DFS MLB Hitting Coach: August 19

Catcher

Cash Play:  Out of the higher priced catchers, Wilson Contreras and Yasmani Grandal are both in great matchups tonight.  Grandal is cheaper on FD and Aces, and is my preferred play. He went deep last night to make give him four HR’s in his last eight hits.  While the Dodgers have a high run total, the Cubs have the highest tonight, and are priced that way.  Not sure what the ownership levels will look like between Contreras, Grandal, and Lucroy, but think Contreras may be better used for gpp’s tonight. 

GPP plays:  Both players listed above are in play as well as Jonathan Lucroy, who is also very much in play for cash games.  He broke out of an 0-9 slump with a double and homer last night.  Mike Zuzino went deep last night, and faces a lefty making his debut tonight.  Although I’m not a huge fan, it’s tough to ignore that J.T. Realmuto is 6-8 lifetime vs Cole.  Gary Sanchez is 8-14 with 4 HR’s over his last four games, and gets to face Weaver tonight.  If he happens to be moved up in the lineup, I can see hm being a nice punt option for cash games.

Value Plays: Anthony Recker is 4-9 with a HR off Roark, and is near minimum price across the board.  His last hit, a week ago, went for a HR so the power is there.  Both Zuzino and Sanchez make for great salary relief options on Aces. 

First Base

Cash Plays:  Anthony Rizzo is a top play, but his price is just too high to roster except for maybe on DK.  For $1,400 less on FD, I’ll look to target Adrian Gonzalez.  He gets a nice matchup against a weak righty at Cincy, and on a nice 11 game hit streak.  On DK, I like the $1,000 plus discount from the top priced guys to Jose Abreu.  Abreu is 2-3 with a HR off Graveman, and has at least 2 hits in 6 of last 12 games. 

GPP Plays: The two listed above are in play for gpp’s, and will also be adding Joey Votto and Freddie Freeman as targets as I did the on Wednesday.  Freeman is 11-28 off Roark, and on a six game hit streak with HR’s in four of those games.  Votto is 5-15 with a HR off Norris, and has reached base in 13 straight games.  Brandon Belt is the coldest hitter out of the group, but gets a nice matchup vs a weak righty, and the Giants are scoring some runs again lately. 

Value Play:  Belt provides relief on DK, but on the other sites I like Marwin Gonzalez as a value play.  He’s 5-12 with a HR off Miley, and looking to break out of a 1-10 slump.  The one hit was a HR though.

Second Base  

Cash plays:  Second base is stacked tonight with my top plays being DJ LaMahieu and Daniel Murphy.  LeMahieu is coming off a 9-12 series against Washington, and slugging .500 in 11 AB’s vs Hendricks.  Murphy is 8-20 with a HR and 6 walks vs Teheran, and has reached base safely in his last 7 games.  LaMahieu is my preferred play, and will be the more popular one.    

GPP plays: Robinson Cano, Jose Altuve, and Ian Kinsler are in just as good as spots as the two listed above, but can’t list everyone as cash plays, and feel these three fit better in gpps.  Cano went deep last night after a 3 hit performance the night before.  Once again, the lefty/lefty matchup doesn’t bother me since Suter shouldn’t last too long.  Altuve would be the one of the three I would play in cash games, but on FD only.  He is 11-18 with a HR off Miley, and has doubled in 5 of his last 7 games.  I’m not a huge fan of the Tiger’s tonight, but Kinsler is in play with his 7-13 lifetime average and .765 slugging off Porcello.

Value Plays:  There is not much value currently at second that I feel is worth the risk.  Joe Panik has a nice matchup vs a righty, has hit safely in seven of last eight games, and is about the cheapest I’m looking at for second tonight.

Third Base

Cash Plays:  Kris Bryant is once again the top 3B tonight in my opinion, but his price tag may be hard to fit him in. He’s entering Coors off a 5-5 with 2 HR’s game.  I wouldn’t suggest paying $6,100 on Aces, but feel his ownership will be extremely high on FD, and possibly even DK.  If not on Bryant, I suggest going cheap with either Ryon Healy or Hernon Perez.  Both come with much more risk than Bryant, but provide salry relief to get other big bats in.  Perez is 3B eligible on DK and is 10-31 with 4 HR’s over his last eight games.  You never really know which Shields will show up, but Healy has recording 2 hits in each of his past 3 games.

