Today's Hitter Breakdown: April 29th
I hope everyone had a good weekend and is ready for a good week in daily fantasy. At this point there are some weather concerns but everything looks good to go for tonight. There are some really good pitchers going to day and some others that I am really going to look to take advantage of.
It should be noted that I have been using the RotoGrinders Park Factors numbers previously, and just recently it was changed to only this season’s numbers which are a small sample as of now, so the numbers may be a bit different than they have been in the past.
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Today’s Hitters to Target
| PLAYER | OPS-L7 | BABIP | wOBA | PARK | Opp-SP (L/R) | SP ERA-L7 | vs L/R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omar Infante | 1.603 | 0.315 | 0.335 | 1.21 | Pelfrey – R | 7.94 | 0.304 |
| Justin Morneau | 0.762 | 0.279 | 0.315 | 0.92 | Scherzer – R | 4.13 | 0.279 |
| Eric Hosmer | 0.753 | 0.347 | 0.303 | 0.86 | Jimenez – R | 10.06 | 0.26 |
| Bryce Harper | 1.291 | 0.355 | 0.502 | 1 | Teheran – R | 5.48 | 0.421 |
| Starlin Castro | 0.459 | 0.313 | 0.301 | 1.05 | Richard – L | 7.94 | 0.167 |
| Alfonso Soriano | 0.339 | 0.297 | 0.267 | 1.05 | Richard – L | 7.94 | 0.444 |
| Manny Machado | 1.118 | 0.349 | 0.352 | 0.9 | Saunders – L | 6.33 | 0.25 |
| Brandon Crawford | 0.849 | 0.303 | 0.389 | 1.03 | Kennedy – R | 4.7 | 0.298 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 0.237 | 0.333 | 0.377 | 0.97 | Lilly – L | 1.8 | 0.357 |
| Andre Ethier | 0.636 | 0.267 | 0.307 | 0.97 | Chatwood – R | 6 | 0.208 |
- Omar Infante has been locked in the last week, hitting almost everything he is seeing. Here he gets Pelfrey who has been bad and he is 15 for 30 lifetime off of Pelfrey. He bats at the bottom of the order but is cheap and locked in.
- It is a bit risky picking anyone against Scherzer but I think that Justin Morneau could have a good day as he has had success against Scherzer in the past. He is 5 for 10 with 3 home runs and 0 strikeouts totaling an OPS of 2.143. While it is a small sample, I believe it does tell us something.
- Another guy with a small BVP sample, Eric Hosmer is 5 for 8 off Jimenez with 2 home runs. Jimenez has been terrible and the Royals lefties should be able to do some damage.
- The interesting thing about Bryce Harper is that he has been just absolute garbage against left handers this year, and almost all of his stats have came against righties. It’s a good thing Teheran is on the mound tonight, and Harper should be well worth his value.
- My favorite thing to do is pick on terrible starting pitchers until they get it together. Starlin Castro and the Cubs have been in a slump and Castro hasn’t been hitting left handers that well, but Clayton Richard can cure all of what ails you. He has been terrible this year and continues to give up hit after hit.
- Alfonso Soriano has been terrible recently as well, but as I stated above, Richard should give these 2 a boost to their season. Soriano also has been mashing left handed pitching this year.
- Manny Machado has really been hitting well to start the season and now he gets to face Joe Saunders, who is due for an implosion at nearly any time. The good thing about Machado is that he should be a reasonably priced option today.
- Brandon Crawford continued his power surge by hitting 2 more home runs in the last 4 games. He remains a very cheap shortstop option with home run upside on most sites and is in a nice hitting park against a right hander.
- I must be sensing a slump buster here for some players, recommending Castro, Soriano and Gonzalez as they are all really cold. Carlos Gonzalez has had a day to clear his head and now faces Ted Lilly who he is 8 for 20 off with 5 home runs. Lilly had a great first start, but how long can he keep that up?
