MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Avoid on 7/22/16

Jordan Sharp  —  @TehSharp Jul 22nd, 2016
Buster Posey has a tough matchup with Masahiro Tanaka tonight. Who else should you steer clear of Friday night?

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.

Buster Posey, C, San Francisco Giants

FanDuel Price: $3,400

Buster Posey and the Giants are heading into Yankee Stadium for an interleague battle with the Yankees tonight. Not only should it be an intriguing game, but the two clubs have two of their best pitchers going in this one. Madison Bumgarner is going for the Giants, while Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound for the Yankees. Tanaka has been exceptional this season, and Posey could have some trouble with the Yankees’ righty.

Tanaka owns a .278 wOBA against righties this year, with a strikeout rate of 20.6 percent. Righties also own a hard hit rate against Tanaka of 32.8 percent. While Tanaka has been rocked on occasion this season, Posey’s numbers against righties make him a risky play against him given his elevated price tag.

Posey owns a .329 wOBA against righties this season. His isolated power drops to .165 against righties compared to .232 against lefties, and while his home run total has been solid against righties, his fly ball rate drops to 27.4 percent, making him a tough guy to target this evening if you’re looking for a tournament-winning line.

Brett Gardner, OF, New York Yankees

FanDuel Price: $2,700

In the same game, Brett Gardner is coming in hot post-All Star Break. He is 8-for-26 since baseball resumed, with a triple, a home run and three runs scored. However, tonight he has to face off against Bumgarner, and with a roster full of lefties, it might get ugly for the Yankees tonight.

Bumgarner has been lights out against lefties, especially this season. They have a .211 wOBA and a 34.3 strikeout rate against him. With lefties owning a hard hit rate of just 23.3 percent against Bumgarner this year, it seems like a night to just lay off Gardner and the rest of the Yankees’ lefties.

Gardner has only a .275 wOBA against left-handers this season, and Bumgarner is not your average lefty. Gardner’s isolated power plummets to .052 against lefties on the year, and his strikeout rate is 21.3 percent against them. With a hard hit rate of just 23.7 percent as well, Gardner is a player to avoid.

Ryan Schimpf, 3B, San Diego Padres

FanDuel Price: $2,200

Speaking of being hot post-All Star Break, Ryan Schimpf has been ripping the cover off the ball as of late. He has an average of 18.7 FanDuel points per game since the break, and he is 7-for-19 with three homers, six RBI, and six runs scored in that six-game stretch. While there will undoubtedly be a heavy amount of Schimpf on DFS rosters Friday night, it might be the day you need to jump off the Schimpf value train.

The reason is he is up against Tanner Roark, who has been outstanding this season for the Nationals. He has been especially good against left-handers, and even though Schimpf is on a roll at a cheap price, he could run into a down day at the plate. Roark owns a .258 wOBA against 235 lefties this season. He has a 20.4 percent strikeout rate against them, and lefties have a slugging percentage of just .271 against Roark.

Schimpf is posting an impressive .401 wOBA against righties, but his average is just .235. Unless he gets ahold of one tonight, it’s hard to see him reaching value despite the low price point. His ownership might negate any solid game he has anyway. With a 26.3 strikeout rate against righties, this is the night to get off the Schimpf value express.