FantasyDraft MLB Expert Survey: Friday, August 9th (FREE)
Want to know who Notorious is definitely paying up for in MLB DFS today? Wondering which value play STLCardinals84 is eyeing most? You’re in luck. Our daily fantasy baseball analysts will answer a handful of questions to help you make crucial lineup building decisions for tonight’s contests. NOTE: Surveys for early slates will be posted when there are four or more early games.
Friday, August 9th
Who is your favorite hitter for cash games?
Notorious: Mookie Betts
CheeseIsGood: Mookie Betts
MrTuttle: Didi Gregorius
boggslite: Mookie Betts
Who is your favorite hitter for tournaments?
Notorious: Jorge Soler
CheeseIsGood: Hunter Dozier
MrTuttle: Mike Trout
boggslite: Yordan Alvarez
Who is your favorite pitcher for cash games?
Notorious: Walker Buehler
CheeseIsGood: Walker Buehler
MrTuttle: Julio Teheran
boggslite: Walker Buehler
Who is your favorite pitcher for tournaments?
Notorious: Yu Darvish
CheeseIsGood: Yu Darvish
MrTuttle: Stephen Strasburg
boggslite: Stephen Strasburg
Who is your favorite cheap pitcher for cash games?
Notorious: Gio Gonzalez
CheeseIsGood: Drew Smyly
MrTuttle: Drew Smyly
boggslite: Drew Smyly
Who is your favorite cheap pitcher for tournaments?
Notorious: Tyler Beede & Drew Smyly
CheeseIsGood: Drew Smyly
MrTuttle: Gio Gonzalez
boggslite: Gio Gonzalez
Who is your favorite salary saver on the board?
Notorious: Alex Gordon
CheeseIsGood: Ryan O’Hearn
MrTuttle: Isan Diaz
boggslite: Ryan O’Hearn
Who is your top contrarian play on the board?
Notorious: Wil Myers
CheeseIsGood: Austin Meadows
MrTuttle: Christian Yelich
boggslite: Manny Machado
Which player are you most afraid of having little to no exposure to?
Notorious: Aaron Judge
CheeseIsGood: Dodgers Bats
MrTuttle: Gio Urshela
boggslite: Cody Bellinger
Which high-priced pitcher will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
Notorious: Trevor Bauer
CheeseIsGood: Trevor Bauer
MrTuttle: Trevor Bauer
boggslite: Trevor Bauer
Which high-priced hitter will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
Notorious: Starling Marte
CheeseIsGood: Pete Alonso
MrTuttle: Danny Santana
boggslite: Starling Marte
What’s your sneaky home run call of the day?
Notorious: Whit Merrifield
CheeseIsGood: Teoscar Hernandez
MrTuttle: Franmil Reyes
boggslite: Mike Tauchman
What’s your favorite overall team stack?
Notorious: KC
CheeseIsGood: BOS
MrTuttle: HOU
boggslite: BOS
What’s your favorite sneaky team stack?
Notorious: TOR
CheeseIsGood: KC
MrTuttle: MIL
boggslite: BOS
Which useful trend or statistic stuck out most during your research?
Notorious: Over his last six starts, Yu Darvish has issued a total of two walks. During that stretch, he has struck out 44 batters. It’s safe to say he has fixed whatever was plaguing him earlier this season.
CheeseIsGood: Seven pitchers on this slate have a strikeout rate above 27% this season. Among them, Walker Buehler, Robbie Ray and Yu Darvish are over 33% K in the past month, and surprisingly in the case of Darvish and Ray, also below 6% walks.
MrTuttle: Drew Smyly has been throwing his Cutter a lot more frequently as a member of the Phillies. While Smyly has relied on his Cutter just 14.7% of the time this season, he’s thrown it 31.3%, 28.2%, and 32.9% in his three starts with Philadelphia.
boggslite: In six games as a starter this season, Jaime Barria has allowed a 51.3% fly ball rate which has led to a 2.83 HR/9.
