot up to the low $4,000 range I am sure.
Ryan Sheppard is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Sheppard also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username donkshow_. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
