Daily Batter Breakdown: Friday, May 29th

by Jon Schiller (Varncass) Last Updated 2015-06-01 18:50:10

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 and then a description of why I’ll be targeting him.

		Russell Martin
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.291	0.871	4.26%	0.382
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.136	0.356	0.00%	0.162
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		May – RIGHT		0.284	0.000	2.46%	0.344
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.116	0.000	$3,100	$8,000	$3,800	$62,500

Russell Martin

The catcher pool is a little bare today, with McCann and Vogt both facing pitchers you really do not want to target them against. A lot of the catchers have decreased in price, including Martin, who has somewhat struggled lately. I am looking at him today in somewhat of a down matchup because we really do not have a lot of other choices. May has been solid against righties this year, only because he is maintaining a .260 BABIP, which is sure to go up, especially if he is going to give up a few homers. Martin does better all around work against lefties, but he hits most of his homers against right-handed pitching, so we certainly get upside here where not a lot of other catchers can compete.

		Ryan Howard
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.228	0.697	3.93%	0.306
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.250	0.823	8.33%	0.34
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Bettis – RIGHT		0.314	0.000		0.379
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.929	0.000	$3,200	$8,650	$4,100	$68,800

Ryan Howard

Howard had gotten it together for around four games but then got back on the struggle bus for two games against the Mets’ solid pitching staff. He gets to hit against Chad Bettis today, which is in no way a bad matchup with his 4.99 xFIP allowed to lefties this year. Howard has always been great against right-handed pitching, and even though the Phillies are a solid team to target with your pitchers, I think at Citizens Bank they make an interesting, cheap stack tonight to afford two of the great pitching options that are on the mound. Howard has power and is an off-the-wall pick by me to homer tonight.

		Prince Fielder
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.319	0.834	1.57%	0.358
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.469	1.516	15.63%	0.641
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Wright – RIGHT		0.258	0.706	3.37%	0.313
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.052	0.000	$4,500	$12,500	$5,500	$101,500

Prince Fielder

Fielder was on fire like Howard recently and has rejuvenated this Rangers’ offense, which was dead in the water. Now the Rangers get Hamilton back, and their offense actually somewhat looks imposing. Fielder has been great against right-handers in his career, and while he hasn’t been quite as good as when he was in Milwaukee, this is certainly a good spot for him to continue hitting well. Fielder is in a great spot against Wright, who has given up a 6.02 xFIP this year against lefties and is pitching in a park with the highest over/under.

		Ian Kinsler
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.275	0.718	1.90%	0.317
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.077	0.226	0.00%	0.105
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Santiago – LEFT		0.244	0.728	0.00%	0.321
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.919	0.000	$3,300	$7,350	$4,000	$54,500

Ian Kinsler

Santiago is not good against right-handed hitters. He has a 4.66 career xFIP, all while never getting too unlucky, with a BABIP under .300 every year for his career. He allows a lot of homers to right-handers and this Tigers lineup is stacked with them. I think Kinsler will go overlooked because of his struggles lately, but he has a career .201 ISO and .380 wOBA against left-handed pitching and could be one of the most overlooked guys at second base that could win you a GPP. I am big on the right-handed Tigers bats against Santiago here and do not think we see a repeat of last night.

		Trevor Plouffe
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.271	0.783	2.01%	0.343
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.304	0.842	4.35%	0.354
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Buehrle – LEFT		0.292	0.768		0.336
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.116	0.000	$2,900	$8,650	$4,100	$75,800

Trevor Plouffe

Plouffe has almost identical numbers against left-handers as Kinsler does for his career, and I like him tonight in a game projected to have a ton of runs. The problem is I do not love him wholeheartedly, as Buehrle is a fairly solid pitcher and rarely implodes. All we need is one home run however, a number that Buehrle has been happy to oblige this year with a 1.5 HR/9, which is the highest of his career despite his last couple of seasons being in the Rogers Centre. Plouffe should go overlooked tonight but makes one of the higher upside guys at third.

		Jose Reyes
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.287	0.721	1.63%	0.319
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.286	0.786	0.00%	0.335
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		May – RIGHT		0.315	0.854	2.50%	0.373
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.116	0.000	$3,200	$6,950	$4,200	$65,600

Jose Reyes

Thank god that Reyes is back. We get to put a switch hitter at the top of the lineup here and do not have to continue to use an overpriced Desmond or Tulo or just punt the position completely. Reyes is a solid cash game play because of his nice OBP and upside combo and should have a nice game tonight against May, who has really struggled against lefties this year, allowing a .357 wOBA. We have not seen a huge game out of Reyes and I think either a homer or a couple SB against the righty are coming this game, especially if Suzuki is behind the plate.

		Denard Span
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.327	0.844	1.37%	0.369
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.292	0.917	8.33%	0.391
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Desclafani – RIGHT		0.290	0.000		0.374
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.963	0.000	$3,500	$9,050	$4,500	$80,400

Denard Span

DeSclafani has been lights out against right-handed hitters this year, but lefties? That is another story. He has a .364 wOBA allowed and a 5.66 xFIP against, and he really has not been able to get lefties out consistently. Enter Span and Harper today in Great American and we have an issue for the Reds. His BABIP indicates that those numbers are not likely to get worse and, since he’s so homer prone, we could have a big game for the Nats lefties today. Span has destroyed everyone this year, and while he had cooled off a bit, he continues to pile up the multi-hit games at the top of the lineup.

		Bryce Harper
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.297	0.913	6.44%	0.391
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.316	1.3	15.79%	0.525
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Desclafani – RIGHT		0.290	0.000		0.374
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.963	0.000	$6,000	$13,450	$5,200	$119,900

Bryce Harper

Harper continues to pile up the hits and the homers while continuing to be not the highest priced guy on DraftKings. The FanDuel price is pretty insane, however in this matchup he might be worth it there, and he is definitely one of the best plays on DK. I mentioned above about DeSclafani’s struggles against lefties and Harper is in prime form to abuse his mistakes on the mound today.

		Rajai Davis
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.348	0.947	2.76%	0.410
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.238	0.547	0.00%	0.239
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Santiago – LEFT		0.244	0.728	0.00%	0.321
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.919	0.000	$3,000	$7,150	$3,800	$53,800

Rajai Davis

I also explained above how Santiago has struggled against righties in his career, which makes Davis an interesting play. The Tigers bats are all fairly cheap considering their upside (which they have not really shown lately), and Davis should be leading off again today. While Davis’ SB upside may be somewhat mitigated by Santiago being a lefty, it is more than made up for by Davis’ extreme proficiency at hitting left-handed pitching. His .354 wOBA is a solid number and his .146 career ISO (over .200 in the last two years) show that he is not just a soft hitting base stealer. Davis is one of the cheaper options with a great matchup.

		Nori Aoki
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.266	0.683	0.42%	0.307
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.500	1.205	3.57%	0.523
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Foltynewicz – Right
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.920	0.000		$8,750	$3,800

Nori Aoki

Aoki is one of the cheaper guys on the market despite continuing to get multiple hits in every game. He rarely does not provide some sort of stat in some way and is facing a righty on the mound today that has been solid but not invincible. Surprisingly, this game has a decent over/under despite it being at AT&T, and while I would never expect a homer out of Aoki, I do think that he has enough upside for a multi-hit game against Foltynewicz to make him a viable option.