DFS MLB Hitting Coach: May 16

With tonight’s 8-game slate, we finally have a shorter slate to work with, after going through some monstrous slates as of late. Even though the player pool is narrowing down, I am still going to provide you all plenty of options that will be sure to help with your lineup construction.

Unfortunately, even with just eight games in play, the forecasts definitely suggests that the Red Sox/Royals game is unlikely to play, and it also calls for rain bothering the Twins/Tigers game. I am still including players from both games in case they do play. There’s some very good matchups to look at.

I’m also going to continue to include my plethora of advanced statistics in our Hitting Coach tables. This includes some of my favorite stats to consider, such as Z-Contact, Hard Hit%, and ISO. 

And again, as a reminder, players are organized from highest to lowest salary using FanDuel pricing. As a reminder though, if you guys have any questions, please comment below, or reach me on Twitter @kle18. 

Victor Martinez continues to be a premium option at catcher on FanDuel, which is obviously the only site he’s eligible at as a catcher. He is 13-for-25 (.520 AVG) over his last six games, and is looking a lot like the 2014 version of Victor Martinez. 

J.T. Realmuto provides some power upside combined with a solid .314 batting average, which is something we aren’t seeing too much of this season at the catcher’s position. He is also swinging the ball very well, batting .362/.356/.500 with a home run over his last 15 games. 

Russell Martin’s .168 batting average will go up eventually. All of his advanced statistics has been well-below what we’re usually accustomed to seeing from him at the plate. Still, there’s a lot of promising things that we’re seeing. He has reached base safely in four consecutive games (first time this season), and is still hitting in a spot that calls for a lot of run producing opportunities because of the Blue Jays’ potent lineup. 

Tyler Flowers will likely be batting in the cleanup spot tonight against Jon Niese of the Pirates. He has not been hitting for much power, but when he is making contact with the ball, it is very hard contact. The power will come eventually. Don’t forget, he hit 15 homers just two seasons ago with the White Sox.

David Ortiz continues to kill the ball the way that any ordinary 40-year-old veteran wouldn’t. Believe it or not, he is currently on track to have his best year EVER at the plate. His .453 wOBA obviously unreal and his 47.6% Hard Hit Rate is good enough to be the 2nd best in MLB in both categories. 

Miguel Cabrera is finally delivering what we expect from his high price tag throughout the industry. He has homered in back-to-back games, and has gone 12-for-33 (.364 AVG) at the plate over his last nine games. Jose Berrios has shown that he is very vulnerable in the big leagues, and it certainly shows with Vegas having the Tigers with the most projected runs tonight. 

Justin Bour will be featured in my articles for one reason only: his power. Any time he makes contact with the ball, it has a good chance of going out of the park. He has homered three times in his last eight games, and he gets a park boost at Citizens Bank Park in Philly. 

Adrian Gonzalez is heating up again, and is at a great price point on FanDuel at just $2900. While Matt Shoemaker has been worse against righties this season, he is allowing 2.40 HR/9 against lefties, and hasn’t been able to get his split-finger fastball to be as effective as it was back in 2014.

Ian Kinsler is just another name we’re targeting to pick on Jose Berrios of the Twins. He is actually hitting the ball extremely well right now, and has gone 13-for-41 (.317 AVG) with two homers, four doubles, and 10 runs scored over his last 10 games. 

Chase Utley, believe it or not, is one of the most productive leadoff hitters in baseball. He has batted .299/.390/.458 at leadoff this season with two homers, two triples, and seven doubles in 107 at-bats. 

Starlin Castro seems to be more comfortable in a Yankees uniform than he has in recent years in Chicago. But what he really excels at is hitting against southpaws. This season, he is showing that skill by batting .298/.353/.468 against lefties, and should matchup well against Robbie Ray of the D-Backs. 

Cesar Hernandez has been hit or miss this season, but he has been getting the job done throughout his career against left-handed pitching, batting .290/.342/.348. While there are far better options available tonight, with the short slate, I feel he’s a great option if you’re looking to safe some salary. 

Josh Donaldson got ejected from yesterday’s Royal Rumble with the Rangers, but he did not get punched out by Rougned Odor, so he should be good to go tonight. That’s a good thing, because he is 7-for-14 (.500 AVG) with three homers, two doubles, and a stolen base against Drew Smyly in his career. I think he’s a prime target if you’re looking to pay up tonight. 

Evan Longoria homered off of J.A. Happ a few weeks back, and is in the middle of an incredible run, where he has gone 6-for-16 (.375 AVG) with a homer and four doubles over his last four games. 

Jung-Ho Kang is on pace to outproduce the 2015 version of Jung-Ho Kang by a large margin. He is making an insane amount of contact with the ball, which of course means, he isn’t strikeout as much. His price is also very reasonable for the type of upside he provides. He will not be very highly owned, but I’m okay with him in all formats. 

