Jayson Werth Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Jose Quintana had a couple of great starts (7 IP - 3 H - 12K, 9 IP - 3 H - 10 K) after being traded to the Cubs but the entire body of work in the National League was a bit less impressive. He went more than six innings in just one of his other 12 starts, allowing at least three ERs in seven of them. While he had an impressive 28.3 K% in a Cubs uniform, that came with just an 8.6 SwStr%, nine HRs and 33.8 Hard%. RHBs had all nine of those HRs with a 36.5 Hard%. Quintana costs around $9K on either site and may be difficult to trust. Though the Nationals have the third lowest implied run line on the slate (3.8), Plate IQ shows this specific Washington lineup with a powerful .354 wOBA, .206 ISO and 20.6 K% against LHP this year. Anthony Rendon (186 wRC+, .346 ISO) and Ryan Zimmerman (.162 wRC+, .323 ISO) were particularly hazardous to southpaws, while Jayson Werth (112 wRC+, .217 ISO) wasn't too bad either and costs less than $3.5K on either site. No Washington batter has much of a history or a single HR against Quintana in their career according to Baseball Savant. Kevin's forecast has a slight wind blowing in from right/right-center around 10 miles per hour, but no other weather related impact on this game. Home plate umpire will be Fieldin Culbreth. In his 304 registered games behind the plate by Swish Analytics, available under Umpire Factors on RotoGrinders, players had a 19.1 K% and 8.5 BB%. A K-Boost of 1.09 and BB-Boost of 0.98, may make him a bit pitcher friendly.

Paul Goldschmidt is the top overall projected batter on either site according to the RotoGrinders player projections. That much the projections for each site agree upon. Goldy faces Travis Wood (RHBs .392 wOBA, 31.3 Hard%), which is going to be strong matchup in any park. Teammate J.D. Martinez (239 wRC+, 518 ISO vs LHP) sits one spot outside the top 10 on either site and the argument might be made that those two spots deserve to be switched. While both Carlos Correa and George Springer are among the top four DraftKIngs against Lucas Giolito (RHBs 42.5 Hard%), Jose Altuve sits behind J.D. Martinez. However, the three Astros run fifth through seventh on FanDuel, though there's less than a half point of projected difference between the third and 11th spot there. Brian Dozier is the other player who appears among the top five on either site because he punishes LHP (158 wRC+, .315 ISO since last season). The difficult here is that C.C. Sabathia hasn't been very bad against RHBs (.317 wOBA, 31.3 Hard%) and may not see the order a third time due to the strength andn depth of the Yankee bullpen. Miguel Cabrera projects as a top value on either site for $3K or less against Daniel Gossett (RHBs .363 wOBA, 35.1 Hard%), while a pair of Nationals (Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman) project as top FanDuel values against Luiz Gohara, who blew through three levels of the minors to reach the Braves as a fire-balling 21 year old, but he has occasionally struggled with control at stops and the fact that the Nationals have just seen him in his last start likely benefits the hitters more than the pitcher.

Alex Wood has at least momentarily halted the velocity drop since getting a two weak break at the end of August, but the returning results have remained far from strong (11 IP - 15 H - 9 ER - 3 HR - 6 BB - 9 K - 54 BF). There has been some concern about his arm slot dropping as well last month according to an article on Fangraphs. Though he did reach 190 innings in 2014 & 2015, he had initially gained two miles per hour on his fastball earlier in the season. Fatigue may have set in around the All-Star break. Since the start of July (10 starts), he’s sitting on a 44 GB% and league average 31.1 Hard%. Over his last eight starts, RHBs (159 BF) have a .349 wOBA with 8 HRs, a 18.9 K%, 42.6 GB% and 40.7%. While recent outings are probably enough to scare many daily fantasy players off of Wood, the most likely move is to just avoid this matchup altogether. While Trea Turner strangely has a just a career 71 wRC+ and .077 ISO against southpaws, the rest of the projected lineup registers some very strong right-handed bats. There may be an advantage in attacking Wood tonight with the likes of Howie Kendrick (144 wRC+, .213 ISO vs LHP), Ryan Zimmerman (153 wRC+, .316 ISO vs LHP), Jayson Werth (160 wRC+, .268 ISO vs LHP since last season), Anthony Rendon (182 wRC+, .319 ISO vs LHP) and Michael Taylor (126 wRC+, .211 ISO vs LHP). The Nationals are projected for just 4.27 runs tonight, easily on the bottom third of the board, which should suggest favorable ownership rates.

The Nationals have two of their right-handed starters back in the lineup (Jayson Werth and Trea Turner) this week, but this may not be the ideal spot to utilize them. RHBs have a .314 wOBA against Zach Davies this year, but a 54.5 GB% and 26 Hard%. Turner's game is more speed than power predicated, so he can still be useful here, but at a high cost, players are going to need him to steal a couple of bases tonight. Davies has just a 4.3% Barrels/BBE, which has helped him keep his HR rate down in a tough park in Milwaukee. Over his last eight starts, batters have just a 22.8 Hard% against him, including -3.2% for RHBs. A 15.1 K% on the season makes it hard to even consider using him. LHBs have it a bit easier (.329 wOBA, 31.1 Hard%, 41.3 GB% this season). They have just a .247 wOBA, 21.7 K% and one HR over this eight start stretch, but with a 33.8 GB% and 29.7 Hard%. On a small slate, both Daniel Murphy (134 wRC+, .234 ISO, 35.1 Hard%, 40.8 FB% vs RHP) and Adam Lind (127 wRC+, .222 ISO, 40.8 Hard%, 37.3 FB% vs RHP) may still have some value. The latter has a 250 wRC+ and 53.9 Hard% over the last week.

