FanDuel Friday, are we ready to party? And by party I mean drink exactly one beer and watch round two of the NFL Draft. Any takers? No? Fine, I guess I’ll do it myself, just like I did this DFS research. Let’s get into it.
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
Pitchers
Corey Kluber, SP: $11,200 — Kluber posted 46 FanDuel points the last time he faced the Mariners, in his first start of the season. While he only posted 34 FanDuel points in his last outing against Baltimore, the Indians are the biggest favorite on the board at -250 and that bodes well for Kluber. While Kluber always has a chance to toss a big game, the upside for value given his current price against the Mariners, who are 11th in the league in wOBA, isn’t really there.
Jacob deGrom, SP: $10,600 — deGrom posted 53 and 55 FanDuel points in his last two outings and now gets to face a Padres lineup that could be without Christian Villanueva. San Diego is 26th in all of baseball in wOBA with a team mark of .291. The Mets are a sizable favorite at -150. He makes the most sense to me if you’re paying up for a starting pitcher in tournaments.
Luis Severino, SP: $10,200 — Severino has been one of the most consistent pitchers to start the season as he’s posted at least 44 FanDuel points in four of his five starts. While he is on the road here against a formidable Angels lineup, the Yankees are favorites at -160. Severino displayed a decent platoon split last year as he allowed a .287 wOBA to left-handed hitters compared to .243 against right-handed hitters, but the Angels don’t have the lefty bats to really take advantage in this one.
Steven Strasburg, SP: $10,100 — Strasburg has posted at least 47 FanDuel points in three of his five starts this season. The Nationals are favorites at -146 and the Diamondbacks are 18th in wOBA this season with a team mark of .312.
Aaron Nola, SP: $8,400 — Nola has posted at least 49 FanDuel points in two of his last three starts. While the Braves are fifth in the league in wOBA with a team mark of .335, the Phillies are a sizable favorite at -172. Nola struck out nine batters in his last outing, but his strikeout percentage is down to 20% from 26% last year. He makes sense in a tournament as he should go overlooked and he’s a home favorite with strikeout upside.
Cheap
Reynaldo Lopez, SP: $7,400 — Lopez has allowed four earned runs in 24 innings (1.50 ERA) over four starts to begin the year. He’s posted at least 37 FanDuel points in three of his four starts. In his last start against the Astros he was limited to five innings, but allowed only one earned run on his way to 18 FanDuel points. The White Sox are slight underdogs at +130, but even with Salvador Perez back behind the plate the Royals lineup isn’t a tough assignment. Kansas City is 24th in all of baseball in wOBA with a team mark of .296.
Drew Pomeranz, SP: $7,200 — Pomeranz posted a mere 23 FanDuel points in his first outing of the season against Oakland, but he was solid last year as he had a 3.32 ERA in 173.2 innings. Pomeranz and the Red Sox are sizable home favorites at -165 against the Rays.
Miles Mikolas, SP: $6,700 — Mikolas posted at least 40 FanDuel points in his last two starts, though each of those starts came against the Reds. This time out he’ll get he Pirates, who are surprisingly eighth in the league in team wOBA. The Cardinals are road favorites at -133. Mikolas makes sense at this price and don’t forget he has strikeout upside as he has a 20-to-1 K:BB ratio on the season.
Hitters
Mike Trout, OF, $5,000 — Trout had been on fire before going 0-for-4 against the Astros on Wednesday. Prior to that he posted at least 21.2 FanDuel points in five straight games. My favorite time to roster Trout is when he’s hot and facing a right-handed pitcher so he makes sense to build around tonight.
Bryce Harper, OF, $4,700 — Last year, Harper hit .322/.433/.654 in 363 plate appearances against right-handed pitching and .317/.410/.546 in 256 plate appearances at home. This year, he’s hitting .298/.493/.702 against right-handed pitching and .281/.455/.594 at home. I think I’m sensing a pattern here.
J.D. Martinez, OF, $4,000 — Martinez homered on his way to 28.7 FanDuel points Thursday night. Last year, Martinez hit .376/.464/.892 in 110 PA against left-handed pitching and he gets to face a southpaw in Blake Snell tonight. Boston is favored and the game carries an over/under of eight and a half so we have to like Martinez here, especially at this price.
Midrange
Aaron Hicks, OF, $3,900 — Hicks hit .312/.389/.514 in 126 plate appearances against left-handed pitching last year. It’s likely he’ll find himself batting leadoff against lefty Andrew Heaney, who has a 9.64 ERA this season, in a game the Yankees, who lead the league in wOBA as a team, are favored.
Rafael Devers, 3B, $3,500 — In a small sample (57 plate appearances) last year, Devers hit .400/.474/.600 against left-handed pitching. So far this season it’s been a different story as he’s hitting .200 in 21 plate appearances against lefties. Aren’t small sample sizes fun? What do you mean by no?
Chris Taylor, OF, $3,100 — Taylor is off to a slow start as he enters Friday hitting .228/.269/.406, but he has a good matchup on tap. Last year, Taylor hit .297/.351/.486 in 151 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. The Dodgers are set to face Derek Holland, who last year allowed a .305/.400/.574 line and 26 home runs to right-handed hitters. Collision course. Even though the Giants play in a pitcher-friendly ballpark, Taylor hit .309/.387/.615 on the road last year so this seems like a good spot for him.
Albert Almora, OF, $3,000 – Last year Almora hit .342/.411/.486 in 125 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. He’ll likely find himself batting leadoff against lefty Brent Suter, who has a 5.68 ERA on the season, in a game where the Cubs are sizable favorites at -182.
Cheap
Delino Deshields Jr., OF, $2,700 – Batting leadoff for the Rangers seems like a good spot to be in on Friday as they face Marcus Stroman, who enters with an 8.55 ERA in 20 innings this season. Deshields is yet to breakout for a big game this season, but this could be a spot for him to get right.
Jake Marisnick, OF, $2,000 – Last year Marisnick hit .266/.349/.468 in 107 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. Despite a lack of regular playing time and a 52% strikeout percentage, he’s hit three home runs already this season. At the minimum salary, Marisnick makes for an intriguing play in tournaments.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Only the Cardinals-Pirates and Rays-Red Sox games will have some rain and neither is in danger of being postponed at the time of this writing. All systems go.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I like the Mets -155, the Rangers +148, and over-8 in the Yankees-Angels game.