GPP plays:  Bryant is my favorite gpp play, but I like Kyle Seager in a Seattle stack tonight.  He has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, and makes for great combo with Cano, Cruz, and possibly O’Malley. 

Value Play:  Healy is my favorite value at third, but Eugenio Suarez will probably go extremely low owned tonight.  The Reds have been playing well lately, and if Suarez bats 5^th, he may have multiple opportunities to produce tonight.   

Shortstop

Cash Plays:  With each position being stacked tonight, SS would usually be with go to punt position with catcher, but Corey Seager and Javier Baez are another two players that are hard to ignore tonight.  Seager is on a nine game hit streak, with at least 2 hits in seven of those games.  He gets the ballpark bump and righty pitcher tonight as well.  Baez has been crushing lefties all year, and gets an even bigger park bump than Seager.  He checks in as the cheapest FD option for Cub’s players tonight, and will be the popular play there by far I feel.    

GPP Plays: For gpp’s, SS does have some salary relief options and high risk plays.  Not as much as a salary relief play on FD, but a great pivot off Baez there is Brandon Crawford.  For roughly the same price on FD, everyone will be on Baez, which leaves you with a late night hammer in Crawford.  He is starting to heat up with 5 hits over his last two games, and gets a weak righty matchup tonight.  Great DK price as well.  Speaking of DK, Freddy Galvis has a pretty high price tag there compared to FD.  He’s reached base in 11 straight, and 3-9 lifetime off Wainwright.  Should be less than 2% owned on DK.             

Value Play:   J.J. Hardy probably had his one good game for the week last night with his 2 HR night, but is 3-6 off McHugh, and continues to be cheap.  A cheap option batting towards the top of their lineup is Orlando Arcia.  He does have the highest risk though with only 1 hit in his last 20 AB’s.  Best used in a sneaky Brewer’s stack only. 

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Outfield

Cash Plays:  Once again there are multiple solid routes to go with your outfielders tonight. The Cubs are all in play, and depending on who Madden starts between Soler and Heyward, I feel either one will have a nice game.  On the flip side of that game Cargo is in play with a high price, but Charlie Blackmon is still one of the hottest hitters currently.  He is 3-8 off Hendricks, and during his current 12 game hit streak, he has at least one XBH in 8 of them with also 9 HR’s during that span.  No player can equal Blackmon’s stats, but Nelson Cruz gets to face a righty making his MLB debut, and has homered in 4 of his last 8 games.  For a cheap option, Shawn O’Malley is my preferred Seattle OF play if leading off again.  His four game hit streak ended last night, but in a nice position to pay off his cheap salary tonight.  Bryce Harper and Ryan Braun are both roughly the same price in plus matchups for them.  Harper has owned the lefty Teheran throughout his career going 12-28 with 5 HR’s.  He finally went deep for the first time in August the other night, and hopefully will do it again.  Braun is 4-7 off LeBlanc, and before being shut out by the Cubs, Braun with hitting homers in four straight series. 

GPP Plays:  All of the above are gpp plays as well, just like Andrew McCutchen and   Christain Yelich can be cash plays.  McCutchen has been hitting the ball well in August with another 2 hits in each of his last three games, and is 4-7 with a HR off Koehler.  In the same game, Yelich is 5-11 with 2 HR’s off Cole.  Tommy Pham is in play on FD only I feel if leading off for the Cards tonight.  His last three hits have went for two doubles and a HR. 

Value Plays: Plenty of value plays tonight at OF, and sure more will open up when lineups come out.  For now, I like Mitch Haniger the most.  His is minimum priced on Aces, and a great play there.  Haniger is 6-13 since his call up with a double, triple, and 5 RBI’s.  For a much higher risk, Mike Mahtook may make it in the Ray’s lineup tonight.  He is at the absolute minimum priced player on FD and DK.  Rostering him should be for salary relief only as he hasn’t recorded a hit since August 9^th.