Despite being a LHP, Moore has posted some poor stats against 66 LHB this year - .435 ISO, 52.9% Hard%, 9.8% Soft%, 34.7% GB%, 26.3% HR/FB, and a 3.86 HR/9. This provides a better than expected outlook for lefties Murphy (.250 ISO, .372 wOBA this season vs. LHP) and Harper, who's struggled with power (.154 ISO) and hard contact through 43 plate appearances against LHP this season (28.6%), although he's posted a .423 wOBA. Moore has been better against RHB, but he still has hitter-friendly stats - .316 wOBA, .188 ISO, 42.7% Hard%, 39.7% GB%. That brings up guys like Rendon (.455 ISO, .561 wOBA vs LHP this season), Zimmerman (.424 ISO, .496 wOBA), Werth (.222 ISO, .465 wOBA), Weiters (.353 ISO, .516 wOBA), and Michael Taylor (.227 ISO, .454 wOBA) as targets. Although the Nationals' bats offer small sample sizes this season against lefties, they've been very effective across the board and make for an interesting stack this afternoon.

J.D. Martinez (434 wRC+, 70 Hard%, 4 HRs) is the hottest bat on the slate over the last week (10 PA min.), homering twice last night and making his impact felt after missing the first month and a half of the season. He has a neutral matchup against Ubaldo Jimenez (RHBs .306 wOBA since 2016), but should bat with runners on base if Ubaldo is his normal wild self. Eric Sogard is the second hottest hitter on the slate (399 wRC+, 50 Hard%, 2 HRs). The two bombs represent 20% of his career total and San Diego is not a favorable environment, but he costs less than $3K on either site and could bat near the top of the order again against Jhoulys Chacin (LHBs .340 wOBA since 2016). A pair of Orioles follow with Chris Davis (385 wRC+, 81.8 Hard%, 4 HRs) and Caleb Joseph (357 wRC+, .45.5 Hard%, 1 HR). The former is at least an interesting consideration, even against Michael Fulmer (LHBs .255 wOBA career), as he's a formidable opponent for any RHP when he's this hot. Jayson Werth (310 wRC+, 33.3 Hard%, 1 HR) finds himself in a difficult environment for RHBs againsta tough pitcher (Gerrit Cole) and may be better off avoided tonight. Ian Happ has had a red hot start to his major league career (296 wRC+, 42.9 Hard%, 2 HR) and is basically free in the middle of the Cubs' lineup with the wind blowing out at Wrigley.

Even when he was going poorly, Ryan Zimmerman has always had an aptitude for smoking LHP (147 wRC+, .323 ISO since 2015). Where it gets really interesting today is that his opponent, Robbie Ray, is one of the top strikeout pitchers in the league (30.2 K%, 12.7 SwStr%), but also has the highest hard hit rate in baseball (48%) with only Phil Hughes within five points of him. Aside from the hard contact, his fly ball rate drops to 41.8% vs RHBs since 2015 (.336 wOBA). Zimmerman has a 45.9 Hard% vs LHP over that span and over the last week, he has a 337 wRC+ and 57.1 Hard%. It will be interesting to see his ownership rates tonight, but he certainly has some massive upside tonight. Eric Thames (181 wRC+, .366 ISO vs RHP) is also interesting. Adam Wainwright has allowed LHBs a .362 wOBA since 2015. Thames has cooled down, but his 51 wRC+ over the last week still comes with a 43.8 Hard%. Other top overall bat considerations while trying to stay away from the top implied run lines (Houston & Boston both at 4.9 runs via our Vegas Odds page) include two guys without superior matchups against predominantly ground ball pitchers, but Aaron Judge (140 wRC+, .326 ISO vs RHP) and Miguel Sano (134 wRC+, .258 ISO vs RHP) both hit same handed pitching well and have been absolutely smashing baseballs over the last week (both 360+ wRC+). While Judge has a 53.9% hard contact rate and can practically sneeze fly balls out of Yankee Stadium, Sano has an over-whelming 90% hard contact rate over the last week. One last potential top bat with a great matchup is Corey Seager (161 wRC+, .226 ISO vs RHP career). Jeff Samardzija should be much better than his ERA, but LHBs do have a .355 wOBA against him since 2015. Also consider targeting Jayson Werth (153 wRC+, .300 ISO vs LHP since 2015) for some savings against Ray, especially if he remains in the two hole. In fact, with a 179 wRC+ and 23.7 HR/FB vs LHP this year and 176 wRC+, 26.2 HR/FB over the last seven days overall, a full Washington RH stack is not a bad idea, despite an implied run line of just 4.24 runs.

Jayson Werth has a 156 wRC+ (.305 ISO) vs LHP since 2015. That wRC+ is the fifth highest (min. 30 PA) batters projected to be in the lineup tonight against the handed type pitcher they are facing tonight. In a great spot in Coors, he could be the expensive, over-looked bat lower in the order against Tyler Anderson, who has struggled out of the gate this season. Anderson's GB rate is only 39.7% this year and Werth has elevated contact against LHP nearly 50% of the time over the last two plus seasons. He could be one of the better values in this game. Above Werth on this list today are a number of usual suspects, including Mike Trout (178 wRC+, .255 ISO vs LHP - Francisco Liriano 88% of career HRs allowed to RHBs), Joey Votto (166 wRC+, .244 ISO vs RHP - Matt Garza .365 wOBA, .344 ISO vs LHBs since 2015), Ryan Braun (165 wRC+, .249 ISO vs LHP - Amir Garrett juts a .252 wOBA vs LHBs in three starts, but a 36.4 Hard%), and Corey Seager (163 wRC+, .229 ISO vs RHP - Matt Cain .396 wOBA vs LHBs!!).