MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/9/16

Brandon Phillips has an 11-game hitting streak, but you don't want him on your roster tonight.

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 Thursday.

Brandon Phillips, 2B, Cincinnati Reds

FanDuel Price: $3,200

Brandon Phillips is riding an 11-game hitting streak heading into tonight’s game against the Reds’ rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. While Phillips has been hitting the ball well so far in the month of June, his matchup tonight could cool him off.

Adam Wainwright is slowly making his way back from rupturing his Achilles, and after getting beat up all over the month of April, May and June have been kinder to him. He has five quality starts in his last seven appearances, and while he still is not the Wainwright of old, he has the ability to get right-handers out still.

Even though his season totals are still pretty high, for his career, righties have a wOBA of .278 against Wainwright. He has not pitched well on the road this season, but his numbers are showing some encouraging signs.

Phillips has a wOBA of .308 against righties this season, and his ISO drops to .155 against righties compared to .207 against lefties. While Phillips has been solid against Wainwright in his career, he has only 3 extra-base hits against him in 56 at-bats.

Neil Walker, 2B, New York Mets

FanDuel Price: $3,300

Another second baseman you might want to steer clear of tonight is Neil Walker. On a small slate, the margin for error is slim, and Walker’s matchup with the Brewers’ Jimmy Nelson presents some problems.

Nelson has been good this season, and outside of a rough outing in his last start, he has been solid for 2016. He has an ERA of 3.43, and even against a switch hitter like Walker, Nelson has the ability to get him out. Nelson has actually been slightly better against lefties this season, with a wOBA against of .315 and a strikeout rate of 21.1 percent.

Walker, on the other hand, has struggled some with righty pitching. His wOBA against righties this season is only .329, and when batting on the left side of the plate this season, Walker has a strikeout rate of over 25 percent, compared to 15.1 percent when he hits on the right side of the plate. Despite hitting eight homers from the left side, his ISO drops to .171 against righties this season, compared to .347 against lefties. If Nelson can avoid another poor start, Walker presents some landmine qualities tonight.

Adam Eaton, OF, Chicago White Sox

FanDuel Price: $3,200

Adam Eaton has been very good this season when it comes to hitting left-handers, but a matchup against Gio Gonzalez might change that.

Gonzalez has not been as sharp recently, but he still has dominated lefties this season, who have a wOBA of .253 against him through 57 total batters faced, including just two extra-base hits, and a hard hit rate of 23.7 percent.

Eaton owns a wOBA of .379 against lefties this season, but if you combine his numbers against lefties from the last two seasons, you may want to avoid the matchup. He has only 18 extra-base hits against lefties in his last 360 at-bats against them since 2014, and he has hit only one of his 23 career homers off a lefty. Unless he can score, or drive in some runs in this one via singles, I doubt he has a game worthy of paying off his salary against Gonzalez.