MLB

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 6/14/19

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

Gerrit Cole ($11,900): Gerrit Cole has been incredible this season and has an elite matchup tonight against the offensively inept Toronto Blue Jays. Cole has an elite 38.6 percent strikeout rate this season along with a ridiculous 2.59 SIERA and 5.9 percent walk rate. His matchup against the Blue Jays is about as good as it gets as the Jays strike out at a 24.8 percent rate against right-handed pitching while producing a lowly .287 wOBA which ranks 27th.

Blake Snell ($10,000): The left-handed Blake Snell has an interesting matchup tonight. While Snell's numbers are great, with a 34.5 percent strikeout rate, 3.04 SIERA and just a 30.9 percent hard-hit rate, he's got a matchup against a team that simply doesn't strike out. The Los Angeles Angels have just a 16.2 percent strikeout rate against left-handed pitching which is the best in the Majors. In Addition, their .320 wOBA ranks 14th which is average. I am still siding with Snell here because he is an ace, but the upside may be limited in this matchup.

Value Pitcher

Chris Bassitt ($7,800): He has been pretty solid this season from a strikeout standpoint at 24.0 percent and has a great park matchup in his favor playing in Oakland. He has a very good 29.9 percent hard-hit rate, elite 18.2 percent line-drive rate and solid 43.4 percent groundball rate. The matchup is a bit tougher against the Seattle Mariners who have a .328 wOBA against righties, but they also strike out at a 24.7 percent rate which could give Bassitt some intriguing upside tonight.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

Francisco Lindor ($5,200): He's a switch-hitter and while his .379 wOBA and .246 ISO against right-handed pitchers are better than his .361 wOBA and .218 wOBA against left-handed pitchers, he is still certainly in play tonight against the Detroit Tigers southpaw Ryan Carpenter. In 2019, he has struggled allowing a 44.4 percent hard-hit rate and 40.7 percent fly-ball rate which has resulted in a 20.5 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. However, this is just a 29 inning sample size so take that with a grain of salt. Either way, Lindor can hit both lefties and righties well so he will be fine once the Tigers bullpen comes in anyway.

Freddie Freeman ($5,000): Freddie Freeman has been completely dominant against right-handed pitching this season. He has put up a ridiculous .414 wOBA and a .281 ISO and has a very nice matchup against Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Nick Pivetta. Pivetta has a 3.82 xFIP despite his 4.93 ERA so he has been getting a bit unlucky, but in the same breath, some of the numbers are downright ugly. A 40.2 percent hard-hit rate and 25.2 percent line-drive rate are going to get him into a lot of trouble against a hard-hitting lefty like Freeman.

Jorge Polanco ($5,000): Another switch-hitter, but in this case, Polanco is much better against righties (.433 wOBA and .286 ISO) than he is against lefties (.319 wOBA and .093 ISO). Luckily, he will be taking on a right-handed in Kansas City Royals' Brad Keller that is just a nightmare. He has had considerable control issues with just a 15.6 percent strikeout rate and a horrendous 11.5 percent walk rate. In addition, his 35.5 percent hard-hit rate and 24.2 percent line-drive rate will cause him issues.

Value Hitters

Gleyber Torres ($3,900): Don't get me wrong, this is a very difficult matchup for Gleyber Torres as he takes on Chicago White Sox ace Lucas Giolito. At least, he's pitching like an ace this season. However, he has a .251 BABIP and 2.28 ERA vs. a 3.52 SIERA — which is still great, but a little lucky for him. In addition, he is giving up a 24.0 percent line-drive rate which is still worth targeting. Torres has been great vs. right-handed pitching with a .369 wOBA and a .265 ISO so this cheap price is definitely good to see.

Stephen Piscotty ($3,700): With an elite .404 wOBA and a more than solid .206 ISO, Stephen Piscotty has a very good matchup tonight considering his splits. He's at home, which isn't ideal considering the ballpark, but he'll take on the Seattle Mariners' struggling left-hander Marco Gonzales. Marco is giving up a brutal 38.3 percent hard-hit rate and a horrific 5.12 SIERA while struggling considerably to generate strikeouts at a 16.3 percent clip.

Jesus Aguilar ($3,200): There was a brief glimmer of hope, but for the most part Jesus Aguilar has struggled this season. In 2018, he smashed left-handed pitching to the tune of a .389 wOBA and a fantastic .267 ISO. However, in 2019, those numbers are down to an abysmal .253 wOBA and .132 ISO. Just brutal. He has a great matchup against San Francisco Giants left-hander Drew Pomeranz that he can hopefully get things going against. Pomeranz is giving up a 36.8 percent hard-hit rate and 24.6 percent line-drive rate — terrible numbers that hopefully Aguilar can take advantage of.



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.