3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 5/10/16
As is the case in most daily fantasy sports, finding information on players you might want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.
While you can get away with a zero from a hitter in daily fantasy, you certainly don't want to target guys whose matchups aren't enticing.
Here are three hitters you may want to lessen your exposure to or even fade altogether on Tuesday.
Robinson Cano, 2B, Seattle Mariners
FanDuel Price: $4,300
When Robinson Cano moved from Yankee Stadium to Safeco Field, everyone pretty much assumed that his power numbers would drop some. Yankee Stadium is great for lefties, while Safeco is one of the friendlier pitchers' parks in the Majors. However, after two seasons of only 35 combined home runs in his first two years in Seattle, Cano's league-leading 12 homers has him on pace for more than 50.
However, he is also playing at home tonight, where he has hit only three of his 12 home runs on the season, and even more importantly, he is facing off against a very tough leftie in Drew Smyly. Cano’s overall splits at home have not been bad at all this season, but when you factor in the leftie-leftie matchup, it’s a night where Cano is probably better left off your rosters.
So far this season, Cano has a wOBA of .284 and an average of .222 against left-handed pitchers. His power numbers also take a hit, with his ISO dropping from .405 against righties to .185 against lefties. At home against lefties (22 plate appearances), it gets even worse. His strikeout rate there is 27.3 percent, and his wOBA is an abysmal .178. Overall this season, his hard hit rate is also below 20 percent against lefties, and at home against lefties, his hard hit rate is just 6.3 percent.
Smyly, on the other hand, has been good against hitters from both sides of the plate, but he has been good against lefties his entire career. Left-handed hitters have a wOBA of only .241 throughout the last five seasons against Smyly, and their strikeout rate is 30.5 percent. Cano is probably the biggest landmine in the slate tonight.
Prince Fielder, 1B, Texas Rangers
FanDuel Price: $2,600
Prince Fielder has been a landmine all season, but he is especially dangerous to roster tonight against the White Sox and Carlos Rodon. Fielder is struggling so much you probably weren’t thinking about rostering him anyway, but in case you were trying to save some money with his cheap salary, allow me to talk you out of it.
Rodon has been nasty against lefties ever since coming to the Sox. For his career, lefties own a wOBA of just .239, and this season, it’s down to .206. Rodon’s strikeout rate against them is 26.1 percent for his career, and this season -- while he has only faced 36 left-handers -- his strikeout rate against them is over 30 percent and their fly ball rate is just 13 percent.
Fielder can’t hit pitchers from either side of the plate this season, as his wOBA against righties and lefties is .228. Last season, there was a notable drop in his numbers against lefties. His wOBA was .315 against them in 2015.
Jon Jay, OF, San Diego Padres
FanDuel Price: $3100
The Cubs and Padres got rained out on Monday, but now with an extra day of rest, Jon Lester is looking like a pretty tough matchup for Jon Jay and all of the Padres here on Tuesday night.
Jay's wOBA, perhaps because he's now in the lineup every day, is back above .300 after a very down year in St. Louis in 2015. However, his strikeout rate against lefties is 27.5 percent, and his hard hit rate against left-handers is only 20 percent this season. The Padres, as a team, rank 28th in wRC+ against lefties, so getting cute and stacking against Lester probably isn't a good call today.
Lefties against Lester this season own a wOBA of .260, a strikeout rate of nearly 30 percent, and a hard hit rate of 20.8 percent. Don't roster any Padres on a full slate.
