Chris Young Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Coors bats dominate five of the top six spots according to the RotoGrinders Player Projections tonight, though three of those bats reside in the lineup with a nearly one and a half lower implied run total. Joey Votto is the top overall projected bat joined by teammates Adam Duvall and Billy Hamilton. Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado own two of the top four spots against Luis Castillo (30.4 K%, 17.4 BB% through two starts). Mookie Betts is the lone non-Coors bat to break through against Martin Perez in Texas. Value hunters could look towards LH Texas bats, Shin-Soo Choo and Nomar Mazara, both projected for eight points and 2.3 Pt/$/K on DraftKings. RH Boston bats Chris Young and Sam Travis join Kyle Seager (vs Ian Kennedy) as the only bats projecting above 3.9 Pt/$/K on FanDuel tonight.

Players looking for their cheap bats at the top of the lineup tonight have just two options, both in the same game. On one side, Franchy Cordero is facing Zack Greinke. On the other side, Daniel Descalso has it a little bit better against Luis Perdomo, who has struggled against LHBs (.365 wOBA, 38.5 Hard% career), though he still keeps them on the ground 52% of the time. Chris Young ($3.2K DK, $2.2K FD) bats second against C.C. Sabathia. Jesus Aguilar bats third against a low strikeout lefty in Ty Blach for just $2.2K on FanDuel, though First Base is a difficult position to punt. If players aren't as picky about premium lineup placement, we can expand to include last night's superstar Scooter Gennett ($2.2K on FD) against a pitcher who struggles both on the road and vs LHBs (Lance Lynn). On the opposite side of that game, Jose Martinez costs just $2.1K on FD, $3.1K on DK against Bronson Arroyo. Consider Guillermo Heredia as well if he leads off against the left-handed Adalberto Mejia tonight.

Chris Young has allowed 21 HRs in 53.2 innings, 14 of them to LHBs this season. He has actually handled RHBs well since last season (.257 wOBA), which may explain the absences of Molina and Piscotty tonight, but LHBs have torched him for a .383 wOBA and 39.9 Hard%. To make matters worse, Kendrys Morales will be roaming the large OF tonight in an NL park. Perhaps the Royals don't expect many batted balls to actually remain in the yard. Heavy exposure to as many LHBs as possible is recommended tonight. Chris Carpenter (162 wRC+, .271 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is tonight's top bat with a 225 wRC+ and 50 Hard% over the last week. Kolten Wong (103 wRC+ vs RHP since 2015) bats 2nd for around $3K on either site. Brandon Moss (176 wRC+, .408 ISO vs RHP this season) has four HRs in 21 career plate appearances against Young with a 100 mph aEV in three batted balls since last season. Even Garcia (128 wRC+ vs RHP since 2015) and Pena (91 wRC+ vs RHP since 2015) offer something at very low costs (minimum price on FanDuel) tonight.

Chris Young makes his living by attempting to effectively allow a high fly ball percentage. Over his last few starts, his fly ball percentage is a predictably high 50% and 90% of his contact has been either hard or medium contact. That would seem like a recipe for disaster tonight versus the Astros. However, Young does have a good k% of 27.5% over that same time period and the game will be played in Kansas City. If his back spasms have settled down, Luis Valbuena has the power to put one out and Colby Rasmus makes for a sensible mid-value play in the outfield.

Chris Young is missing more bats throwing his slider over 50% of the time this year, but he's also allowed an astounding 17 HRs in just 41 innings, including four to this Cleveland offense just last week. Only four HRs have come at home, but players have to consider targeting Cleveland bats with power even in an environment that suppresses HRs. Carlos Santana is surprisingly the only bat with an ISO above .200 vs RHP since last season (115 wRC+, .217 ISO), but Jason Kipnis (142 wRC+, .173 ISO) is close enough. Young has allowed a .368 wOBA to LHBs since last season, but just .313 to RHBs. Twelve of his 17 HRs this season have gone to LHBs.

