MLB

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 5/14/18

Tyler Anderson has a nice matchup at pitcher-friendly Petco Park. Is paying down on the mound the way to go tonight in tournaments?

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

Patrick Corbin ($12,700 on DraftKings): Patrick Corbin is the most expensive pitcher on DraftKings tonight and for good reason. He's been an absolute stud this season and is in a pretty good matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers. In the early part of 2018, the Brewers are striking out at a 23.5 percent clip, which is the 11th-highest in the Majors. Furthermore, their offense has not lived up to expectations as their 160 runs sit 25th, and their team weighted on-base average (wOBA) of .305 also ranks 25th. Corbin has a 35.5 percent strikeout rate this season, so he has a very high ceiling despite concerns about his velocity dropping.

Rick Porcello ($10,500): After struggling a bit in 2017, Rick Porcello has bounced back in 2018 and looks great. He's got a 2.79 ERA and 0.95 WHIP with a good-not-great strikeout rate of 23.9 percent. He has also improved on his hard-hit rate, dropping from a 38.3 percent mark in 2017 to a 30.3 percent hard-hit rate in 2018. He's going to take on an Oakland Athletics team that strikes out at the ninth-highest rate at 23.8 percent, but the A's do have power as indicated by their .417 slugging percentage.

Low-Priced Pitcher

Tyler Anderson ($7,500): This is more of an opponent matchup than anything else. Tyler Anderson will be taking on the San Diego Padres, and they are down at the bottom of any category we care about. They have the second-worst team wOBA at .291, and their 26.6 percent strikeout rate is also the second-highest in all of baseball. Tyler Anderson has just a 22.0 percent strikeout rate for his career, a number that is up just a bit to 24.8 percent in 2018, but it's a great matchup in a great park for pitchers.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

A.J. Pollock ($4,900): A.J. Pollock is certainly having a resurgent season. He is hitting .301 with 11 home runs, 33 RBIs and a .995 OPS. He's going to taking on Junior Guerra, who struggled last season. He had a 203-foot average batted-ball distance, which is the third-worst on the slate. Guerra also had a 43.7 percent fly-ball rate a year ago, and his 10.5 percent walk rate is worse than average.

Eugenio Suarez ($4,300): In 2017, Eugenio Suarez had some pretty solid numbers against right-handed pitching with a .348 wOBA and .192 isolated power (ISO). He's going to be taking on a righty in Chris Stratton, a guy who has struggled this season. He's got a 42.5 percent hard-hit rate, which is the second-worst on the slate, and his 91.5 mile per hour average exit velocity is the worst on the slate.

Mitch Haniger ($4,100): Mitch Haniger and the Seattle Mariners will be taking on the Minnesota Twins, and the Twins will be throwing Jake Odorizzi. This is great for the Mariners, because Odorizzi has struggled this season with a 207-foot average batted-ball distance, which is the worst on the slate. Furthermore, his 53.9 percent fly-ball rate is also the worst on the slate. Last season, Haniger smashed right-handed pitching with a .375 wOBA and .213 ISO. This is a great matchup for him and the rest of Seattle.

Value Hitters

Salvador Perez ($3,800): With Salvador Perez, you're looking to get some of his power, and he certainly brought that in 2017 against left-handed pitching. Although he had just a .319 wOBA in the split a year ago, he had a ton of power with a .243 ISO and will be facing Ryan Yarbrough, who has less than 30 innings in the Majors. In the early part of 2018, Yarbrough has given up a 48.2 percent fly-ball rate as well as a 191-foot average batted-ball distance. Perez is a nice catcher option this evening.

C.J. Cron ($3,600): In 2017, C.J. Cron posted a .331 wOBA and .267 ISO against left-handed pitching, which is definitely the power we are looking for. He'll face a southpaw in Eric Skoglund, and Skogland has given up a horrible 91.5 mile per hour average exit velocity as well as a slate-worst 48.5 percent hard-hit rate in the early part of 2018. It's rare that you will want a piece of the Tampa Bay Rays' offense, but today is one of the exceptions.

Yonder Alonso ($3,500): Despite having similar numbers to Edwin Encarnacion this season, Yonder Alonso is $1,000 cheaper and will often be much lower owned. He smashed right-handed pitching last year with a .380 wOBA and .235 ISO. He'll be facing a righty in Mike Fiers, who owned a lowly 21.8 percent strikeout rate last season. The Indians will likely be a popular stacking option, and Alonso is a cheap way to get exposure to them.



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.