Colby Rasmus Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Felix Hernandez is coming off 12 innings of four run ball (just two earned) against the Yankees and Red Sox over his last two starts, striking out 12 of 49 batters faced with a 51.4 GB%. He did have a hard hit rate above 60% against the Yankees though. Yet, the Orioles still have a 4.54 implied run line that's less than a half run off the top spot on the board. There are just three batters in the lineup above an 82 wRC+ against RHP over the last calendar year, but what they do offer is a modicum of affordability, which players who are paying up for Verlander tonight are looking for. While LHBs have a .350 wOBA (.396 xwOBA) against Felix since last season, RHBs are within four points of a .330 wOBA and xwOBA as well. Only Manny Machado (130 wRC+, .226 ISO vs RHP last calendar year) and Mark Trumbo (82 wRC+, .190 ISO) are above $4K on DraftKings/$3K on FanDuel. Collby Rasmus (51 wRC+, .121 ISO) costs just $2.3K on FanDuel in the leadoff spot. There are not a lot to love in the Baltimore lineup, but there may be some value.

Buck Showalter continues to experiment in the leadoff spot and tonight, it's Trey Mancini (123 wRC+, .222 ISO vs RHP since 2017) who gets the call. Despite many faults, the one thing this Baltimore lineup does not lack is power. Each of the first seven batters in the order have generated an ISO above .170 against RHP since last season with the surprising leader being Colby Rasmus (121 wRC+, .266 ISO, 44.2 Hard%). No batter in the lineup beyond the two mentioned has a wRC+ that exceeds 112 against RHP over this span. That makes Masahiro Tanaka an extremely interesting arm tonight for FanDuel players (not on the main slate on DraftKings). If he has a flaw, it's HRs. He allowed 35 last year and 1 in his first start in Toronto. Trey Mancini is not a bad play at all tonight. Tanaka does not have a platoon split. Batters from either side had more than 15 HRs against him. His stuff does not go side to side. It goes straight down or hangs in the zone. When it does get that drop though, he may be unhittable. He had eight strikeouts in his first start as well, while his 15.1 SwStr% edges Robbie Ray's 14.2% by nearly a full point. PlateIQ gives this confirmed lineup a 25.1 K% against RHP last year. Exposure to Tanaka is a near must on FanDuel, where players may want exposure to high powered Baltimore bats too. Perhaps Tanaka plus Mancini can be a super-contrarian play that pays off.

Perhaps Buck Showalter is on to something, figuring Chris Davis's ability to take a walk could lead to a high OBP. He has a career .341 wOBA against right-handed pitching. A 31.9 K% as well against them is less likely to be an issue with nobody on base. However, he's also doing this for the second time this season against a RHP with reverse splits and may be doing DFS players a significant favor tonight. Charlie Morton has even spoken about how much the Astros like strikeouts. He obliged by raising his strikeout rate to 32.8% against LHBs last season. RHBs had a .345 wOBA against him (nearly 100 points higher), but with a 56.1 GB% and 0.4 Hard-Soft%. With Davis at the top of the lineup, that's almost at least one strikeout for Morton, while additional lefties Colby Rasmus and Pedro Alvarez are by no measure contact hitters. Although he'll face just three LHBs tonight, he's looking at three high strikeout LHBs against Baltimore.

The Houston Astros have a 128 wRC+ on the road (1st), 113 wRC+ vs LHP (2nd), 163 wRC+ over the last week (2nd) and 127 sOPS+ against fly ball pitchers (1st). It's no surprise that the RotoGrinders Player Projections point towards George Springer and Jose Altuve as the top overall hitters against in Kansas City tonight, even though the Astros are only eighth with a 4.78 implied run line tonight. Considering how expensive these players are, players may need to think twice about the cost of rostering them, but on the other hand, the Vegas line may lower their ownership rates. Players looking for more value, might consider Colby Rasmus against Mike Pelfrey on DraftKings (projected for 2.74 Pt/$/K) or Chris Young (4.16 Pt/$/K), who costs just $200 above the minimum on FanDuel against C.C. Sabathia. For those paying up for their SP1 on DraftKings, Buck Farmer projects for an unprecedented 4.04 Pt/$/K at minimum cost and could fill out the second spot on your roster.

It'll be Bibens-Dirkx first Big League start and he's in for a tough matchup with an offense that's posted a .198 ISO against RHP this season, the highest ISO on the slate based on handedness splits. Bibens-Dirkx has pitched 11.1 innings as a reliever this season and faced 46 batters - not a large sample size. He may have a 3.97 ERA during that stretch and a 4.18 SIERA but his peripherals suggest those numbers could've been a lot worse. His 30.3% GB% is the lowest on the slate while his 51.5% FB% is the highest. He has a Hard% of 36.4% and an F-Strike% of just 47.8%, suggesting his 6.5% BB% will rise. His BABIP, which was between .282 and .450 in his last six triple-a stops, is just .193 so far. In addition to a high ISO against RHP, Tampa Bay has a .336 wOBA, 115 wRC+, 37.8% FB%, 17.7% HR/FB, and a 36.4% Hard%. Although they have the highest K% in split tonight (26.2%) and Bibens-Dirkz has a respectable 19.6% K%, Vegas seems to be on the hitters' side, providing them a 5.03 projected run total, the second-highest on the slate. If their projected lineup holds, they'll have three lefties available that have been crushing RHP - Logan Morrison (45.9% FB%, 42.9% Hard%, .301 ISO, .366 wOBA), Corey Dickerson (42,6% FB%, 40.0% Hard%, .299 ISO, .416 wOBA), and Colby Rasmus (45.0% FB%, 41.5% Hard%, .268 ISO, .335 wOBA) stand out as the top targets against the old rookie.

