Adonis Garcia Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Stephen Strasburg is just behind Noah Syndergaard in terms of cost, as the second most expensive pitcher on the slate tonight. While there are several young pitchers off to strong starts on the slate tonight, Strasburg could fly underneath the radar despite having a highest strikeout projection than Thor on the RotoGrinders K Predictor (7.36 vs 7.11). However, he falls to second (behind Syndergaard) in terms of overall RotoGrinders Player Projections. Atlanta is an opponent he is familiar with as Freddie Freeman leads all players with four career HRs (47 PAs) against the pitcher they are facing tonight. He does have just an 88.7 mph aEV on merely four Statcast recorded BBE in the matchup. Freeman's 161 wRC+ (.276 ISO) vs RHP since 2015 is 4th best on the slate against the handed type pitcher being faced tonight (min. 30 PA), while his 425 wRC+ (3 HR, 53.3 Hard%) by far makes him the hottest bat on the slate over the last week. His nine Barrels this season is also tied for the major league lead. Adonis Garcia is moved into the second slot today with Dansby Swanson sitting. Garcia is actually the only batter with at least 10 BBE recorded against Strasburg and although he has no extra-base hits, he does hold a 97.2 mph aEV in those matchups. Matt Kemp returns for the home team and does have the second best ISO (.198) in the linneup against RHP since 2015. It may be best to stick to just Freeman or side with a pitcher who has gone exactly seven innings in each of his three starts with eight Ks in each of his last two in this one, considering Garcia's 76 career wRC+ vs RHP. The Braves have an implied run line of just 3.3, second lowest on the slate. Conditions appear to be neutral with temperatures in the 70s and barely a breeze expected. We do not yet know how the new park in Atlanta will play with just a handful of games being played there so far.

Reason #1: Garcia will be facing Wei-Yin Chen today, a pitcher who holds a 4.35 xFIP versus RHBs this year. Chen has allowed 1.84 HR/9 to RHBs, a number that looks to be sustainable, considering Chen holds a 41% flyball percentage, coupled with a 35% hard contact allowed rate. Reason #2: Adonis Garcia has hit LHP well this year, possessing a wRC+ total of 111, with a superb k% of 15%. Reason #3: Garcia is making solid contact over the last 7 days, striking out only 18% of the time. Look to Adonis as a high floor option at 3B today.

Reason # 1: Over the last month, Jake Thompson is striking out only 13% of the hitters he faces, with both LHBs and RHBs whiffing at about the same rate.

Reason# 2: Over that same period of time, Thompson’s batted profile is not making him any worse of a pitcher to target with batters. When balls are put in play, he is giving up hard contact 39% of the time, and they are fly balls 38% of the time.

Reason # 3: We have a pitcher with a low strikeout rate and a poor batted ball profile, meaning we only need quality hitters to have a recipe for offensive production. Over the last week, the Braves have two hitters with wRC+ totals over 200, including Adonis Garcia and Freddie Freeman. Adonis is feeling it right now, only whiffing 10% of the time over the past seven days.

Mike Foltynewicz and the Braves host Jarred Cosart and the Padres in the only afternoon game this Thursday and one of just four games in total. Cosart has been unimpressive with a 4.88 SIERA, a low K rate, and a high walk rate. Adonis Garcia and Matt Kemp are elite options against him with Ender Inciarte, Freddie Freeman, and Nick Markakis secondary players you can roster. "Folty" has been mediocre this season but has a plus match up against the Padres - his price on FanDuel is attractive making him a viable GPP play there. Alex Dickerson, Ryan Schimpf, and Oswaldo Arcia are secondary options from the Padres lineup.

There is nothing anywhere in the skill set of Paul Clemens that implies he should be a major league pitcher. He has a 5.09 SIERA (5.06 ERA) with a 17.1% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate and has allowed tons of hard contact to both right and left-handed batters (44.2%). He induces a bit more strikeouts to lefties but allows a 50.0% fly ball rate, and is only striking out 13.2% of right-handed batters, while only managing to get his ground ball rate up to 46.4%. Outside of Freddie Freeman and his .395 wOBA, .286 ISO and 41.7% hard hit rate, it is difficult to ever feel excited about any individual bats in this Baves lineup, but Clemens is a pitcher we want to attack. Matt Kemp (.191 ISO vs RHP), Adonis Garcia (.153 ISO vs RHP), and Tyler Flowers (125 wRC+, .360 wOBA, .175 ISO vsRHP) are guys all have above average hard hit rates against right-handed pitching, with Ender Inciarte having elite contact skills out of the leadoff spot.

