DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 6/5/18
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 Pitcher
Max Scherzer ($13,300 on DraftKings): Max Scherzer has been unbelievably dominant this season and looks to continue that at home against the Tampa Bay Rays. Scherzer has an insane 38.7 percent strikeout rate and 2.62 xFIP, both of which lead the slate. His elite 0.85 WHIP is also top three on the slate. Taking on the Tampa Bay Rays used to be a treat, and while Scherzer shouldn't have a problem with the Rays, they are about league-average in strikeout rate, team weighted on-base average (wOBA) and wRC+ so it's not necessarily a cakewalk. However, the Washington Nationals are -247 favorites, the largest on the slate.
Patrick Corbin ($9,900): Here we have a pitcher that is in a great matchup. Patrick Corbin is taking on the San Francisco Giants, a team that is pretty free-swinging. They got to Zack Godley last night, but their 24.5 strikeout rate gives plenty of upside to Corbin, despite the offensive potential of the Giants. Corbin has a 33.1 percent strikeout rate and 2.64 xFIP this season, both of which are second-best to Scherzer tonight.
Low-Priced Pitcher
Joe Musgrove ($7,500): Joe Musgrove has just two starts this season, and after being insanely efficient in his first start -- 67 pitches in 7 innings -- he reached 100 pitches in his second start. Given that they are willing to stretch Musgrove out now, his $7,500 price tag seems cheap. Musgrove has taken on the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs in those two starts -- not exactly easy matchups -- and put up a good-not-great 21.4 percent strikeout rate, with limited hard contact (25 percent) and an 85.1 mile-per-hour average exit velocity.
Hitters to Target
High-Priced Hitters
Jose Ramirez ($5,500): Jose Ramirez has entered "Beast Mode" this season, putting up incredible numbers. After a slow start, he managed to put up 18 home runs, 41 RBI and a 1.021 OPS. Additionally, he has done most of his damage against right-handed pitching, with an insane .452 wOBA and a .362 isolated power (ISO). He's got a solid matchup tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers' Junior Guerra, who has struggled this season. He has given up a 40.8 percent hard-hit rate, 42.7 percent fly-ball rate and an 89.2 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. Guerra is in trouble tonight against the Cleveland Indians.
Manny Machado ($5,200): Jason Vargas has been terrible this season, and although he's taking on an Baltimore Orioles team that isn't great, Manny Machado has smashed lefties and is in a great spot here. He has hit for a .405 wOBA and .339 ISO against southpaws this season. On the other hand, Vargas has a 1.86 WHIP, 4.84 xFIP and 18.2 percent home run-to-fly-ball rate, all of which are bottom-three on the slate. He also does not strike anybody out, with a 18.7 percent strikeout rate on the year.
Giancarlo Stanton ($4,800): Take batter-versus-pitcher statistics for what you will, but Giancarlo Stanton has gone 6-for-17 with 4 home runs against Marco Estrada for his career. Additionally, Estrada's two main pitches are his four-seam fastball and changeup, which Stanton has a .343 ISO and .389 ISO against, respectively. Estrada has fly-ball tendencies, as indicated by his 53.6 percent fly-ball rate, and while he has just an 11.4 percent home run-to-fly-ball rate, the 213-foot average batted-ball distance isn't going to do him any favors against the power of Stanton.
Value Hitters
Max Stassi ($3,700): With Brian McCann on the disabled list and Evan Gattis primarily serving as a designated hitter, it has been Max Stassi behind the plate. He's got an interesting matchup against the left-handed James Paxton, a split that Stassi has had success in. He has smashed them with a .490 wOBA and a .243 ISO, and there are some concerns about Paxton. He has given up an 88.7 mile-per-hour average exit velocity, 199-foot average batted-ball distance and a 45.7 percent fly-ball rate. While Paxton has been elite this year, this is a tough matchup, and if Stassi gets a hold of one he could have a big game.
Mark Canha ($3,600): Mark Canha should be in the lineup against left-hander Matt Moore, and sometimes he even gets to hit in the top half of the order. And that would really boost his value at this price. He has smashed lefties this season, with a .415 wOBA and a .345 ISO, and looks to continue that tonight against a struggling Moore. He possesses a slate-worst 2.00 WHIP and 5.53 xFIP along with the second-worst hard-hit rate (46.5 percent) and a 91.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity.
Jurickson Profar ($3,500): Sean Manaea has come back down to earth a bit and is catching up to his poor peripherals. He has a 39.5 percent hard-hit rate, 22.9 percent line-drive rate and a 4.09 xFIP. On the other hand, switch-hitting Jurickson Profar has been doing pretty well against left-handed pitchers, sporting a .392 wOBA and a .296 ISO in that split. In addition, the Rangers have a 5.04 implied run total, the fourth-highest on the slate.
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.
