MLB

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Wednesday 8/15/18

Zack Wheeler has pitched incredibly lately and has a premium matchup against the Miami Marlins. Which other players should you consider 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

Gerrit Cole ($12,200 on DraftKings): He is hands-down the best pitcher on the slate and for being "just" $1,400 more than the next-highest priced pitcher, he could be looked at as underpriced. He leads the slate with a 34.2 percent strikeout rate and has a second-best 0.99 WHIP and 3.07 xFIP. He's got a great matchup against a Colorado Rockies team that struggles away from Coors Field. They strike out at a 24.3 percent clip, and their 85 wRC+ and .300 team weighted on-base average (wOBA) are both among the bottom-10 in the Majors.

Zack Wheeler ($10,800): This seems expensive, but Zack Wheeler has been pitching great as of late. Although his 23.8 percent strikeout rate leaves a bit to be desired, he has at least seven strikeouts in eight of his last ten games. Wheeler leads the slate with an impressive 26.5 percent hard-hit rate as well as a slate-best 84.9 mile-per-hour average exit velocity. He's taking on a Miami Marlins team that has an 83 wRC+ which is the fifth-worst in the Majors as well as the third-worst team wOBA at .293.

Low-Priced Pitchers

Vincent Velasquez ($6,900): This situation is similar to Nick Pivetta yesterday, although Pivetta's numbers were a bit better. Vince Velasquez is extremely cheap in a difficult matchup against the Boston Red Sox, but his numbers are good enough to make for an intriguing second starting pitcher in tournaments. He has a 26.7 percent strikeout rate, a 1.22 WHIP and a 3.92 xFIP, all of which are good-not-great numbers. Velasquez is a pitcher that has a very wide range of outcomes with 3 games above 25 DraftKings points and 4 games below 10 DraftKings points over his last 10 and makes for a cheap boom-or-bust play.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

Brandon Nimmo ($5,400): Brandon Nimmo is probably overpriced here, but he is starting to hit the ball much better as of late with a .313 batting average and 1.046 OPS over his last 10 games. On the season, he has crushed right-handed pitching with a .393 wOBA and a .261 isolated power (ISO). Tonight is a premium matchup against Baltimore Orioles' Dylan Bundy who has struggled. Bundy has given up a 45.8 percent fly-ball rate, 89.3 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 198 foot average batted-ball distance all of which have contributed to his 17.7 percent home run to fly-ball rate — the second-worst mark on the slate.

Didi Gregorius ($4,900): While the numbers aren't elite, Didi Gregorius has been one of the better New York Yankees hitters against right-handed pitching this season. He's put up a solid .348 wOBA and .224 ISO this season but his home numbers are much better than his road ones. At home versus right-handed pitching he has a .401 wOBA and .266 ISO compared to a .294 wOBA and .182 ISO on the road. Taking on Jacob Faria is a great matchup, as he has given up an 89.6 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 214 foot average batted-ball distance, both of which are the second-worst marks on the slate.

Ozzie Albies ($4,800): Ozzie Albies was in quite the slump, but he seems to have broken out of it — at least from a contact standpoint — over the last little while. His last 10 games have him hitting for a .343 batting average, despite just a .852 OPS and 1 home run. Hopefully this trend continues, as it should, against Miami Marlins' Jose Urena. Urena struggles to get strikeouts, as his 19.2 percent strikeout rate would indicate, and his 41.5 percent hard-hit rate is the third-worst on the slate. The Atlanta Braves offence is elite and should be able to pile on the runs.

Value Hitters

Justin Smoak ($4,300): As a switch-hitter, it is common for one to be a better hitter from one side of the plate compared to the other. Well, Justin Smoak has had much more success against right-handed pitching this season with a .386 wOBA and .260 ISO compared to a lowly .317 wOBA and .137 ISO against lefties. He has a premium matchup against Kansas City Royals' Jorge Lopez. Lopez has an ugly 4.75 SIERA and 1.67 WHIP in the Majors, with a big 45.6% hard-hit rate. Smoak has a lot of power against righties and should be able to take advantage of that tonight.

Rhys Hoskins ($4,300): Sometimes a bad slump can change your price dramatically, as is the case with Rhys Hoskins. Just nine days ago he was priced at $5,400 and is now $1,100 cheaper. Although this isn't a fantastic matchup considering how well Nathan Eovaldi has pitched, but Hoskins is still a righty masher worth looking into. He has put up a .378 wOBA and a .276 ISO against righties this season and the numbers that stick out for Eovaldi are his 39.0 percent fly-ball rate and 14.1 percent home run to fly-ball rate, which should be great for Hoskins' power.

Matt Kemp ($3,600): He is just 3-for-32 over his last 10 games, which works out to an abysmal .094 batting average. However, his current salary accounts for that and he has a pretty solid matchup against San Francisco Giants left-hander Derek Holland. Kemp has brought a lot of power against lefties this season with a .271 ISO with a respectable .360 wOBA to go along with the power. Holland has struggled giving up a 39.7 percent hard-hit rate and a 24.1 percent line-drive rate. Those numbers do not bode well for him as that is a recipe for giving up a bunch of hits.



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.