Daily Batter Breakdown: Monday, July 20th

by Jon Schiller (Varncass) Last Updated 2015-07-22 17:34:54

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.

The Coors Field game has an over/under of 11 today, so essentially everyone in the lineups there will be solid plays. I will not preview any of them here however.

		Kyle Schwarber
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD

Kyle Schwarber

At $2,600 on FanDuel and $3,400 on DraftKings, Schwarber makes for an interesting play here. The lefty prospect has had a decent start to the season, and after a couple days off and with a righty on the mound, we could see him start this game and hit at the top of the lineup like he had been earlier. Lorenzen has allowed a .431 wOBA to right-handers; with Schwarber hitting righties well and being one of the top prospects in the game, his price and catcher eligibility is fantastic here.

		Todd Frazier
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.262	0.843	6.19%	0.365
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.154	0.385	0.00%	0.165
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Richard – LEFT		0.367	0.000		0.416
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.215	0.000	$3,500	$9,150	$4,900	$82,300

Todd Frazier

I am not a fan of Clayton Richard and I am not sure how he has found his way into the Cubs rotation. With this game in a hitter’s park and the Reds having some really solid right-handed hitters, the home team is who I am going to be targeting today. Frazier has improved his approach against lefties this year and has a .407 wOBA against them (with nine HR and a .386 ISO). He pairs that with Richard’s terrible numbers against righties – in 2013, over a good sample, he allowed a .445 wOBA against righties, and he has not been much better this year at all.

		Brandon Phillips
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.258	0.642	1.12%	0.284
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.333	0.845	0.00%	0.377
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Richard – LEFT		0.367	0.000		0.416
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.215	0.000	$2,800	$6,150	$3,800	$58,900

Brandon Phillips

Phillips is cheap and that is really the only reason that I really like him, except for the fact that he is facing Clayton Richard, who I would like any right-hander against. I talked a bit above about how bad Richard is against right-handed hitters, and along with those awful numbers, he has a 4.82 xFIP. Phillips will lead off, and while he does not have great numbers against lefties this year, he does have a .343 career wOBA, which is a decent mark for his price.

		Kyle Seager
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.269	0.806	4.62%	0.351
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.500	1.583	16.67%	0.676
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Simon – RIGHT		0.274	0.794	3.38%	0.345
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.988	0.000	$2,900	$8,850	$3,700	$73,400

Kyle Seager

Seager is cheap and on fire right now, putting together some really solid hitting days in the last week. Seager has always hit right-handers well with a .348 career wOBA, and while he is not hitting them well this year, Alfredo Simon is the pitcher who cures all woes. Simon is just awful; he has allowed at least five ER in his last five games with a huge WHIP to boot. Simon has allowed a .393 wOBA against lefties, which has been even worse lately. Load up the Mariners’ lefties in this one and watch Simon implode.

		Eugenio Suarez
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits
		Last 7 Days Splits
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD

Eugenio Suarez

Suarez has been good for the Reds this season and is giving them power and OBP at the shortstop position in a surprising turn of events. He is cheap everywhere and it really looks like he is one of the better under the radar plays today. Richard, as I noted above, is terrible against right-handed batters, and with so many stuffed into this Reds lineup, it should be a brutal day for him. Suarez has a surprising .452 wOBA against lefties this year, to go with a poor BABIP, so while I do not expect that number to be sustainable, it certainly is not out of the question that his real number is close to .400.

		Kole Calhoun
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.274	0.771	3.53%	0.337
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.364	1.462	18.18%	0.594
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Wright – RIGHT		0.252	0.711	4.20%	0.313
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.820	0.000	$4,100	$9,300	$4,300	$81,300

Kole Calhoun

Steven Wright gets the call again here for the Red Sox. While he does not have a bad wOBA allowed to lefties, he does have an xFIP over five against them, and I’m not expecting much better now that he’s rejoined the starting rotation. Calhoun is more of a GPP play, posting some huge games while also having a ton of duds in a pattern which does not make a lot of sense, but with a 121 career wRC+, I definitely think he is in play today in GPPs.

		J.D. Martinez
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.308	0.902	5.84%	0.387
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.200	0.773	10.00%	0.333
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Happ – LEFT		0.247	0.719	4.04%	0.317
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.988	0.000	$4,300	$10,800	$4,800	$88,400

J.D. Martinez

We have J.A. against J.D. today, which should provide some solid fireworks. Martinez, we forget, was one of the absolute monsters against left-handed pitching last year, and while his success against righties this year has somewhat muted that, his .427 wOBA was a great number. He is still hitting lefties pretty well this year, and I still love the matchup against Happ for Martinez and the Tigers, who have a lot of righties to put guys on base.

		Grady Sizemore
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.189	0.519	0.94%	0.236
		Last 7 Days Splits
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Buchanan – RIGHT		0.346	0.993	3.84%	0.424
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.930	0.000	$2,300	$5,000	$2,000	$35,000

Grady Sizemore

The min-salary Sizemore, who is hitting at the top of the lineup against David Buchanan, is a fun-looking play. Buchanan has a nice 6.94 xFIP against left-handed hitters this year, and while his wOBA allowed sits at a silly .383, he certainly is not great against them this year. Sizemore has always been a solid hitter against righties, and while his time as a solid hitter is over, we still have a guy who has a solid pedigree and is in a good matchup. We have seen him hit two homers against righties this year as well.

		Robinson Cano
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.301	0.820	2.77%	0.353
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.333	1.167	16.67%	0.497
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Simon – RIGHT		0.274	0.794	3.38%	0.345
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.988	0.000	$3,300	$7,450	$3,600	$66,500

Robinson Cano

Robinson Cano has been terrible for fantasy purposes this year, but with a two-homer game recently, maybe that is turning around. One thing for sure is that Alfredo Simon can make a fantasy monster out of about anyone and any team with how poorly he has been pitching. With Cano hitting at the top of the lineup, the prices on both sites seems like an absolute steal for the second basemen.

		Anthony Rizzo
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.283	0.923	6.11%	0.396
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.300	0.762	0.00%	0.364
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Lorenzen – RIGHT		0.314	1.004	5.89%	0.431
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.215	0.000	$3,900	$10,350	$5,100	$85,200

Anthony Rizzo

Rizzo has one of the top matchups of the day here and it may be worth it to pay up for his large salary. Rizzo is having a solid season, and with his .397 wOBA against right-handers and his ability to score fantasy points by getting on base and hitting home runs, he is one of the top first basemen if you are not using Frazier or any of the guys in Coors. Lorenzen has a 7.03 FIP and a .431 wOBA allowed to lefties and has just not been good against them at all.