Danny Valencia was an absolute beast yesterday against the Rays, going TRIPLE DONG, sending all of his owners past the cash line. To be honest, he is always a beast against left-handed pitching, and has hit five homers in his last three, and has gone 11-for-24 (.458 AVG) at the plate over this last seven games. 

Corey Seager is looking like what we saw back in September when he was taking the baseball world by storm. He hit two homers in last night’s game against he Cardinals, which was the first two-homer game of his career. On top of that, he has gone 11-for-25 (.440 AVG) with four homers, and six RBIs over his last six games. 

Troy Tulowitzki just continues to bring it, and he is silencing all of the haters while he’s at it. Over his last five games, he has gone 8-for-20 (.400 AVG) with three homers, three doubles, seven runs, and seven RBIs. He is still very affordable on both FanDuel and DraftKings. 

Elvis Andrus gets a matchup against Sean Manaea, who has been terrible through his short stint in the majors this season. Andrus is simply a consistent bat at a reasonable price, and his numbers of .333/.360/.542 against lefties suggests that he’ll be productive tonight against the weak lefty. 

Marcus Semien will never be highlighted in my articles for anything other than his power. His .217 batting average is terrible, but his nine home runs this season are the most of any player at the shortstop position. With home runs making a huge impact with the new scoring systems on FanDuel and Aces (no negatives for outs/strikeouts), I prefer him more than I did last season. 

Andrew McCutchen has been on point since getting off to a slow start this season. Over his last nine games, he has gone 13-for-39 (.333 AVG) with two homers, four doubles, seven runs, and four RBIs. He also gets to return home to PNC Park, where he has batted .313/.402/.517 over the course of his career.

Mookie Betts has five multi-hit games in his last nine, and is in the middle of a 7-game hitting streak, where he has gone 11-for-35 (.314 AVG) with two homers, a triple, two doubles, nine runs, and a whopping 10 RBIs. 

Ian Desmond has been killing it, and he has been rewarded by being moved up in the batting order. He is batting .316/.365/.579 in the month of May, and he happens to crush lefties to the tune of .351/.415/.676 with three of his five home runs in just 37 at-bats. I think he has a mighty good chance to go yard tonight against Sean Manaea, who is giving up a laughable .540 wOBA to right-handed batters this season. 

Marcell Ozuna has been the Marlins most consistent hitter. Of their big three in the outfield of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yellch, and Ozuna, he actually tends to be ignored the most from a DFS standpoint, likely because he hits so low in the lineup. Still, that should be ignored, because he is killing the ball right now, and has scored runs in seven straight, and has base hits in 14 straight. 

Kole Calhoun is hitting on front of Mike Trout again, and it really shows in his recent numbers. Over his last five games, he has gone 8-for-18 (.444 AVG) with a home run and seven RBIs. 

Michael Saunders will likely still get the nod in a lefty-versus-lefty situation with Drew Smyly of the Rays. He has performed well against lefties this season, but he has also been a star when facing Smyly, going 3-for-6 (.500 AVG) with a couple home runs in their previous meetings. Again, I don’t mind going lefty-versus-lefty with your lineups, as long as the numbers justify it. 

Brandon Guyer amazingly went double dong against a right-handed pitcher yesterday, but he usually hits way better against left-handed pitching. batting .281/.379/.435 against southpaws over his last three seasons. 

Steven Souza Jr. is 4-for-9 (.444 AVG) with a homer and two doubles, lifetime, against J.A. Happ of the Blue Jays. I haven’t been highlighting him as much because of Steve Pearce’s prowess against lefties lately, but he has been very productive as well throughout the season. 

Steve Pearce completes the trio of Rays outfielders I’m targeting tonight. He has oddly had very low ownership in these matchups against lefties, and that’s probably because his name is Steve Pearce and not Evan Longoria. But you CANNOT ignore the fact that he has hit for .394/.444/.818 with four homers and 10 RBIs in just 33 at-bats against southpaws this season. He has been a solid 8-for-24 (.333 AVG) with three homers against J.A. Happ throughout his career.

Yasiel Puig gets a juicy matchup against a train wreck in Matt Shoemaker. Puig is not only cheap, but he gets to face a pitcher who is allowing a horrific line of .391/.453/.587 to right-handed hitters this season. Yes, if he wasn’t this cheap, we wouldn’t consider him this closely, but let’s face it, he has so much potential tonight with Matt Shoemaker on the hill. 

Ryan Rua has been getting starts against lefties AND righties lately because of his production, but he obviously performs better against southpaws. This season, he is batting .409/.435/.545 with a homer in just 22 at-bats against lefties, and gets a very weak lefty in Sean Manaea tonight in Oakland. 

Steven Moya will be one of my favorite value plays tonight. Since coming up from the minors, he has gone 6-for-15 (.400) with a triple and two doubles. He had a huge start in AAA Toledo where he batted .310/.341/.627 with nine homers in 126 at-bats. Best of all, Jose Berrios has been awful against lefties, allowing a line of .387/.441/.581.

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!