3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 8/1/19
Baseball is heating up, and there are plenty of DFS contests to choose from on FanDuel's main slate. While we have plenty of pieces geared towards guys you should target in your DFS contests, it's also important to avoid sub-optimal options who are overpriced and/or in tough spots.
Let's check out three players to consider fading on FanDuel's main slate for August 1.
Anthony DeSclafani, Cincinnati Reds (SP)
at Atlanta Braves
FanDuel Price: $8,300
When you have a teeny tiny main slate like the one we have tonight, which features only six games, generally all arms are in play, especially the ones in the upper half of the pitching slate. Anthony DeSclafani clocks in as the fifth-most expensive pitcher tonight, and after whiffing 11 two starts ago and averaging 34.5 FanDuel points per game in his last five starts, he could be seen as a sneaky play.
But let's pump the brakes a bit here. While the righty has been solid as of late, the Atlanta Braves rank as one of the league's best offenses, holding a .334 wOBA (sixth) and 41.5% hard-hit rate (fifth).
What makes this Braves offense so formidable is that they step things way up at home -- namely, a .350 wOBA (third) and 43.9% hard-hit rate (fourth).
All of this adds up to a potentially explosive evening for the Braves at the expense of DeSclafani.
Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox (OF)
vs. Tampa Bay Rays
FanDuel Price: $4,300
It's hard picking on a rookie pitcher without a lot of major league experience, and hanging our hat on the current splits can be a scary exercise. But the Boston Red Sox face the Tampa Bay Rays and Brendan McKay, and the youngster has been outstanding over his initial 19 1/3 innings.
While he has dominated same-sided batters, the rookie has continued to shine against righties like Mookie Betts as well. Over 63 plate appearances, he's limited them to a .287 wOBA, 27.0% strikeout rate, and 34.8% hard-hit rate.
Strangely, Betts hasn't enjoyed his best numbers in this split. In 2019, he owns a mere .789 OPS against southpaws, and he's homering once every 28.75 at-bats in this split versus once every 22 at-bats against righties.
Betts clocked lefties for a 1.207 OPS a season ago, so clearly, he's been strong here -- but it may not be a great night to roster the outfielder.
Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians (SS)
vs. Houston Astros
FanDuel Price: $3,900
Right in the thick of a divisional chase of the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Indians square off with potential AL Pennant and World Series favorite, the Houston Astros.
They will need their star shortstop, Francisco Lindor, at the very top of his game -- and there's good reason to think that he will be. In 2019, as a lefty hitter, which he will swing as tonight, he clocks a .917 OPS, but as a righty, he's only put up a .780 mark. He faces Gerrit Cole, which is the good news -- the bad news has been Cole's 2019 performance against lefties.
This season, Cole has limited lefty swingers to a .274 wOBA while posting an absurd 40.7% strikeout rate. While Lindor owns a six-homer, five-steal stat line over the last 31 days, given Cole's numbers in this spot, it's best to take a break from him tonight.
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. 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.
