3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/23/16
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 Thursday.
Christian Yelich, OF, Miami Marlins
FanDuel Price: $3,600
Thursday’s short slate makes identifying and avoiding landmines even more important, and tonight, one of the guys who might be better left off your rosters is Marlins outfielder, Christian Yelich. The young outfielder is up against a tough lefty-lefty matchup on Thursday facing Jon Lester and the Cubs, so it's a night to leave him off your DFS rosters.
Yelich’s hot start has started to fade, and left-handed pitchers have exploited him at times this season. He owns a wOBA of .348 against lefties this season, but he has a 22.1 percent strikeout rate against them as well. He has yet to homer off a lefty this season, and he has a hard hit rate against lefties of just 25 percent over 59 at-bats this season.
On the flip side, Lester owns a 2.71 SIERA over the past month, and lefties own a .248 wOBA and 31 percent strikeout rate against Lester this season. Left-handed hitters also have a fly ball rate of just 21.6 percent against Lester, and considering Yelich’s fly ball rate against lefties is just 6.8 percent this season, it’s best to lay off him against Lester.
Trevor Story, SS, Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Price: $3,100
After a red-hot start to the season in April, Trevor Story has cooled off some, but he is starting to pick things back up as the weather warms. He has hit safely in three straight games, and he is hitting .317 (13-for-41) in his last 12 games. However, tonight he faces off against Zack Greinke, who has been quite good against right-handed hitters this season,
Greinke has a wOBA against righties of .276 this season through 189 total batters faced. While he is not duplicating his awesome numbers from last season against righties, like a .211 wOBA and 25.8 strikeout rate, he is still a formidable matchup for a young hitter like Story.
Story has a wOBA of .365 against righties this season, but his strikeout rate against righties is 30.7 percent. If he gets too swing-happy in this game, Greinke might make for a long night for the rookie sensation.
Chase d'Arnaud, 2B, Atlanta Braves
FanDuel Price: $2,700
Adonis Garcia has been out of the Braves’ lineup for the last five games, and while he has pinch hit in two of those games, there is a chance he is out of the lineup once again on Thursday. That would mean that Chase d'Arnaud might get another shot at third base. That being said, it may not be a great day to unleash the d’Arnaud value train against Matt Harvey.
After a rough start to the year, Harvey is starting to look like the Dark Knight again. Harvey got beaten up by the Braves his last time out, but before that, he had three straight starts of one or no runs allowed. Even after surrendering four runs his last outing, Harvey has an ERA of 2.08 his last four starts. He has also been very good against righties this season. They have a wOBA of .285 against him this season, and his strikeout rate is 20.8 percent. His hard hit rate is also 26.1 percent against righties this season.
d’Arnaud, on the other hand, has a .323 wOBA and 19.5 strikeout rate against righties this season. His Isolated Power drops to .076 from .107 against righties this season, and his hard hit rate is just 25.5 percent. For his career, d’Arnaud has a .249 wOBA against righties over 169 career at-bats. If Garcia is out again, don’t fall into the d’Arnaud trap.
