DFS MLB Hitting Coach: July 21

Since there are only two early games today, we will be shifting our focus to the 7-game evening slate that will have a roster lock of 7:05 PM ET. 

Thankfully, we didn’t have any weather issues yesterday. It should be more of the same for tonight’s slate outside of some mild showers in Chicago. 

Pretty straight forward slate otherwise tonight, outside of, oh yeah, Coors Field. 

Today’s tables do not include stats from yesterday’s games (stats did not update by the time of the original post). 

Nevertheless, let’s just jump right into it with tonight’s featured hitters.

J.T. Realmuto has 10 stolen bases at the catcher position and has three of those stolen bases over his last six games. He’s also quite productive against righties, batting .347/.381/.453 with four of his five home runs. 

A.J. Pierzynski is only $3100 on FanDuel on a night where he’ll be in Coors, facing Chad Bettis who he has gone 4-for-8 (.500 AVG) with a homer and double against in their previous meetings. 

Kurt Suzuki is the knuckleball killer that no one knows about. According to PITCHf/x, he’s the 3rd best active catcher against the knuckleball. Always a good price and should be able to provide good salary relief. 

David Ortiz gets another matchup at Fenway against a right-handed pitcher. You know the drill. 

Miguel Cabrera is definitely slumping but we’ll put that to the test tonight as he faces James “Bartolo Colon” Shields. Cabrera is 20-for-57 (.351 AVG) with two homers and nine doubles, lifetime, against Shields. 

Wil Myers is perfect in two career at-bats against Adam Wainwright and has even homered against the veteran Cardinals right-hander. 

Chris Carter’s game matches up quite well against Francisco Liriano’s repertoire of mostly two-seam fastballs and sliders. I know people tend to be hesitant to play Carter because of his terrible contact rate, but I don’t  mind playing him with the right matchup. 

DJ LeMahieu has gone 5-for-7 (.714 AVG) throughout his career against the fireballer Michael Foltynewicz. 

Ian Kinsler doesn’t have the greatest history against James Shields, but granted, most of his bats were against him when he was good. Still, I think he matches up quite well against Shields, and does have a history of power, hitting three homers in 53 at-bats against the veteran right-hander.

Brian Dozier has always been solid against the knuckleball and is a true bargain on DraftKings tonight. 

Todd Frazier is a mess but it doesn’t change the fact that he has homered in three consecutive games. Amazingly, he does have a great matchup against Mike Pelfrey, who throws predominately sinkers, which usually feasts on. 

Danny Valencia went DOUBLE DONG earlier this season against Matt Moore and is now batting .455/.500/1.182 against the Rays southpaw throughout his career. 

Ryan Schimpf has seven home runs in just 27 games this season. Six of those homers have come over his last 10 games and two of those were from each of the games in yesterday’s doubleheader. Keep in mind, he’s only eligible at 2B on DraftKings now. 

Jonathan Villar will be a little pricey tonight, but I do picture him having one of his typical games where he reaches base three times and steals a base. He’s better against lefties and matches up well against Francisco Liriano. 

Trevor Story is the hottest Rockies bat in an otherwise ice cold lineup. Over his last 30 games, he is batting .278/.402/.557 with seven home runs. 

Xander Bogaerts went 3-for-3 with a home run the last time he faced Tyler Duffey. He is relatively affordable throughout the industry thanks to his little slump, but he should be fine, especially with tonight’s short slate. 

Jedd Gyorko has basically murdered his former team in 2016. This series alone, he is 7-for-10 (.700 AVG) with four homers, five runs, and six RBIs. He is the first player since 1929 to homer against a team in five games in a row in one season. 

Charlie Blackmon hasn’t hit one out of the park in awhile but  he has quietly put forth a 12-game hitting streak. 

Starling Marte is a little too expensive for my taste on DraftKings, but is a pretty good value on FanDuel. He is 2nd in the National League in steals with 33, and happens to have nine steals in 10 games. His .424 OBP over his last seven games certainly helps that cause. 

Christian Yelich has a 7-game hitting streak where he has gone 11-for-29 (.379 AVG) with a homer, two doubles, and seven RBIs. Can consider Marcell Ozuna here as well, but I feel Yelich matches up better against Eickhoff. 

Jackie Bradley Jr. should be all over Tyler Duffey’s knucklecurve, which is a pitch Bradley excels against and a pitch that Duffey throws close to 40 percent of the time. 

Nick Markakis has reached base safely two times or more in four of his last six games. 

Adam Eaton has batted .417/.462/.583 over 13 career plate appearances against Mike Pelfrey. 

Randal Grichuk happens to be the only Cardinals hitter to ever homer against Andrew Cashner. He has four home runs in his last 10 games after spending the last couple months in Triple A. 

Khris Davis tends to be someone you only want to roster in GPPs but his price on FanDuel is cheap enough where if you want his major upside, I don’t mind it. 

Melky Cabrera is a great value tonight even though he has been swinging a very hot bat. He was just a homer shy of a cycle in yesterday’s matinee against the Mariners and gets a great matchup against Mike Pelfrey. 

Oswaldo Arcia matches up very well against Sonny Gray and has gone 2-for-5 (.400 AVG) with a homer against him in limited meetings. The price is great but the only drawback is really the likelihood that he gets subbed if a lefty comes in. 

Brandon Guyer’s status a little bit of a question mark, but the odds are pretty good that he’ll be in the lineup considering he has homered twice against Sonny Gray in just four career at-bats. 

Be sure to keep an eye on the Fantasy Alarm Daily Lineups page to confirm that your players are starting.

If you guys have any questions, you can always reach me on Twitter @kle18. Good luck!