MLB

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 7/3/18

Evan Gattis has a stellar matchup with Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Which other players should you target tonight on DraftKings?

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

Jack Flaherty ($10,100 on DraftKings): While the masses may line up to pay up for a not-as-elite-as-he-once-was Clayton Kershaw, paying down for Jack Flaherty not only makes for a great pivot in GPP's, but he may be an outright better play overall. He leads the slate with a 29.1 percent strikeout rate and 1.03 WHIP, and he sports the third-best xFIP at 3.35. He's an underdog against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they strike out 24.2 percent of the time, the fifth-highest in the Majors.

Shane Bieber ($9,600): Four starts and 24.1 innings into his Major League career, Shane Bieber looks great for the Cleveland Indians. He's put up a 26.2 percent strikeout rate, 3.04 xFIP and 160-foot average batted-ball distance -- all of which are among the best on the slate. The Indians are taking on the Kansas City Royals, and Bieber is a -188 favorite, which is the third-highest of the night and puts him in a great spot against a Royals team that sits dead-last in all of baseball with an 80 wRC+.

Low-Priced Pitcher

Anthony DeSclafani ($7,600): Using a Cincinnati Reds pitcher is not a common practice in the DFS world, but Anthony DeSclafani is in a pretty decent spot. He is a -195 favorite against the Chicago White Sox, making him the second-biggest favorite on the slate. He has just a 20.3 percent strikeout rate, which isn't great, but he's taking on a very swing-happy team. The White Sox strike out at a horrible 25.4 percent clip, the second-worst in the Majors.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

Charlie Blackmon ($5,800): Happy Coors Day! The Colorado Rockies host the San Francisco Giants, and neither team is putting a very good pitcher on the mound. The Rockies will be taking on Chris Stratton, a right-handed hurler who doesn't have many stats that would scare a hitter. He has given up a 42.5 percent hard-hit rate, 26.7 percent line-drive rate and a 90.2 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. These numbers do not bode well for a matchup in Coors. Although his numbers were better last year, Charlie Blackmon is still having plenty of success against right-handed pitching in 2018, boasting a .350 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and .236 isolated power (ISO) in the split.

Francisco Lindor ($5,700): The Cleveland Indians haven't been that great against left-handed pitching this season, but Francisco Lindor has been one of the few exceptions. He's destroyed southpaws with an elite .441 wOBA and .229 ISO. He'll be facing Danny Duffy, who has actually been pitching better as of late, but on the season, he has not been good. He has a 1.49 WHIP, 5.19 xFIP and 40.3 percent hard-hit rate, and his statcast numbers are no better with an 89.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 202-foot average batted-ball distance.

Brandon Belt ($5,500): On the other side of the matchup in Coors, Brandon Belt gets to take on right-handed Antonio Senzatela, who has pitched only out of the bullpen this season. In those 17.1 innings, he has a slate-worst 1.67 WHIP (tied with Alex Cobb), and his 91.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity is the worst. Belt has been smashing right-handed pitching with a .419 wOBA and .280 ISO, and that should cause a lot of problems for Senzatela and a Rockies bullpen that has a combined 4.25 xFIP, which is the seventh-worst in baseball.

Value Hitters

Evan Gattis ($4,300): Evan Gattis has definitely shown his power this season in a limited starting role as the primary designated hitter of the Houston Astros. Against right-handers, he has put up a .349 wOBA and .255 ISO, and he gets a cupcake matchup this evening against Texas Rangers starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Bibens-Dirkx has been terrible this season as indicated by his slate-worst 45.8 percent hard-hit rate and 28.2 percent line-drive rate. Additionally, he has horrific statcast numbers with a 90.2 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 192-foot average batted-ball distance.

Mark Canha ($3,700): The Oakland Athletics host the San Diego Padres, a team that will have Clayton Richard on the mound. Richard has been decent this season, but his 40 percent hard-hit rate is certainly something we can go after. He is a heavy ground-ball pitcher (57.7 percent ground-ball rate) and also doesn't get many strikeouts (18.7 percent strikeout rate). Mark Canha has hit second for the Athletics in his last three times in the lineup, and he has had success against lefties. In the split, he leads the A's with a .422 wOBA, and his .363 ISO shows that there is plenty of power in his swing, as well.

Wilmer Flores ($3,500): Although the New York Mets haven't been great against right-handed pitching, it's been much better than their abysmal play against lefties. Known for his prowess versus southpaws, Flores has had some success against righties in 2018, putting up a .366 wOBA and solid .227 ISO. He's taking on Marco Estrada, who has extreme fly-ball tendencies, posting an insanely high 54.1 fly-ball rate and 209-foot average batted-ball distance. Estrada does limit hard-hit balls, but Flores isn't a bad dart throw in the hopes that he runs into one.



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.