Daily Fantasy Baseball Opening Day Value Plays
Fridge stocked-check, Grill ready to go-check, all that is left now is to set your daily league lineups. We know you are anxious to pop open that first beer and fire up that grill so here are some value plays to help you build your DFS team as quick as it will take you throw back that first can of suds. (All pricing is based on DraftKings).
Penny Pitcher
Sonny Gray ($6,500) was a popular “sleeper” pick in redraft leagues, yet today’s salary does not match the hype nor our expectations for today as he pitches at home against an Indians team that was in the bottom half of the American in terms of OPS against right-handed pitching last season.
Bargain Bats
Dioner Navarro-C ($3,000) had a slash line of .361/.451/.672 against lefties last season with a ridiculous OPS of 1.123, which was fourth best in all of baseball among hitters who had more than 60 at-bats versus left-handed pitching. If you want to get crafty in your GPP contest(s) consider Mariners Mike Zunino who is cheaper than some backup catchers on many sites. (Note: be sure to check that they are in the lineup here MLB Daily Lineups). Update: Navarro is not in the Jays lineup.
Brandon Belt-1B ($3,600) had the 13th highest extra base hit percent last season at 10.5% the same as Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, and Evan Longoria. How is that for company? Belt had the 12th highest slugging percent at .525 over the second half of last season and you get the lefty vs. the righty matchup with Brandon McCarthy.
Conor Gillaspie-3B ($3,400) you get the lefty versus the unimposing righty Ricky Nolasco who Gillaspie went 2-for-3 against in their one matchup last season (for what that is worth). 12 of Gillaspie’s 13 home runs came against righties and he hit a home run at home about 22% of the time compared to over 45% per at-bat on the road in his rookie season last year. Gillaspie is batting in the 3-hole today, which increases his value even more. (If Gillaspie is too risky for you then consider Fat Panda Pablo Sandoval who has a favorable matchup against DBacks Brandon McCarthy in hitter friendly Chase Field).
Chase Utley-2B ($4,100) finished last season strong posting his highest batting of average of any month with a .349 September BA (30-for-86). Today’s game is in hitter friendly Rangers Ballpark against an unproven righty in Tanner Scheppers. Vegas sees this PHI at TEX, along with BOS at BAL, as the highest scoring games and with Cliff Lee toeing the slab for the Phillies that means they expect the Philly bats to blast Scheppers.
Mike Carp-OF ($3,300) is no fish versus right-handed pitching as he hit eight of his nine home runs with a slash line of .300/.367/.537 versus righties in 2013. The .537 slugging percent was sixth highest in the majors last season among players that saw a minimum of 190 at-bats. Add in the fact that today’s game is in Camaden Yards which yielded the second-highest home run rate to right-handed hitters in 2013 and he will be batting fifth in the Red Sox order against Chris Tillman who served up more dongs at home last year than the average hot dog vender (1.98 home HR/9). (Other options with a favorable matchup to consider are Carp’s teammate Daniel Nava, Phillies Marlon Byrd and/or Dominic Brown vs. Rangers Tanner Scheppers. Another popular outfield play will be Marlins Jeff Baker if he is in the lineup).
Alright, now you can pop that top on that pilsner and cheers from us at Fantasy Alarm on this hopefully soon to be national holiday we call Opening Day. We look forward to helping you dominate daily league play all season long through our array of DFS articles and tools like our MLB Daily Projections, Batter vs. Pitcher tables, Weather Reports, Lineup Alarms, and our Assistant G.M which are all located in the MLB section of our hompage.