Daily Batter Breakdown: Wednesday, June 10th

by Jon Schiller (Varncass) Last Updated 2015-06-13 14:30:25

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.

		Yasmani Grandal
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.253	0.815	4.96%	0.358
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.240	0.576	0.00%	0.262
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Hellickson – RIGHT		0.261	0.749	2.53%	0.326
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.907	0.000	$2,900	$6,850	$3,200	$55,900

Yasmani Grandal

Hellickson has not been good at all against LHB which means that the Dodgers are going to be a great play today. One of the best teams against RHB goes against a guy who is struggling. At the catcher position, Grandal is cheap and has a .378 wOBA and a .860 OPS against RHP this year. Grandal is so cheap especially on DraftKings and has major upside as shown by his ridiculous game earlier this year.

		Salvador Perez
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.269	0.703	2.80%	0.307
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.250	0.886	10.00%	0.377
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Gibson – RIGHT		0.251	0.693	3.25%	0.308
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.116	0.000	$2,500	$6,850	$3,800	$53,000

Salvador Perez

Perez is on fire right now with three homers in the last three games. The Royals’ games are fairly low scoring, so there does not appear to be three-homer upside here, but he has consistently hit right-handed pitching well at a 312 wOBA with a fairly solid ISO. Gibson has been solid against LHB this year but has struggled against RHB giving up a .347 wOBA and the majority of his homers despite facing more lefties than righties. The R/R matchup is somewhat mitigated and with Perez’s cheap price, he’s a solid selection at catcher.

		Jose Abreu
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.307	0.917	5.94%	0.394
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.217	0.671	4.35%	0.279
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Velasquez – Right
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.052	0.000	$3,400	$9,200	$5,300	$78,900

Jose Abreu

Abreu hit a dinger last night and now is facing Vincent Velasquez tonight who has not pitched a single game in the majors so far. His minor league numbers are impressive with a huge K rate, but I am always wary of guys making their first MLB start without even pitching at AAA. Over his two years in the majors, Abreu has actually been better against RHP, so this is not a great matchup for Velasquez, especially considering the .385 wOBA and .238 ISO. We could be looking at a couple of homers tonight.

		Jason Kipnis
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.291	0.795	1.88%	0.352
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.318	0.854	0.00%	0.385
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Walker – RIGHT		0.264	0.754	2.60%	0.334
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.950	0.000	$4,700	$10,150	$4,800	$88,200

Jason Kipnis

Kipnis has been incredible in the early part of this year and his ridiculous .452 OPS and 1.056 OPS puts him in play every game against a righty despite his price. Walker has got it together in the last couple of starts, but before that, it was a mixed bag of results giving up a 1.19 HR/9 against lefties this year. Walker is not a terrible pitcher, but Kipnis against a righty is almost matchup proof.

		Paul Goldschmidt
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.385	1.161	5.77%	0.486
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.222	0.962	5.56%	0.386
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Anderson – LEFT		0.241	0.667	1.80%	0.291
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.907	0.000	$5,400	$13,150	$5,400	$113,600

Paul Goldschmidt

Goldy has been quiet for a few days and his price has decreased a little because of it. That just means it is the perfect time to jump on, and with guys like Pollock and Goldy in the D’Backs lineup, it does not bode well for Brett Anderson. Goldschmidt has been one of the best hitters in the majors this year if not the best and his .445 wOBA and 1.054 OPS against lefties are not unsustainable.

		Carlos Correa
		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

Carlos Correa

The superprospect’s price actually went down (!) on DraftKings after a monster game yesterday. He is now facing Quintana instead of Rodon, but it is a somewhat similar situation and I am not about to jump off the boat, especially since Quintana has struggled against righties this year giving up a .356 wOBA.

		Josh Reddick
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.303	0.915	5.06%	0.395
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.333	0.963	4.76%	0.415
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Gallardo – RIGHT		0.233	0.652	2.22%	0.291
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
1.023	0.000	$3,200	$8,800	$4,200	$70,300

Josh Reddick

Reddick’s overall numbers look somewhat poor, but if you break it down, the thing that is watering down his overall numbers is his inability to hit left-handed pitching. Reddick has been absolutely mashing righties with a .461 wOBA and a 1.077 OPS. Gallardo has never had a great WHIP against lefties and his 4.30 xFIP leaves a lot to be desired. He is also allowing lefties to hit him at a 1.34 HR/9 pace this year, so Reddick should be a favorite to homer.

		Joc Pederson
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.233	0.925	8.33%	0.396
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.241	1.008	10.34%	0.424
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Hellickson – RIGHT
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.907	0.000	$3,800	$10,200	$4,400	$80,900

Joc Pederson

No longer as expensive as he was in the Coors Field week, Pederson comes into this game smashing a .401 wOBA against right-handed pitching despite having a poor average. His ISO is massive and the reason for his huge wOBA is the ridiculous amount of homers he is hitting, almost one every ten at-bats. His average should go up when his BABIP rises as well, so we might not be seeing the best that he can do. Hellickson has been a great guy to target against lefties this season. He holds a .416 wOBA against a .220 WHIP and a 5.51 xFIP. There is some regression back to the mean likely, but he still has not been good. Use Yung Joc freely tonight.

		Andre Ethier
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.265	0.777	2.41%	0.340
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.167	0.522	4.17%	0.236
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Hellickson – RIGHT		0.261	0.749	2.53%	0.326
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.907	0.000	$3,000	$7,700	$3,200	$63,700

Andre Ethier

I talked about Hellickson’s terrible start against lefties, which means that Ethier is likely in the lineup as a platoon outfielder. Ethier is cheap across the industry and has a .396 wOBA against RHP, a .252 ISO and is right about at his career averages. I really like him tonight and it does not matter where he hits in the lineup.

		A.J. Pollock
		Daily Breakdown		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Left/Right Splits		0.309	0.933	3.70%	0.404
		Last 7 Days Splits		0.379	1.124	6.90%	0.479
		Opp SP vs. LR		Avg	OPS	HR%	wOBA
		Anderson – LEFT		0.241	0.667	1.80%	0.291
PARK-1	PARK-LR	FD	DD	DK	FF	SS	FTD
0.907	0.000	$4,500	$10,550	$4,400	$89,300

A.J. Pollock

Anderson has not been terrible against right handers with a 3.74 FIP against but Pollock has absolutely destroyed lefties this year with a .455 wOBA, and a 1.057 OPS. He has some stolen base potential as well and should be hitting at the top of the D’Backs lineup today. You will have to pay for him but he has been well worth it so far this year.