MLB

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 6/7/19

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

Mike Soroka ($11,600 on DraftKings): Mike Soroka has been pretty awesome this season. He has gone at least five innings in each of his nine starts, putting up 14-plus DraftKings points in each of them as well. He only has two games in which he has not struck out at least five batters and only one game in which he has allowed more than one earned run. There is some luck on his side for sure, but with a matchup against the Miami Marlins, there is little reason to believe tonight is when he falls back down to earth. The Marlins have a 25.1 percent strikeout rate against right-handed pitching (seventh-most) as well as a lowly .285 wOBA (29th).

Jacob deGrom ($9,400): This price seems way too cheap for Jacob DeGrom, even with some of his struggles this season. He has still been one of the better pitchers and is coming off a 2018 Cy Young-winning season. Last year, he put up a 32.2 percent strikeout rate and a sparkling 2.78 SIERA. While his matchup against the Colorado Rockies isn't necessarily great with Colorado having just a 22.9 percent strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers (17th-most) and a .329 wOBA (10th-best), they are not a pushover either. At least the matchup is not in Coors Field.

Value Pitcher

Tyler Mahle ($7,300): With a strikeout rate up to 26.2 percent — compared to his 22.3 percent strikeout rate for his career — Tyler Mahle has become an acceptable punt option at pitcher. In his 11 starts this season, he has gone at least 5 innings in each one and put up 18-plus DraftKings points in 8 of the 11. He has an intriguing matchup against a Philadelphia Phillies team that has a 23.5 percent strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers which is the 11th-most and a .313 wOBA which sits 18th. Mahle's 4.26 ERA doesn't look great but he has a 3.68 SIERA with a .321 BABIP which shows he has been getting a bit unlucky.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

Alex Bregman ($5,300): The Houston Astros host the Baltimore Orioles tonight — a team that will be putting Gabriel Ynoa on the mound tonight. He's a right-handed pitcher that Alex Bregman should be able to smash. So far this season, Bregman has crushed right-handed pitching to the tune of a .414 wOBA and a .287 ISO. Ynoa has struggled in his career, giving up a 35.2 percent hard-hit rate and a 37.5 percent fly-ball rate which has led to a surprisingly low 9.4 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate.

Freddie Freeman ($5,100): Freddie Freeman is surely bringing the power against right-handed pitching in 2019. With his .406 wOBA and .269 ISO, he places himself among the best in this split. Playing in Marlins Park isn't ideal, but it should not make a huge difference against Jose Urena. His 4.39 SIERA from last season is among the worst on the slate and while his 38.2 percent hard-hit rate and 32.2 percent fly-ball rate aren't terrible, it still led to a not-so-great 11.5 home-run-to-fly-ball rate. He cannot strike anybody out with a lowly 18.3 percent strikeout rate and a horrendous 8.9 percent swinging-strike rate.

Mookie Betts ($4,400): This is an absurdly low price tag for a hitter that was the virtual consensus second-overall pick in season-long leagues. Imagine if Mike Trout was $4,400? Anyway, I digress. Mookie Betts has still been very successful against right-handed pitching this season with a .396 wOBA and a .225 ISO, though his numbers against lefties have been poor. He's got a matchup against Tampa Bay Rays' Yonny Chirinos — a right-handed pitcher that gave up a slate-worst 41.9 percent hard-hit rate last season along with a brutal 24.1 percent line-drive rate.

Value Hitters

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($3,900): After struggling in his first couple weeks in the Majors, Vladimir Guerrero has really settled in. Against right-handed pitching over the last month, Vladdy has put up a very good .373 wOBA And .264 ISO — compared to a .342 wOBA and .208 ISO on the season in this split. He has a great matchup tonight against a struggling Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks. So far this season, Kelly has given up a 38.7 hard-hit rate and 34.9 percent fly-ball rate which has led to a 13.7 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. This goes along with his not-so-great 22 percent line-drive rate and 4.80 SIERA.

Mitch Haniger ($3,900): Considering Mitch Haniger's success against left-handed pitching over the last two seasons, this price seems incredibly low, even in a slump. In 2018, Haniger had a solid .379 wOBA and a mediocre .180 ISO but in 2019 those numbers up to a .385 wOBA and a very good .263 ISO. There is plenty of power in this bat as he takes on Los Angeles Angels' southpaw Andrew Heaney. Throughout his career, Heaney has struggled against righties giving up an ugly .343 wOBA and .481 SLG, including a 39.1 hard-hit rate.

Travis Shaw ($2,700): Here we go again. Whenever Travis Shaw is this cheap against a right-handed pitcher, I just have to look at his career .348 wOBA and .225 ISO against righties to realize that this price tag is unreasonable. Sure, he has struggled this year with an ugly .282 wOBA And .150 ISO, there should be better times ahead. In minimal innings — just 14 in his career against lefties — he has given up a horrific .448 wOBA and .627 SLG, including 5 home runs. The sample size is ridiculously small but just worth noting that he has been really bad.



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.