Daily Batter Breakdown: Friday, June 5th

by Jon Schiller (Varncass) Last Updated 2015-06-09 17:15:46

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.

Another game in Coors today means that all of the hitters in that game are in play like usual and will not be discussed here.

		Russell Martin
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.291	0.871	4.26%	0.382
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.200	0.533	0.00%	0.262
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Hernandez – RIGHT		0.251	0.769	3.65%	0.333
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.042	0.000	$3,100	$8,150	$4,300	$66,400

Russell Martin

Martin had a lot of success earlier in the season but has cooled off a bit lately. I do like him today against Roberto Hernandez, who has a lot of reverse splits to his name this year and has allowed righties to do a good deal of damage off of him. One interesting thing about Martin is that he hits for most of his power against righties, and while he hits better against lefties, he generally does not hit homers off of them. The homers and the two-HR games come against righties, and with the Jays coming back home to the Rogers Centre, I like Martin to get back on track.

		Jose Abreu
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.313	0.813	6.25%	0.352
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		* – *
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
	0.000	$3,700	$10,550	$5,500	$87,800

Jose Abreu

Abreu is ridiculously cheap on FanDuel at $3,700 and could provide one of the best scores of the day at first base. Yes, the position is deep, but if you can save and match others production, you should try to do that. I am not really worried about platoon advantages here, as Abreu has struggled early this season against lefties, but more the fact that he is facing Kyle Ryan, who is very inexperienced and who will most likely not play a lot of the game. Ryan should make way for the Tigers long relief around the 5th, and the Tigers pen is not very good. Abreu is one of the best hitters in the majors and should continue breaking out of his season long slump.

		Jason Kipnis
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.291	0.795	1.88%	0.352
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.250	0.655	0.00%	0.277
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Tillman – RIGHT		0.254	0.687	1.88%	0.307
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.950	0.000	$4,500	$10,250	$4,800	$82,300

Jason Kipnis

I will talk a little bit more about Tillman later, but this is all about Kipnis here. He is expensive yet for good reason – he has been the best hitter in the last month. Kipnis is crushing righties with a .442 wOBA, and a 1.030 OPS all while only doing it with a .181 ISO. He has power but he continues to get on base regularly and makes a fantastic cash game play, as he can steal bags as well. Kipnis is a fantasy monster and should be considered today.

		Joey Gallo
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Volquez – RIGHT
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.014	0.000	$3,400	$7,500	$4,000	$55,000

Joey Gallo

There is not much information in the majors on Gallo because he’s obviously one of the top prospects in the Rangers system and he just got called up three games ago. All he has done, however, is smash two homers, and continue his hot start that he had in AAA. He hits with a ton of power, takes a ton of walks and strikes out a lot. The matchup with Volquez could be better, but he is a lefty who should benefit from hitting in a very hitter friendly park. The price really has not increased all that much for his potential.

		Brandon Crawford
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.308	0.91	7.69%	0.392
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		* – *
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
	0.000	$3,000	$8,150	$4,100	$74,200

Brandon Crawford

Crawford is still cheap on FanDuel despite being the top shortstop hitter in this season so far. You may have to pay a bit for him on DraftKings, but it should be worth it because of his matchup against Jerome Williams. Williams is so easy to pick on, as he gives up at least two runs a game, a good deal of home runs and struggles against both sides of the plate. Crawford has a .335 wOBA against righties in a breakout year and is a solid play tonight.

		Jose Bautista
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.262	0.880	5.70%	0.384
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.348	1.01	4.35%	0.428
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Hernandez – RIGHT		0.251	0.769	3.65%	0.333
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.042	0.000	$4,700	$11,250	$5,200	$86,100

Jose Bautista

Because of the Coors game, I expect to see a little decline in Bautista’s ownership today, but that does not make him any worse of a play; in fact it makes it better. Back in the Rogers Centre, he gets to face Roberto Hernandez, who has allowed a .353 wOBA to right-handers this year. It does not really matter to Bautista what hand he’s facing, as he’s an equal opportunity masher with a career .367 wOBA against righties.

		Angel Pagan
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.214	0.429	0.00%	0.19
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		* – *
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
	0.000	$2,200	$5,650	$3,700	$40,500

Angel Pagan

Pagan is min-salary on FD and is cheap on DraftKings as well. He is cold as ice, but gets to face Jerome Williams at Citizen’s Bank tonight, which is always a boon for fantasy points, especially considering that AT&T Park has been playing as one of the toughest places to hit in the majors this year. Jerome Williams is not good. He has allowed a .334 wOBA and a 5.43 xFIP to lefties, and while Pagan has been hitting much better righty this year, he does have solid numbers against righties in his career. Williams is bad against right-handers as well, so he should try going righty/righty against him at least once.

		Michael Taylor
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.235	0.821	5.88%	0.343
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		* – *
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
	0.000

Michael Taylor

Taylor slots in at 9th in the Nationals lineup tonight, and while he is not someone I would build a roster around, he is cheap enough on DraftKings at $3,000 and on FanDuel at $2,400 to justify using. He has a decent amount of power shown with four homers this year in limited at-bats and does have some speed he can use to swipe bags, with four steals this year. Taylor will be low owned and does have a little upside against Wada, who allowed a .348 wOBA to righties last year.

		Brandon Moss
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.225	0.749	5.03%	0.326
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.440	1.262	8.00%	0.538
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Tillman – RIGHT		0.254	0.687	1.88%	0.307
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.950	0.000	$3,700	$9,500	$4,400	$70,300

Brandon Moss

Moss and Duda are both great filler plays if you are not stacking their team because of their two-HR potential here. Moss gets to face off against Tillman, who has not been good lately. He has been terrible against righties, but terrible against lefties as well with a 4.95 xFIP. His other numbers are okay, but we should be seeing him give it up a little bit more to lefties. Moss is solid in Progressive Field and has a great ISO with a low BABIP, meaning that his non-homers should start falling in a little bit more. Moss is on fire as well right now with massive games in the last four. He should continue raking tonight.

		Lucas Duda
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.269	0.887	5.82%	0.383
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.167	0.707	5.56%	0.321
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Hellickson – RIGHT		0.264	0.755	2.64%	0.328
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.154	0.000	$3,800	$10,350	$4,200	$79,200

Lucas Duda

Duda has cooled a bit lately, but we are still looking at a guy in the midst of a breakout season with a .373 wOBA against right-handed pitching this year. His ISO is solid and there should be no regression in his home run abilities from what we have seen. Today he hits in a very hitter friendly ballpark against Hellickson, who has been hellishly awful against LHB in 2015. We’re talking about a .420 wOBA allowed and a 5.46 xFIP with a 1.37 HR/9. He looks like the dong of the day for me.