MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 6/30/16

Edwin Encarnacion is back on track, but he's in a tough spot tonight. 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 Thursday.

Josh Reddick, OF, Oakland Athletics

FanDuel Price: $2,200

Josh Reddick has made his return to the A’s lineup over the last few games. His name is likely going to be the talk of the rumor mill over the next month leading up to the trade deadline, but the more pressing issue is a matchup against Madison Bumgarner.

Reddick’s sample size against lefties is not too large this season at only 40 at-bats, but he has had trouble against them, yielding a .200 wOBA. Over his career, things don’t get much better. Reddick has a career wOBA against lefties of .293. With a career hard hit rate of only 26.8 percent against lefties, Reddick is almost certainly a player you want to avoid tonight against Bumgarner.

Lefties own a .200 wOBA across 81 total batters faced this season against Bumgarner, and for his career he owns a .245 wOBA against lefties. With a strikeout rate of 34.6 percent against lefties this season, Reddick might not be much of a value, even at $2,200.

Edwin Encarnacion, 1B, Toronto Blue Jays

FanDuel Price: $3,900

Last month, it looked as if Edwin Encarnacion wasn’t going to get close to his last two fantastic seasons, but then the month of June hit, and Encarnacion got hot. He is hitting .318 this month with 11 home runs and 30 RBI. He now has 21 homers and 70 RBI on the season, but he also has a pretty tough battle tonight against a team that is even hotter than he is, the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians have now won 12 straight games, and their starting rotation has been a big reason why. Carlos Carrasco has spent some time on the disabled list this season, but since he has come back, he has been electric. In his last game, he had a complete game shut out against the Tigers, and he has been really good against righties this season. Righties have a .292 wOBA against Carrasco this season across 119 batters faced. Righties also have a 24.4 percent strikeout rate against Carrasco in 2016.

Encarnacion has no problem hitting homers off any pitcher of any handedness, but his advanced stats take more of a dip against righties. He owns a .363 wOBA against righties compared to .428 against lefty pitching. His hard hit rate drops eight points to 33.7 against righties. With how well Carrasco has pitched, it’s hard to see Encarnacion connecting with one tonight.

Neil Walker, 2B, New York Mets

FanDuel Price: $2,800

The Mets have to face off against the ageless John Lackey tonight, and one player who looks like more of a risk than most in the Mets lineup tonight is Neil Walker. The Mets’ second baseman has not been as successful batting from the left side of the plate this season, and with Lackey on the hill, it’s hard to see him putting up a tournament-winning line.

Walker has a .303 wOBA as a left-hander against righty pitching this season. His Isolated Power drops considerably from the left side to .153 from .321, and his strikeout rate goes up to 22.1 percent this season across 203 at-bats.

Lackey has been good against hitters from both sides of the plate, and while he has been better against righties, lefties have still not had great success against him. Their wOBA is .302 over 171 total batters, and they have a 22.8 percent strikeout rate. Lefties also own a fly ball rate of just 27.9 against Lackey this season, compared to 44 percent for righties.