DFS MLB Hitting Coach: April 11

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We’re back today with 11 games on tap, with five games on the early slate, and six games on the late slate. 

 

I must say, I’ve had a SCORCHING hot start to the season. For baseball, I highly prefer FanDuel’s scoring and salaries, and I am fortunate to say that I went 7-1 last week with my cash game lineups (played one early slate, too). I am debating on whether or not it would be a good idea to start writing a weekly article breaking down my approach to the lineup construction and some game theory in my cash game lineups, but I’m not sure if there’s much interest in that. If you are interested, drop me a line below in the comments!

 

Nonetheless, a small part of the success has been avoiding some of the land mines when it comes to weather. I completely avoided some of the riskier games even if it ended up hurting me (for instance, Coors Field yesterday, though, I was able to overcome it with some good plays elsewhere). 

 

In terms of weather, I know it’s a bit early, but it really doesn’t look like there’s anything that should be causing some major problems today. The only game that may have a bit of rain in play is in Philadelphia, and I’d say the showers should be scattered and will eventually clear up. Keep a close eye on it though, just in case. 

 

For today’s hitting coach, I will make sure to list at least a couple players at each position for each slate. Players will be listed from highest to lowest in terms of FanDuel salary. 

 

Let’s go!

 

 

 

Matt Wieters is 15-for-44 (.368 AVG) with seven XBHs against David Price of the Red Sox. 

 

Victor Martinez is a switch hitter who has performed slightly better from the right-side of the plate against southpaws throughout his career. As you’re going to notice, I’m not too fond of Jon Niese today in Comerica. 

 

 

Salvador Perez is coming off of a solid series against the Twins where he went 4-for-15 (.267) with two doubles and a triple. He’ll also get a slight park upgrade with the game in Houston tonight at Minute Maid Park. 

 

Stephen Vogt faces Nick Tropeano of the Angels who has constantly struggled maintaining his control in the Majors. He is very disciplined at the plate and makes good contact.

 

 

 

David Ortiz’s retirement tour takes him back home to Fenway for the first time this season. He has an outstanding matchup against Yovani Gallardo, who he has had the upper-hand against, going 4-for-7 (.571 AVG) with a homer and no strikeouts. 

 

Ryan Howard tends to be forgotten in DFS, but you can’t ignore the power that he puts on the table. Andrew Cashner is terrible away from Petco, and allows twice as many homers on the road (six vs. 13).

 

Joe Mauer has had a good start to the season, and gets a decent matchup in a lefty-vs-lefty situation against Jose Quintana (I’m not shy about doing this in GPPs). He is 10-for-29 (.345 AVG) and has a couple homeruns against Jose Quintana throughout his career. 

 

 

Ryan Zimmerman is 6-for-17 (.353 AVG) with three bombs and nine RBIs against Bud Norris. 

 

Lucas Duda has two doubles and three walks in nine career plate appearances against Jarred Cosart. Most importantly, he has yet to strikeout against the young right-hander.

 

Adam Lind probably isn’t a good option tonight for your cash games with two reasonably priced guys available in Zimmerman and Duda, but he can be a option for your Mariners GPP stack, given his career line of .292/.353/.508 against righties. 

 

 

 

Ian Kinsler has been getting the job done at the leadoff spot, scoring at least one run in each of his four games this season.

 

Dustin Pedroia could make a good mini-stack option with Big Papi. He is 5-for-12 (.417 AVG) against Gallardo with a homer.  

 

 

Robinson Cano homered four times in Texas in the opening series of the season, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does it again tonight at Safeco. He is 8-for-21 (.381 AVG) and has a homer against Colby Lewis of the Rangers.

 

Daniel Murphy has homered off of Bud Norris before, but more importantly, he has gone 6-for-13 (.462 AVG) with five walks and five RBIs in his last four games.

 

Brandon Phillips is 5-for-12 (.417 AVG) throughout his career against Jon Lester. Most importantly, I’m a huge fan of how aggressive Reds Manager Bryan Price is on the base paths. It drives Lester crazy, and makes him vulnerable considering he is incapable of throwing to first base. 

 

 

 

Manny Machado is on FIRE. He has homered in three straight games, and went 4-for-4 yesterday against the Rays. 

 

Nick Castellanos has been much better throughout his career against left-handed pitching. He has put up a line of .288/.351/.455 against southpaws, and happens to face a weak lefty today in Jon Niese. 

 

 

Kyle Seager is 10-for-29 (.345 AVG) with two homeruns against Colby Lewis. 

 

Adrian Beltre generally prefers hitting against lefties, but he has done a fine job against Hisashi Iwakuma, going 12-for-39 (.308 AVG) with three homers. 

 

Anthony Rendon has great value hitting in the 2-hole in front of Harper and Zimmerman. He has five hits in his last two games, and looks locked in for the first time in awhile. 

 

 

 

Xander Bogaerts has an extra-base hit in each of his last three games, and easily provides the biggest upside at shortstop in the early slate.

 

Jose Iglesias has three straight multi-hit games, and gets to face a weak lefty in Jon Niese. Iglesias has batted .313/.369/.435 against lefties in his career. 

 

 

Carlos Correa is going to be a guy you’re going to really have to pay up for if you want him in your lineups, but with the shortstop position exceedingly thin tonight, it may be a good idea to get exposure to him going up against Chris Young. 

 

Zack Cozart has been doing a surprisingly solid job at the leadoff spot. He has hits in every game this season, and will be part of #TeamExploitJonLester tonight. 

 

 

 

Justin Upton is a career .272/.379/.505 against left-handed pitching, and faces Jonathan Niese who is 9-for-27 (.333) against in his career. 

 

Mark Trumbo hasn’t been able to show off his huge power this season, but that could change today against David Price with the Green Monster in play. Trumbo is 7-for-19 (.368 AVG) with a homer against Price throughout his career.

 

Odubel Herrera is an interesting punt play today. He should continue to hit from the 3-hole, where he was able to hit his first homer of the season yesterday against the Mets. He homered last season against Andrew Cashner, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he does it again. 

 

Jeremy Hazelbaker is another good punt play who packs a lot of upside on the base paths. He has driven in at least one run and scored one run in each of his last four games, and has stolen a base in each of his last two games. 

 

 

Dexter Fowler has been light’s out this season, and is much better when he is facing lefties. He has posted a line of .325/.411/.459 against southpaws compared to .240/.345/.388 against righties over the last three seasons.

 

Josh Reddick is 2-for-5 with a double in limited at-bats against Nick Tropeano of the Angels. He is coming off of a heck of a series against the Mariners, where he homered twice and reached base six times in 12 plate appearances. 

 

Billy Hamilton is just rarely ever in play for cash games, but he’s definitely in play when he faces Jon Lester. Hamilton isn’t the best hitter, but he obviously has Lester’s mind racing when he’s at the plate because he went 4-for-5 against the veteran southpaw last season, and stole six bases. 

 

Michael Conforto went 2-for-2 with two doubles against Jarred Cosart last season. A lot of people don’t care for BvP when there’s a small sample size, but I don’t mind it as much as long as the guy actually CRUSHED the ball, and as long as the other splits are favorable, and as long as he consistently made good contact (e.g. 4-for-7 with all singles and two K’s doesn’t have as much value to me).