MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/6/16

Chasing points with Starling Marte isn't a good idea today. Who else should you avoid?

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 Monday.

Odubel Herrera, OF, Philadelphia Phillies

FanDuel Price: $3,300

The Phillies have a tough matchup this evening against the Cubs and Jon Lester, and no other Phillies player looks like a landmine tonight as much as Odubel Herrera. Lester has been better against right-handed hitters this season, but lefties have still struggled at times against the veteran lefty.

Lester owns a wOBA against lefties of .271 this season through 66 total batters, and for his career lefties have a wOBA of less than .300 against him. His career strikeout rate against lefties is nearly 25 percent, and this season, his strikeout rate is better than 30 percent against left-handed hitters. He has also been good at keeping the ball out of the air against left-handers, with a fly ball rate of 23.1 percent, compared to 36.6 percent against righties.

Herrera’s wOBA against lefties is nearly 100 points less than against righties this season at .308, and his strikeout rate is 22.2 percent against left-handers this season through 53 at-bats. Herrera’s hard hit rate against lefties throughout his career is only 21.1 percent, and his fly ball rate is 23.1 percent -- nearly 12 points worse than against right-handed pitchers.

Starling Marte, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $3,800

Starling Marte crushed the ball over the weekend against the Angels. He was 7-for-12 with a homer, four total extra base hits, and a total of more than 70 FanDuel points. However, I am here to warn you against chasing fantasy points with Marte tonight. While he has an intriguing righty-lefty matchup against Steven Matz, a closer look shows that Marte may have a tougher time getting on base against Matz than meets the eye.

Matz -- a lefty -- has been very good against right-handed hitters this season. They own a wOBA of only .241 through 170 total batters this season, and Matz’ strikeout rate against righties this season is more than 24 percent. This has been the case for Matz so far throughout his young career. He has faced a total of 279 righties. Their wOBA is .255, and they have a BABIP of just .269.

Marte has struggled much more against lefties this season than against righties. His wOBA against lefties this season is .297 through 46 at-bats, which is continuing his struggles from last season where his wOBA was .313 and his average against them was only .246. Last season, Marte’s hard hit rate was lower against lefties, and considering he has worse power numbers against lefties this season, I would leave him alone tonight against the talented Matz.

Albert Pujols, 1B, Los Angeles Angels

FanDuel Price: $3,400

Not only is Albert Pujols dealing with an ankle injury he sustained in last night’s game, but he also has a very tough matchup with the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka has been tough for everyone this season, but Pujols has struggled much more against right-handed pitching. Even if he plays, Pujols might be better left off your rosters.

This season, Pujols is hitting just .227 against right-handed pitching, with a wOBA of .308. His strikeout rate is over five points higher against righties than against lefties.

Tanaka has been lights out this season, and against righties, he has a wOBA against of .271. He is striking out over 20 percent of the right-handers he has faced this season, and even though he has been much better on the road this season than at home, expect Tanaka to limit Pujols this evening.