Coors RHBs dominate the the top 10 spots on the Projected Ownership page on either site with a couple of Blue Jays scattered in. These offenses have the top three implied runs lines this evening. With Chris Sale expected to be the most popular pitcher, it's going to be a bit difficult for players to have it both ways. Players could look to the fourth team projected for five runs tonight, Tampa Bay. Not a single Ray is projected to be in more than 10% of lineups on either site. Colby Rasmus or Steven Souza are most likely to be omitted from Rays stacks as there are four outfield eligible bats, but have a wRC+ above 200 with a hard hit rate above 50% over the last week. There are a number of pitchers with big strikeout potential tonight with Vince Velasquez projecting for potentially the lowest ownership rate among them. Premium subscribers can find projected ownership rates for all players on our Projected Ownership page.

Tampa Bay faces Ricky Nolasco tonight, who's given up two home runs in six of his nine starts this season. His fly ball rate tops the slate at 44.8% while he has the fourth-highest Hard% (38.0%), the third-lowest Soft% (14.6%), and the fifth-highest HR/FB rate (18.8%). The Rays offer some dangerous bats for this matchup, such as Corey Dickerson and Logan Morrison, both of whom have an FB% of at least 43.6% to go along with hard contact rates of 42.6%+, HR/FB rates of 26.8%+, ISOs of .328+, and wOBAs of .378+ vs. RHP this season - although they're pretty similar in most of those categories, Dickerson has a notably higher wOBA of .435. Colby Rasmus has a .220 ISO, 39.3% Hard%, a 40.7% FB%, and a HR/FB rate of 27.3% vs. RHP; he'll be another LHB target. On the right side of the plate, Tim Beckham, Evan Longoria, and Steve Souza are worth a look as well; they all have ISOs between .192-.207 and wOBAs between .330-.359. Beckham and Souza both have HR/FB rates of 22.2% or better and Beckham has a very high 48.7% Hard%. Tampa Bay has an implied total of 4.3 runs - 11th on tonight's slate - and they're playing in a tough ballpark in Los Angeles. That means they could be a sneaky stack for tournaments - Nolasco has given up two dingers in two of four home starts this season. Plus, the Angels bullpen has had trouble keeping the ball on the ground this season; their 45.2% FB% is the highest of any bullpen.

A.J. Griffin is a batting practice machine. He has allowed 22 HRs over his last 14 starts, including 14 in his last seven. He’s going to need a strikeout rate a lot higher than average to make that work. While players with lesser fastballs can elevate to generate whiffs, they can’t make as many mistakes as harder throwers. At least not in Texas. There is an issue here, however. LHBs have a .409 wOBA with 17 or his HRs and a 44.7 Hard%. The Astros have just three of them in the lineup, batting 7th, 8th and 9th. Of the three, only Jason Castro has been an above average hitter (111 wRC+) or hit for above average power (.204 ISO) against RHP this season, though Colby Rasmus (90 wRC+, .166 ISO) may be close enough at a low enough cost to be useful tonight. RHBs have just a .284 wOBA and 31.3 Hard% vs Griffin this year, so although the top four hit RHP well, there's not enough of a break in cost to consider them any real bargain tonight. The exception may come in the fifth spot, where Yuri Gurriel has started his career strong (153 wRC+, .190 ISO vs RHP) and still costs just $2.6K on DraftKings.

A.J. Griffin just broke a streak of 11 straight starts with a HR (17 of his overall 19 allowed this season), most of them (seven) on the road. He has competed six innings in just two of his last 13 starts. A 79.5 LOB% has kept his 4.39 ERA from being even higher and he faces a dangerous offense with quite a bit of power at home tonight. A lot of that power is RH though and Griffin has allowed 13 HRs with a .387 wOBA to LHBs, while he's been reasonable against RHBs (.291 wOBA, six HRs). That doesn't completely remove guys like Correa (133 wRC+, .210 ISO vs RHP career) and Altuve (159 wRC+, .215 ISO vs RHP this season) from consideration, but ups the value of guys like Rasmus (99 wRC+, .205 ISO vs RHP since 2015) for $3.6K or less on either site and Jason Castro (103 wRC+, .192 ISO vs RHP since 2015) for just $2.5K on FanDuel.

The Astros have a team 142 wRC+ over the last week, a 15.5 HR/FB at home and a 14.8 HR/FB vs RHP. They are tied for tonight's 2nd highest run projection (4.8). Miguel Gonzalez has his first single digit HR rate this year, but his 9.5 HR/FB almost exactly matches his 9.7 BB%. That's not good against an offense with a double digit walk rate at home and vs RHP. Both right and left-handed batters have a wOBA above .330 against Gonzalez since last season. The top five in this lineup make for a great stack. All five have a wRC+ above 115 with an ISO of .190 or greater against RHP this season with the exception of Rasmus (106 wRC+, .157 ISO). All five have a wRC+ above 150 over the last week with a hard hit rate above 40% with the exception of Springer (23.8 Hard%). The suddenly hot Luis Valbuena (119 wRC+, .219 ISO vs RHP since last season) would appear to be the value play here, batting 2nd for $4.4K on DK and $3.1K on FanDuel.