FantasyDraft MLB Expert Survey: Wednesday, August 14th
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.
Tuesday, August 13th
Who is your favorite hitter for cash games?
meansy53: Omar Narvaez
Pepsi7: Daniel Vogelbach
stevietpfl: Shohei Ohtani
BigT44: Kyle Seager
Who is your favorite hitter for tournaments?
meansy53: Joc Pederson
Pepsi7: Domingo Santana
stevietpfl: Daniel Vogelbach
BigT44: Daniel Vogelbach
Who is your favorite pitcher for cash games?
meansy53: Clayton Kershaw
Pepsi7: Clayton Kershaw
stevietpfl: Clayton Kershaw
BigT44: Clayton Kershaw
Who is your favorite pitcher for tournaments?
meansy53: Aaron Nola
Pepsi7: Clayton Kershaw
stevietpfl: Clayton Kershaw
BigT44: Clayton Kershaw
Who is your favorite cheap pitcher for cash games?
meansy53: Dallas Keuchel
Pepsi7: Dallas Keuchel
stevietpfl: Dakota Hudson
BigT44: Dakota Hudson
Who is your favorite cheap pitcher for tournaments?
meansy53: Chris Archer
Pepsi7: Elieser Hernandez
stevietpfl: Dillon Peters
BigT44: Elieser Hernandez
Who is your favorite salary saver on the board?
meansy53: J.P. Crawford
Pepsi7: J.P. Crawford
stevietpfl: J.P. Crawford
BigT44: J.P. Crawford
Who is your top contrarian play on the board?
meansy53: Cody Bellinger
Pepsi7: Ronald Acuna
stevietpfl: Rhys Hoskins
BigT44: Keon Broxton
Which player are you most afraid of having little to no exposure to?
meansy53: Hunter Dozier
Pepsi7: Mike Trout
stevietpfl: Anthony Rizzo
BigT44: Freddie Freeman
Which high-priced pitcher will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
meansy53: None
Pepsi7: Aaron Nola
stevietpfl: Chris Archer
BigT44: None
Which high-priced hitter will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
meansy53: Hunter Dozier
Pepsi7: Javier Baez
stevietpfl: Javier Baez
BigT44: Chris Archer
What’s your sneaky home run call of the day?
meansy53: Albert Pujols
Pepsi7: Max Muncy
stevietpfl: Ozzie Albies
BigT44: Jordy Mercer
What’s your favorite overall team stack?
meansy53: SEA
Pepsi7: SEA
stevietpfl: SEA
BigT44: SEA
What’s your favorite sneaky team stack?
meansy53: LAD
Pepsi7: LAD
stevietpfl: LAA
BigT44: SEA
Which useful trend or statistic stuck out most during your research?
meansy53: Every single batter in the projected Marlins lineup has a heavy groundball lean against LHP. It ranges from Brian Anderson at the low end (45.5% GB%) up to Lewis Brinson on the high end (57.9% GB%).
Pepsi7: The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to mash right-handed pitching, sitting in the top three in Major League Baseball in most relevant offensive categories, including ISO, wOBA and wRC+. As much as I like young Elieser Hernandez, I will also be stacking the Dodgers.
stevietpfl: The projected starting lineup for the Royals has only two hitters with ISO’s over .200 against right-handed pitching this season. Both of those hitters are right-handed, and Hudson has a .129 ISO with a 64.5% ground ball rate against right-handed hitters this season.
BigT44: Edwin Jackson got off the hook the other night in his last start and actually pitched pretty good but tonight he won’t be so lucky. He has been the worst pitcher ever and will come back to reality tonight.
What is your hot take of the day?
meansy53: The Dodgers score at least 15 runs (again) against Elieser Hernandez and the terrible Marlins bullpen.
Pepsi7: Edwin Jackson gets knocked out of the game in the third inning and Seattle goes on to score 14 runs.
stevietpfl: Vogelbach has more extra base hits tonight then he’s had over the last ten games combined.
BigT44: Seager hits 3 more bombs
Who is your top overall pitcher (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?
meansy53: Clayton Kershaw – While I don’t love the huge price tag on Kershaw, I am also not that enamored with many expensive bats either. So I have no problem paying a premium for Kershaw because of the nature of the slate. Even if he doesn’t reach the upper range of strikeouts against this weak Marlins team, he should be an innings-eater. While this lineup can get all right-handed and be somewhat contact-oriented, it also is full of literally all groundball hitters. With Kershaw at 50% groundballs to righties this season, he should be able to cruise through this lineup. On this kind of pitching slate, that will absolutely suffice for me despite the expensive price tag.
Pepsi7: Clayton Kershaw – Any pitcher facing the offensively challenged Miami Marlins would be a good choice, so Clayton Kershaw is the obvious number one option tonight in all formats. The Marlins continue to be awful versus southpaws (sitting in the bottom three in ISO and wOBA) and even though their strikeout rate is just average, I expect Kershaw to not only dominate, but to also rack up at least a strikeout per inning. The Los Angeles Dodgers lefty has been rejuvenated of late and I expect him to cruise in this one. Now, as much as I love Kershaw overall and especially in cash games, there is some merit to fading him in GPPs, due to his hefty price tag.
stevietpfl: Clayton Kershaw – Kershaw draws a great matchup against the Miami Marlins. He gets a big ballpark bump and faces one of the weakest offenses in baseball. They have a .156 ISO with a 21% strikeout rate and a very low 4.1% walk rate. Kershaw has CGSO upside in this matchup. Kershaw has at least nine strikeouts in four of the last six games, and his strikeout rate is up to 25.4% on the season. I don’t love Nola, so if I’m paying up, I’m paying up for Kershaw.