Chris Young has thrown his slider over 50% of the time this season and it's led to more strikeouts, but also more HRs. He's already allowed eight through six starts after allowing just 16 last year. The Yankees are a mess, but still have a league average HR rate at home and vs RHP. Kevin mentioned in his early forecast a 10-20 mph wind blowing out to RF, which makes Brian McCann, now batting 3rd, the most interesting catcher on the slate tonight. He has just a 108 wRC+ vs RHP since last season, but a .202 ISO and also a 42.9 Hard% overall this last week. There's some good value there for under $4K. The best hitter in the lineup vs RHP over the last year has been Mark Teixeira (141 wRC+, .301 ISO), who is still a great value on FanDuel ($2.8K) though a bit more expensive ($4K) on DraftKings. Interestingly, no other batter in the lineup has a wRC+ above 120 or ISO above .200 vs RHP since last season.

While Chris Young owns a 23.2K% this season, without his 10K outing against Baltimore a few starts back, his K% would be much, much lower. He’s a pitcher that we would normally like to exploit given his 40.8Hard% and 5.31 FIP so far throughout the season, but unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot to like with the Nationals lineup. Bryce Harper is an obvious play (.407 wOBA – 160 wRC+ career vs RHP) and should be considered in all formats tonight. Daniel Murphy (.422 wOBA – 160 wRC+ vs RHP in 2016) is an interesting play on night where he will almost certainly be overlooked. But besides the consideration of Harper and Murphy, it may be wise to look elsewhere for your hitters this evening.

Chris Young struck out a total of 10 over his last three starts and then matched that total in his last start alone. Not normally known for missing bats, his SwStr% has been above average in every start. However, his hard hit rate (44.4%) and HR rate (14.8 HR/FB) have been up significantly as well, driving his ERA well over six. With the Angels coming out of their team slump over the last week, we might be able to attack him with the top half of this lineup. Mike Trout (167 wRC+ vs RHP since 2015) has a 310 wRC+ and 47.4 Hard% over the last week. Albert Pujols tops that with 50.0 Hard% over the last week along with a few HRs. Newcomer Rafael Ortega has a 159 wRC+ over the last week from the two slot.

Chris Young is the poster boy for beating his peripherals every year by a half run or more. That usually comes with very little daily fantasy fan fare because he does it with pop ups rather than strikeouts. His K% (14.7) remains low, but he's strangely had a 9.7 SwStr% in every start. Yet, now his BABIP is up 100 points over his career rate (.246 - .209 last year). While we're still not interested in Young against Baltimore, the fact that he's allowing harder contact (49.0 Hard%) might make us more confident rostering the power bats, even in Kansas City. RHBs have a .246 wOBA vs Young since last season, but LHBs sit at .341. Fire up Chris Davis (166 wRC+, .357 ISO vs RHP since last season). Manny Machado has been so strong against RHP (157 wRC+, .250 ISO) that he absolutely remains in play in the #2 spot.

Chris Young might occasionally be interesting at home, but as an extreme fly ball pitcher who excels at generating pop ups and consistently beating his ERA estimators, we probably want to stay away from him in some of the tougher parks. He travels to Houston tonight in a park that plays well for power hitters to face a lineup with a lot of it in the Astros. Young has dominated RHBs (.238 wOBA) since last season, but is more average (.318) vs LHBs. Preston Tucker bats down in the order, but has a 323 wRC+ over the last week and a 130 wRC+, .262 ISO against RHP in his career. Colby Rasmus hits cleanup and has a .252 ISO vs RHP since last season. Houston has the top projected run total tonight (4.54) according to our Vegas Odds page, so despite Young's prowess vs RHBs, it's probably worth including some near the top of the order in your lineups tonight. The red hot rookie Tyler White (.387 wRC+ over the last week) moves up the lineup to the five spot.