MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 7/1/16

Giancarlo Stanton has a tough battle ahead of him Friday against Julio Teheran. Who else should you avoid 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 Friday.

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins

FanDuel Price: $3,700

Giancarlo Stanton is having a down year compared to expectations and past domination. Both his batting average and wOBA are career lows at .220 and .328, respectively. His strikeout rate has skyrocketed to over 30 percent for the first time in his career, and his power numbers have dropped, as well. Things won’t get any easier tonight as the Miami Marlins hook up with the Atlanta Braves and face off against Julio Teheran.

Teheran is holding right handers to a wOBA of .212 this season across 215 batters faced. He has an insane 30.7 percent strikeout rate against righties, and their isolated slugging is below .100.

Stanton has been even worse against right-handed pitching this season. He owns a .320 wOBA and a 33.2 percent strikeout rate across 189 at bats. His hard-hit rate against righties is only 32.5 percent, compared to 55.6 against lefties. With how Teheran has dominated righties this season, expectations should be tempered for Stanton.

Yasmany Tomas, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

FanDuel Price: $2,900

Yasmany Tomas' price is below $3,000 for tonight’s game against the San Francisco Giants, but even though that is inviting, his matchup against Johnny Cueto is not. Cueto has been lights out against right-handed hitters this season, and while Tomas has put up big power numbers, he might struggle against Cueto tonight.

Right-handers have a wOBA of .236 against Cueto this season across 263 batters faced. His strikeout rate against them is 22.8 percent, and he induces ground balls 50.6 percent of the time. With Cueto’s hard-hit rate of just 21.2 percent against righties, Tomas is not the guy to target tonight.

Tomas has a .295 wOBA against righties this season. What makes him a landmine, however, is his power splits against righties. In 179 at bats, Tomas has seven homers against right-handed pitchers. In 100 fewer at bats against lefties, he has six home runs. This has his isolated power against righties at .168 compared to .324 against lefties. His slugging percentage drops over 240 points against righties, and with a 26.8 percent strikeout rate against righties, Tomas is firmly a landmine.

Miguel Montero, C, Chicago Cubs

FanDuel Price: $2,400

Miguel Montero is also a guy having a down season in Chicago, and the promotion of Willson Contreras to the big leagues isn’t going to help his playing time. While Contreras can play other positions besides catcher, Montero has other things working against him.

The left hander has a wOBA of just .269 this season across 130 at bats, and while he has been pretty good against right-handed pitchers throughout his career, this season has seen a downward turn in those splits. He has a .286 wOBA, and his hard-hit rate has fallen to 27.2 percent from 34.1 percent in 2015. While he has been even worse against lefties, Montero is going up against Jacob deGrom tonight, who has been dominant against players from booth sides of the plate this season.

DeGrom has a .271 wOBA against lefties over 178 total batters faced in 2016, a mark that's close to his career total. Lefties own a 21.9 percent strikeout rate against deGrom this season, and they have lower fly-ball and hard-hit rates than righties do. With Montero struggling, don’t waste your time with the Cubs’ catcher if he is in the lineup Friday night.