3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/20/16
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 Monday.
Bryce Harper, OF, Washington Nationals
FanDuel Price: $3,000
After a blistering start to the season, Bryce Harper slowed down some in the month of May, but he is working his way back to form. However, while his average is climbing, his power has abandoned him in June. He has only one home run this month over 59 at-bats, and he will have trouble hitting one on Monday night as the Nats face off against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers.
Kershaw has been unhittable against lefties this season, and while Harper isn’t any old lefty hitter, he still has been susceptible to getting beat by lefties. Harper owns a .331 wOBA and a 19.4 percent strikeout rate in 60 at-bats against lefties this season. His career wOBA against lefties is .342, and his ISO drops from .253 to .177 against lefties. He also has a career strikeout rate of 22.5 percent against lefty pitching.
Kershaw, on the other hand, owns an amazing .142 wOBA against lefties over 98 batters faced in 2016. His strikeout rate against them is a fantastic 42.9 percent, and his FIP is an insane 0.34. Harper’s prospects tonight aren’t great, and with his price down, it makes him look like a more attractive option than he actually is.
Gregory Polanco, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
FanDuel Price: $2,500
Similarly, Gregory Polanco is another lefty who has a tough matchup on Monday, facing off against Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. Polanco has been much better against right-handed pitching this season, but lefties bring out another side of the Pirates’ young outfielder.
This season, Polanco owns a .323 wOBA and a .236 average against lefties. His strikeout rate against them is a sky-high 31.7 percent, and his fly-ball rate is 27.8 percent against lefties, compared to 35.5 percent against righties. His hard hit rate is also nearly eight points lower against lefties.
Bumgarner has been almost as dominant against lefties has Kershaw has. Lefties own a .182 wOBA over 76 total batters faced this season, and the Giants’ ace has a 35.5 percent strikeout rate against left-handed hitters. His FIP is only 1.65 against lefties, and they have a hard hit rate of just 24.4 percent. Polanco is cheap tonight, but there is a reason for that. Keep him off your rosters.
Adam Eaton, OF, Chicago White Sox
FanDuel Price: $3,400
Monday brings a lot of solid pitching options even with a smaller slate. Knuckleballing sensation Steven Wright is one of those options, and with how he has been baffling hitters this season, the White Sox might have a tough time against him this evening. That includes Adam Eaton, who has not been great against right-handed pitching this season.
Eaton has been a member of the landmines once already this season, and a big reason for it has been his flip-flopped splits. The lefty has a wOBA of .393 against left-handed pitchers, but against righties, his wOBA drops to .320. His strikeout rate goes up seven points to 16.2 percent against righties.
Enter Wright, who owns a .255 wOBA against lefties this season over 145 batters faced. On top of that, Eaton has not been great against the knuckleball over his career. His mark of -0.41 runs above average per 100 pitches against the knuckleball is his lowest mark against any pitch he has faced during his career, and with how Wright is pitching recently, I would lay off Eaton. The White Sox’ outfielder has been seeing the ball very well recently, going 13 for 26 in his last six games, but that just makes him even more of a landmine tonight.