What is your hot take of the day?
Notorious: The Royals score 17 runs.
CheeseIsGood: Caleb Smith and Robbie Ray both strike out 10+ batters and the Marlins beat the Braves 12-1.
MrTuttle: Walker Buehler doesn’t make it past the third inning.
boggslite: BOS explodes for 10+ runs and 5+ HRs
Who is your top overall pitcher (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?
Notorious: Walker Buehler – You can basically take your pick of aces in tonight’s slate. While he’s the most expensive, Buehler offers the highest floor/ceiling combination, so he gets the nod as my top overall pitcher. He’s pitching at home (which is always a plus) and owns a 3.38 SIERA with a strikeout rate of 29% on the season. His numbers are even better over the last month of play and we can expect him to pitch deep into games given his low walk rate. I’ll pay a slight premium for Buehler as my SP1.
CheeseIsGood: Yu Darvish – This is a very good pitching slate. The top pitcher not accounting for salary is Walker Buehler. My top value is Drew Smyly. But stuck in the middle is the lowest priced of the seven ace-level pitchers with Yu Darvish. He appears to have completely solved his early season control problems, and has walked just two batters in his last six starts while continuing to keep his strikeouts around the 30% mark. His skills line up favorably with any of tonights aces but at a discounted salary.
MrTuttle: Julio Teheran – Believe me – I never get even the least bit excited to roster Julio Teheran but it’s tough to envision a better matchup for the Braves righty. Teheran has struggled against left-handed hitters (.335 wOBA; 5.08 xFIP; 17.4 K%) throughout his career but has had a ton of success against right-handed hitters (.270 wOBA; 3.67 xFIP; 24.4 K%). It just so happens that the Marlins lineup is almost fully comprised of right-handed hitters as they’re likely to run out a lineup that only has 1-2 left-handed bats in it. Aside from being righty-heavy, we know this Marlins lineup is just downright bad offensively as they own the league’s worst wRC+ against RHP this season (75).
boggslite: Walker Buehler – Dominant at home throughout his career, Buehler is my top overall pitcher on tonight’s slate. A matchup against a pesky Arizona team may seem risky, but Buehler has pitched to a 2.58 FIP and a 31.5% strikeout rate at Dodger Stadium dating back to last season.
Who is your top overall hitter (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?
Notorious: Any and all Royals – Edwin Jackson is my favorite name to see on the pitching schedule because that means we can auto-stack against him. He has a low strikeout rate, a high walk rate, a high fly-ball rate, and he has allowed a .380+ xwOBA to both left and right-handed hitters this season. We have warm and humid weather in Detroit tonight with a helping wind blowing out to left field. Sign me up for all of the Royals’ hitters.
CheeseIsGood: Hunter Dozier / Jorge Soler – I have been playing these two Royals bats almost every day in tournaments, and with Edwin Jackson coming back into our lives, I’ll consider them even in cash games tonight. Jackson is a jabroni of the highest caliber (in jabroni terms, high caliber is bad) and he’s backed by a terrible bullpen. Against right-handed pitching, Soler has a a .304 ISO with 46% hard hits with Dozier at a .259 ISO and 42% hard hits.
MrTuttle: Didi Gregorius – Friday’s slate is chock full of strong hitting options but Didi is the player that stands out to me as the most underpriced across the industry. Despite all of their injuries, the Yankees offense keeps chugging along which means valuable at bats for Didi and an abundance of run scoring and producing opportunities. Sean Reid-Foley has struggled big time this season in the Minors with major control issues and it’s hard to imagine him having success against this still potent New York offense.
boggslite: Mookie Betts – Despite his recent struggles at the plate, Bettts and the Red Sox will have a famtastic opportunity to break out in a big way tonight against a hittable righty in Jaime Barria who allows too many fly balls for his own good. In what projects to be a high scoring affair at Fenway tonight, expect a big game from Betts as Boston looks to get back on track.
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