BigT44: Clayton Kershaw has shown the upside of the past lately and tonight gets the matchup we love to see after Big Red dominated them last night. Kershaw also got the extra day off, which can only help him, and he literally checks the boxes on everything for tonight. It is clearly a spot I will be close to all in on.
Who is your top overall hitter (when considering price, matchup, projected ownership, etc.) on the board and why?
meansy53: Joc Pederson – It is right back to the Dodgers again for me tonight. And with Joc being the only one in the lineup who didn’t do a thing last night in the 15-run onslaught, ownership will be even more depressed on him despite the fact that he has one of the most favorable price tags (and lineup spots) on the team. Let’s not forget this guy has posted a .374 wOBA and .286 ISO in 777 plate appearances against RHP since the start of last season. He is still way too cheap for this kind of upside.
Pepsi7: Daniel Vogelbach – You can certainly make a case for either Domingo Santana or Kyle Seager here, but I will give the nod to Vogelbach. The Seattle Mariners face Edwin Jackson tonight, who is easily the worst pitcher in Major League Baseball and your “Gas Can” of the night. On the season, Jackson has allowed a ridiculous 3.59 HR/9 and over 42% hard hits, while striking out just 13.6% of batters faced. Vogelbach’s ability to reach base and hit for power (.282 ISO and a .379 wOBA), will serve him well tonight against the very hittable Edwin Jackson and that weak Detroit Tigers bullpen.
stevietpfl: Daniel Vogelbach – After a really hot start to the season, Vogelbach has certainly taken a massive step back. He only has two extra base hits in his last ten games. He draws an amazing matchup tonight against Edwin Jackson. Jackson has a 14.7% strikeout rate with a .269 ISO and a 39.3% hard-hit rate against left-handed hitters this season. Vogelbach should excel against a low strikeout pitcher. He has a .282 ISO with a 41.8% hard-hit rate against right-handed pitching this season.
BigT44: Kyle Seager has been ripping the ball lately and hit 3 bombs last night in a much tougher spot. Tonight he gets the best possible spot and continues to hit towards the bottom of the lineup, which should help lower his ownership which always is nice and tasty. Sign me up — all of these Seattle guys are going to mash tonight.
Wednesday, August 14th (Early Slate)
Who is your favorite hitter for cash games?
meansy53: Alex Bregman
BigT44: George Springer
stevietpfl: Nolan Arenado
Pepsi7: Alex Bregman
Who is your favorite hitter for tournaments?
meansy53: Nolan Arenado
BigT44: Yordan Alvarez
stevietpfl: Ketel Marte
Pepsi7: Nolan Arenado
Who is your favorite pitcher for cash games?
meansy53: Stephen Strasburg
BigT44: Stephen Strasburg
stevietpfl: Stephen Strasburg
Pepsi7: Stephen Strasburg
Who is your favorite pitcher for tournaments?
meansy53: Trevor Bauer
BigT44: Stephen Strasburg
stevietpfl: Stephen Strasburg
Pepsi7: Trevor Bauer
Who’s your favorite cheap pitcher for cash games/tournaments?
meansy53: Tyler Beede
BigT44: Tyler Beede
stevietpfl: Homer Bailey
Pepsi7: Homer Bailey
Who is your favorite salary saver on the board?
meansy53: Randal Grichuk
BigT44: Wilmer Flores
stevietpfl: Wilmer Flores
Pepsi7: Franmil Reyes
Who is your top contrarian play on the board?
meansy53: Danny Santana
BigT44: Freddy Galvis
stevietpfl: Bo Bichette
Pepsi7: Didi Gregorius
Which high-priced hitter will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
meansy53: Max Kepler
BigT44: Gleyber Torres
stevietpfl: Yordan Alvarez
Pepsi7: Gio Urshela
Which high-priced pitcher will you have little to no exposure to in tournaments?
meansy53: Shane Bieber
BigT44: Shane Bieber
stevietpfl: Shane Bieber
Pepsi7: Shane Bieber
Which player are you most afraid of having little to no exposure to?
meansy53: Keston Hiura
BigT44: Aaron Judge
stevietpfl: Yordan Alvarez
Pepsi7: Yordan Alvarez
What’s your sneaky home run call of the day?
meansy53: Nomar Mazara
BigT44: Teoscar Hernandez
stevietpfl: Renato Nunez
Pepsi7: Didi Gregorius
What’s your favorite overall team stack?
meansy53: HOU
BigT44: HOU
stevietpfl: ARI
Pepsi7: HOU
What’s your favorite sneaky team stack?
meansy53: TEX
BigT44: TOR
stevietpfl: CLE
Pepsi7: MIN
| Meet the Experts | Content Posting Times |