- For Andre Ethier, the success just hasn’t been there against right handers so far this year, but it will be coming. His price is actually really low on most sites and is in play today against Chatwood who he has a good shot to homer off of.
Today’s Hitters to Avoid
| PLAYER | OPS-L7 | BABIP | wOBA | PARK | Opp-SP (L/R) | SP ERA-L7 | vs L/R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Reynolds | 0.564 | 0.286 | 0.412 | 0.95 | Davis – R | 3.2 | 0.279 |
| Chris Davis | 0.823 | 0.382 | 0.485 | 1 | Saunders – L | 6.33 | 0.286 |
| Joey Votto | 0.574 | 0.354 | 0.394 | 1.12 | Wainwright – R | 1.93 | 0.279 |
| Dexter Fowler | 1.036 | 0.317 | 0.438 | 0.86 | Lilly – L | 1.8 | 0.261 |
| Martin Prado | 0.283 | 0.207 | 0.259 | 0.93 | Cain – R | 6.59 | 0.211 |
| Carlos Gomez | 1.292 | 0.387 | 0.396 | 1.04 | Rodriguez – L | 1.66 | 0.409 |
| Dan Uggla | 0.606 | 0.2 | 0.286 | 0.93 | Strasburg – R | 3.16 | 0.127 |
| Josh Willingham | 0.997 | 0.289 | 0.405 | 1.21 | Scherzer – R | 4.13 | 0.213 |
| Trevor Plouffe | 1.096 | 0.341 | 0.383 | 0.98 | Scherzer – R | 4.13 | 0.167 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 0.205 | 0.23 | 0.287 | 1.04 | Gallardo – R | 4.97 | 0.231 |
- If Mark Reynolds doesn’t hit you a home run, he’s probably going to hurt you, especailly on DraftStreet where you get negative for strikeouts. Wade Davis has been effective this year, and is now going to be pitching to Reynolds in Kauffman which has been really hard to homer in this year.
- Chris Davis has cooled a bit since his scorching start, but his salary is still up at the top range. Davis now faces Saunders who has owned him in his career to a tune of 2 for 13 with 6 strikeouts. Davis isn’t that great against left handed pitching, so I would save some salary here.
- Joey Votto owns my favorite BVP of the day as he is 1 for 17 off Wainwright. With the way Wainright is pitching and the right handed heavy Reds lineup, the only person I may consider from the Reds today is Choo.
- Dexter Fowler has been struggling against left handers this year, so I am not quite sure what is wrong with his right handed stroke. All of his power has came from him batting left handed. The interesting thing about most Colorado players (other than Gonzalez) is that they all have pretty bad BVPs against Lilly. Fowler is 3 for 23.
- Martin Prado has forgotten how to hit. He has had three 0 for 5 outings in his last 4 games, and hasn’t homered in a very long time. He is facing Matt Cain who hasn’t been good, but I still don’t like this spot.
- Carlos Gomez has been hot and hits left handers well, but he has a brutal history against Rodriguez. Gomez is 4 for 28 with essentially no power and 14 strikeouts, and Rodriguez has been good this year. I like how he has been hitting but I think his previous K% numbers against Rodriguez are telling.
- When Dan Uggla is hot, he’s crushing home runs and when he’s cold, he’s killing fantasy teams. He is striking out at a ridiculous rate and hardly homering. He isn’t doing well against right handers and Strasburg is a really good one.
- Josh Willingham is pretty predictable, he’s going to crush left handers and struggle against right handers. I would keep away from him against Scherzer as Scherzer has been really good and Willingham is 4 for 15 off Max with 6 strikeouts.
- Trevor Plouffe is nearly the same as Willingham, hitting wll against left handers and being embarrassed against right handers. Plouffe in addition has been terrible lately.
- Andrew McCutchen has been absolutely horrible in the last week. He will break out of the slump sometime, but on sites that are slow to adust salary like FanDuel, there are other options around his price that have better matchups and are seeing it better.