MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 8/2/19

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Aug 2nd, 2019
Last weekend, James Paxton was bombed by the Red Sox, and he gets an encore performance tonight that could be rough again. What other players should we consider avoiding?

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 2.

James Paxton, New York Yankees (SP)

vs. Boston Red Sox
FanDuel Price: $7,600

James Paxton returns to face the Boston Red Sox, who absolutely torched him in a start last weekend for four home runs and seven earned runs over four innings pitched. Is tonight going to mark a bounceback effort?

It doesn't look good for the lefty hurler. Paxton has ridden the struggle bus lately. Dating back to a broader sample of his last six starts, Paxton is 0-3 with a 6.69 ERA and 1.86 WHIP over 29 2/3 innings pitched.

While he has still shown some swing-and-miss ability, racking up 39 strikeouts over those innings, he's also been slammed for 44 hits, including 11 home runs, over that time frame.

He may be the sixth-most expensive hurler tonight on a tricky pitching slate, but don't expect a banner performance from Paxton.

Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox (3B)

at New York Yankees
FanDuel Price: $4,300

If you haven't been paying attention to the Boston Red Sox 2019 season, while Mookie Betts has maybe taken a step back from 2018, guys like Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers have taken major steps forward.

Devers now leads the American League with 89 runs scored, and the dude has been out of his mind at the dish with a .327 batting average (fifth) and .948 OPS.

And while James Paxton hasn't been at the top of his game lately, he could give Devers could have some problems tonight. Facing same-sided arms hasn't been Devers strong suit, as he owns a mere .746 OPS against southpaws in 2019.

To Paxton's defense, he's been pretty spicy in this split as well, recording a 1.59 ERA and allowing only seven extra-base hits to lefties.

There will be runs tonight in this game -- these two teams combined for 63 runs scored in a four-game set last weekend -- but Devers may not be part of the hit parade.

Juan Soto, Washington Nationals (OF)

vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
FanDuel Price: $3,800

So Juan Soto may make himself a living doing this baseball thing, recording his third long ball in four days:


Soto has been a boss again this season, rocking his way to a .924 OPS with 20 homers and eight steals. However, facing Robbie Ray tonight, he may not add to those totals.

While Soto has been strong against left-handed pitchers (.910 OPS), Ray has absolutely eviscerated them this year, recording a 2.97 ERA and allowing 11 extra-base hits over 124 plate appearances. For Ray's career, he has been similarly strong, holding them down to a 28.7% fly-ball rate and .368 slugging percentage.

Soto may continue his excellence against same-sided arms tonight, but with someone as talented as Ray has been in this split, it may be a good night to take a break from Soto.


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.