Robbie Ray has always been able to miss bats, but used to have an issue with walks and hard contact. Now, he only has a hard contact issue as it's actually up to 39.8% since the break and always a concern at home, but less so against an Atlanta offense with just a 28.5 Hard% and 6.5 HR/FB vs LHP this year. Ray has turned some of those walks into more strikeouts and now leads the majors with a 28.2 K-BB% since the All-Star break. He and Scherzer are the only two pitchers with a strikeout rate above 23.5% tonight and are easily the top two pitchers. There may be a few Atlanta bats worth looking at though because RHBs do have a .329 wOBA and 37.7 Hard% against Ray since last season. Most of the Atlanta futility vs LHP was prior to Matt Kemp, who has a 142 wRC+ and .254 ISO vs LHP since last season. Anthony Recker (134 wRC+, .250 ISO vs LHP since 2015) has some upside as a very cheap Catcher tonight, while Adonis Garcia (114 wRC+, .166 ISO vs LHP since 2015) bats higher in the order for less than $3K on either site.

Kyle Gibson is an incredibly frustrating pitcher. He has a 9.7 SwStr% this year and 10.3% over the last month, but still has a well below average K% and has struck out just a total of eight over his last three starts with his GB rate dropping below 50% and his hard contact rate moving above 30% since the break. He's still tempting for just $4.9K on DraftKings, but the Braves have been a league average offense since the break. Dansby Swanson makes his major league debut in the eight slot and may not even be available yet on daily fantasy sites. While LHBs do have a .332 wOBA against Gibson since last season, that comes with just a 29.4 Hard%, 50.2 GB% and 10.4 HR/FB. The red hot Freddie Freeman (145 wRC+, .250 ISO vs RHP since last season) has a 389 wRC+ and 76.5 Hard% over the last week, but a high price tag. Both Adonis Garcia and Anthony Recker are below $2.5K on FanDuel, but neither is a particularly strong hitter vs RHP. There are many better matchups on either side of the ball today.

With Matt Garza owning an ugly 5.03 ERA and a 38.0% Hard-Hit rate this season, today is one of the few times we can comfortably target some of these Braves batters. Left-handed batters own a .352 wOBA off of Garza this season and Freddie Freeman sports an Atlanta best .359 wOBA and .234 ISO against right-handed pitching making the top target. Meanwhile, Nick Markakis has been swinging a hot bat lately and owns a .395 wOBA since the All-Star break while Adonis Garcia trails just behind with a .390 wOBA in the second half. Roberto Hernandez toes the rubber for the Braves this afternoon, and while he's not a quality cash game option, the Brewers MLB worst 25.7% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching does give him at least some GPP appeal.

The Braves were shut down by a reverse platoon pitcher in Coors last night and face a better one with much more upside tonight. Jon Gray has pitched at least into the seventh innings with exactly eight strikeouts in three of four starts, two of them at home and the last one in Atlanta. The Braves are the worst offense in the majors vs RHP (74 wRC+) and on the road (73 wRC+). Coors merely bumps them up somewhere around average. With a price tag around $8K, Gray can be used tonight. Even though the Braves don't have a top run projection tonight, 4.7 runs isn't too shabby though and we still want to consider a bat like Freddie Freeman (133 wRC+, .234 ISO vs RHP since 2015) for a reasonable cost at $4.6K or less in a great park. Perhaps more interesting though are Adonis Garcia (82 wRC+, .153 ISO vs RHP career) and Gordon Beckham (114 wRC+, .157 ISO vs RHP this season), not because their numbers are strong, but because they each cost below $4K in the top half of a lineup at Coors and RHBs have a slightly higher wOBA against Gray (.308 this year, .336 career).

Cody Reed has a 42.5 Hard%, which has led to a ridiculous .380 BABIP in addition to nine of his 22 fly balls leaving the yard. That's terrible, but a 40.9 HR/FB has to come down just by dumb luck. The rest of it has been a tendency to predictably groove his fastball whenever he gets behind with nearly of the damage coming on straight, hard stuff because he doesn't really have a fastball that blows people away. His slider, which he really only throws while ahead, has led to a 24.0 K%, so there is upside, furthered by facing the Braves tonight (74 wRC+, 7.5 HR/FB). This is a spot where a player with a high risk tolerance could consider him tonight, though his $8.1K cost on DraftKings makes it more difficult. Due to his issues, we're not taking cheap Braves bats off the board at all. Anthony Recker (118 wRC+, .250 ISO vs LHP since 2015) does have some power and can serve as a punt catcher, while Adonis Garcia (116 wRC+, .176 ISO vs LHP since 2015) is another great punt option at 3B with both below $3K on either site. Leadoff man Gordon Beckham (124 wRC+, .214 ISO vs LHP this season) has a -86 wRC+ over the last week, but is another affordable option (below $3.5K on either site) in the leadoff spot with RHBs having a .454 wOBA against Reed in a power friendly park.