Daily Batter Breakdown: Friday, June 12th

by Jon Schiller (Varncass) Last Updated 2015-06-15 23:11:07

Welcome to the Daily Batter Breakdown. Whenever there are at least eight games on the night slate, I’ll break down some of the best top tier hitters to target based on matchup.

The biggest split taken into account will be left/right, but each player card will also show park factors, player salaries on FanDuel and DraftKings among other sites, and then a description of why I’ll be targeting him.

		Robinson Chirinos
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.254	0.833	7.02%	0.364
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.105	0.255	0.00%	0.123
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Milone – LEFT		0.281	0.802	3.89%	0.351
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.052	0.000	$2,600	$6,500	$3,700	$58,300

Robinson Chirinos

Chirinos is cheap everywhere and I am going to keep riding him to victory against LHP until the majority of the industry catches on. He has a .405 wOBA and a .306 ISO and one of the best chances to hit homers out against LHP. He will likely bat close to cleanup tonight against Milone. Milone has not been good against righties in his career, but especially not this year with a .410 wOBA allowed and a 5.45 xFIP in the short amount of innings he has pitched. Chirinos is my favorite catcher play today.

		Albert Pujols
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.271	0.793	4.49%	0.342
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.333	1.151	11.11%	0.486
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Chavez – RIGHT		0.238	0.665	2.70%	0.295
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.919	0.000	$3,900	$10,550	$4,400	$90,800

Albert Pujols

Pujols is smoking hot right now and still one of the cheaper plays at first base. I am not enamored with his matchup against Chavez, but Pujols has great numbers against righties and is one of the best hitters against right-handed pitchers from the right side of the plate. His career .407 wOBA and .975 OPS are nice numbers, and while he is on the decline, his numbers this year are indicative of those numbers and he is seeing the ball extremely well. I would like a better matchup than Chavez, who has been solid this year, but Pujols is somewhat matchup proof when he is on.

		Dee Gordon
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.314	0.755	0.34%	0.332
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.259	0.593	0.00%	0.258
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Kendrick – RIGHT		0.290	0.876	4.17%	0.379
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.014	0.000	$3,200	$7,550	$4,600	$71,200

Dee Gordon

I have noticed Gordon’s price and ownership decline as his batting average comes crashing down to earth lately. His stolen bases have decreased as well, but I love the matchup and the price tonight, especially on FanDuel against Kendrick. Gordon’s .364 wOBA is nice for someone with no power who relies a lot on stolen bases for points. This is especially true against Kendrick, who has allowed a .424 wOBA against lefties and is pretty easy to steal on.

		Evan Longoria
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.293	0.867	3.31%	0.372
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.364	1.189	9.09%	0.485
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Danks – LEFT		0.282	0.847	4.03%	0.369
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.002	0.000	$3,100	$7,900	$3,800	$66,600

Evan Longoria

Yes, Longoria has been terrible, and yes, he is coming off a wrist injury. But I cannot pass up the price, especially on DraftKings today. Danks has allowed a .411 wOBA to right-handed hitters this year and it does not get better when you look at his career numbers. Longo has been a lefty masher throughout his career and represents one of the top values at third base today against one of the worst pitchers.

		Jung-Ho Kang
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.283	0.746	1.89%	0.331
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.235	0.551	0.00%	0.258
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Correia – RIGHT
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.977	0.000

Jung-Ho Kang

Look who’s back! Our favorite punching bag, Kevin Correia makes another MLB appearance for the worst team in baseball. The Buccos have a 4.5 projected total in PNC park, which should be taken into consideration, as Vegas obviously sees Correia as a likely candidate to get knocked around. Kang has been better against lefties this year, but is definitely cheap on all sites and should be in the middle of the Pirates’ lineup. There are not a lot of great cheap SS plays and I think that Kang brings almost as much value today as guys like Tulo and Hanley.

		Starling Marte
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.283	0.797	3.08%	0.352
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.227	0.82	9.09%	0.358
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Correia – RIGHT		0.291	0.000		0.348
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.977	0.000	$3,800	$9,100	$4,900	$80,000

Starling Marte

Marte has been one of the top hitters for the Pirates this year and gets to face Correia tonight. Marte is hot and Correia has never been good against righties, having an xFIP consistently over 4 and a wOBA in the .350s for the last few years. Marte has not been good against righties so far this season, but if he gets on, it increases his SB ability. I am counting on Correia being terrible and Marte’s ownership being down, but I think he’s a solid gamble today.

		Giancarlo Stanton
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.270	0.911	7.29%	0.387
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.360	1.345	16.00%	0.559
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Kendrick – RIGHT		0.255	0.729	3.29%	0.321
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.014	0.000	$5,200	$13,050	$5,700	$103,400

Giancarlo Stanton

You’ll have to pay big bucks, but for the top guy on the top projected scoring team of the night, there is definitely something here. Not to mention that Stanton is the hottest hitter in the majors right now, and he’s facing Kyle Kendrick, who usually gets knocked for being terrible against lefties, but isn’t good against righties either. Kendrick is lucky this game is not in Coors, but he has to face Stanton in Miami, where he bombs a good number of HRs against righties. This is a recipe for disaster for the Colorado pitcher.

		Steven Souza Jr.
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Danks – LEFT
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.002	0.000		$7,250	$4,100

Steven Souza Jr.

I talked a bit above on how horrible that Danks has been against right-handers this year, and he faces a lineup that is not that intimidating in general, but hits lefties extremely well. With Longoria and Souza in the lineup, there are deep threats all around, and while Souza has a terrible average, he has a .401 wOBA and a .313 ISO, which indicate tons of power. His BABIP shows a little regression is due, so he should actually get better from where he is. If he is in the top five guys today in the Rays’ lineup, he is a plug and play for me.

		Yasiel Puig
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.301	0.886	3.23%	0.388
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.600	1.625	6.67%	0.688
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Despaigne – RIGHT		0.237	0.651	2.24%	0.290
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.826	0.000	$4,400	$11,100	$4,300	$80,600

Yasiel Puig

Puig has settled into the two-hole in the Dodgers lineup and boy is he hot right now. He has came back from the DL on fire and I do not expect that to stop. His salary is affordable, especially on DraftKings, where he is one of the cheaper outfielders today. Yes, you would like to have him against a lefty in a perfect world, but he has been great against righties this year with a .442 wOBA, and Despaigne has been about the same against batters from both sides of the plate. The Dodgers are a great offense, especially against righties, which should help Puig out as well.

		Justin Smoak
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.185	0.620	3.70%	0.280
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.286	1.018	7.14%	0.431
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Kelly – RIGHT		0.233	0.642	1.26%	0.293
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.072	0.000	$2,600	$5,500	$3,200	$39,300

Justin Smoak

I really like the Jays’ lefties in Fenway, and this includes Smoak. Kelly has reverse splits this year against lefties and righties which is opposite of his first three years in the majors. I do not expect that to continue and I think the lefties are going to still make viable plays. Smoak is a guy who is going to run low owned, but he is cheap and is he playing for a team with an over/under of 4.5. He is a previously super-high prospect with a ton of homer power in a homer park batting in the middle of the lineup of one of the best hitting teams in the majors. I see this as a high upside situation.