Andres Blanco Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

While Tim Beckham might be the most popular bat on the slate because you can't ask for much more than a $2.8K SS batting leadoff when that hitter has a 102 wRC+ against LHP since last season and that lefty has allowed RHBs a 37.5 Hard% since last season. He's not the cheap middle infield bat in the leadoff spot though. Players would have to be a bit more bold to roster Allen Cordoba against Max Scherzer, but the San Diego leadoff man is both SS and OF eligible on DraftKings and $500 less than Beckham on either site. He does have a 141 wRC+ against RHP so far and the Washington bullpen has had some issues this year. It wouldn't take much for him to pay off. Andres Blanco (105 wRC+, .172 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is in an even better spot against Tim Adleman (LHBs .349 wOBA career). He's batting second and is SS eligible on FanDuel for the absolute minimum, but plays at both Second and Third Base for $700 more on DraftKings.

Prices appear to be slowly increasing throughout the industry as we're nearly one-third of the way through the season, but with Chris Sale on the mound tonight, players are certainly looking to save and there are still quite a few bats with positive outlooks that will may allow you to do just that. John Jaso is in the middle of the Pittsburgh order tonight for just $3K on DraftKings, where he's OF eligible. He has a 114 wRC+ against RHP since last season and faces a struggling Julio Teheran (LHBs .344 wOBA since last season). Ryan Schimpf costs just $300 more and has a 244 wRC+ with a 62.5 Hard% over the last week. He, too, faces a struggling RHP (Robert Gsellman). Chris Young is likely to be the popular value play on FanDuel. He's just $2.5K against Martin Perez. Players willing to punt First Base may want to opt for Jaso's teammate Josh Bell (127 wRC+, .191 ISO vs RHP career) with a better lineup spot, hitting third tonight. Matt Adams (213 wRC+, 45.5 Hard% over the last week) is a $2.4K FD option on the other side of that matchup, against Trevor Williams. Javier Baez (115 wRC+, .188 ISO vs LHP since last season) leads off for the Cubs tonight against Matt Moore, who has allowed Barrels on 8.1% of PAs. Baez costs $2.9K on FanDuel. Andres Blanco has been about a league average bat (95 wRC+, .148 ISO vs RHP) when he gets opportunities since last season. He gets one tonight in the middle of the lineup and is eligible at several positions across the infield for less than $3K on either site, including the absolute minimum on FanDuel. Lucas Duda (103 wRC+, .178 ISO vs RHP since 2016) is another cheap First Base bat ($2.5K on FD) in the cleanup spot against Jarred Cosart.

A.J. Cole has a 13.2 K-BB% through three starts that nearly matches his 13.9 K-BB% at AAA this season with both his walk and strikeout rates each a bit higher. He has amazingly generated just a 21.6 GB%, but with 29.4% weak contact, yet four HRs because nearly 70% of his contact has been in the air. He does have nearly as many popups (11) as ground balls (8) though. His 3.86 ERA is well below estimators above five due to a .170 BABIP and 83.3 LOB%. None of this seems all that sustainable and he did allow 16 HRs in 124 AAA innings this season, but is perhaps flyer worthy for $6.5K on FanDuel where his team might be able to get him 12 points against the Phillies, projected for just 3.6 runs with an 81 wRC+ vs RHP this year. Offensively, perhaps Andres Blanco (116 wRC+, .200 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is worth a look with a bump up the order for just $2.6K on FanDuel with SS eligibility.

Kyle Gibson has just a 1.3 K-BB%. His 8.2 SwStr% is in line with his career rate an would suggest more than an 11.2 K%, but he's always been a pitcher who's struggled to put batters away. What he does do is induced lots of weak contact (3.5 Hard-Soft%) on the ground (53.1 GB%) making him perhaps not the best pitcher to attack in a DFS sense, especially with RHBs (55.6 GB%, -4.7 Hard-Soft% this season). The Phillies 10 run outburst last night brought there wRC+ over the last week all the way up to 45 and with a 4.5 Hard-Soft% vs RHP this season, they are the kings of weak contact and also the worst offense in the league against righties (73 wRC+, 15.9 K-BB%). If we're looking anywhere here, it's probably at LHBs at the top of the lineup who can get on base and maybe score a couple of runs in Herrera (123 wRC+ vs RHP career) and Blanco (113 wRC+, .197 ISO vs RHP since 2015).

R.A. Dickey is in one of the top spots tonight, but has failed to strike out more than he’s walked in each of his last three starts (10 BB – 6 K – 17.1 IP – 75 BF) and isn't a pitcher you can trust for $7K or more. The Phillies lose one of their top bats in Maikel Franco tonight, but still have a few worthy of consideration at the top of the lineup. Odubel Herrera (145 wRC+ vs RHP this year) has performed all season at a cost below $4K. Andres Blanco (119 wRC+, .209 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is a salary savor for below $3K every time he's in the lineup, usually at the top. Tommy Joseph (110 wRC+, .315 ISO vs RHP) has been on fire (223 wRC+, 50.0 Hard%) and is one of the most expensive First Base bats available on DraftKings, but still costs less than $3K on FanDuel. His 93.6 mph aEV and 248 foot avg distance beat those of Ryan Howard this year (93.3 mph aEV, 246 foot distance)

Jimmy Nelson has been an occasional favorite of the DFS community, but his $10.5K cost is too difficult to justify even against one of the worst offenses in the league in Philadephia tonight. While he's improved against LHBs (.307 wOBA this season), that's all in his .212 BABIP against them as he's allowed six HRs and a 37.4 Hard% against lefties this year. He has only topped five strikeouts once in his last last five starts. That's not enough upside for a $10K pitcher with major flaws. In fact, we can favorably look upon a few inexpensive Phillies bats tonight. While I'd argue that nearly any LH bat for under $3K vs a hard contact prone pitcher in a small park is playable, the most attractive bat is the only one more than $3K. Odubell Herrera (151 wRC+, .150 ISO vs RHP this season) has become an All Star in the leadoff spot for this inept offense. Andres Blanco (124 wRC+, .203 ISO vs RHP this season) is a great infield punt play from the 2nd spot if you're paying up for pitching tonight.

The Phillies are normally a team we pick on with opposing pitchers, but this may actually be a rare occurrence where several of the Phillies bats are in play. Chase Anderson has been getting beat up from both sides of the plate, as he allows a .401 wOBA to RH bats (including a 38.2 hard%) and owns an identical 5.51 FIP against both right and left handed hitters. While he has held LH bats to a solid .308 wOBA, he's benefiting from a .197 BABIP, a number that will be on the rise very soon if his hard contact rate doesn't improve (he's allowing a 35.2 hard% to LHs). On the Philadelphia side, we'll want some exposure to the top five bats in this lineup. Odubel Herrera has been one of the few bright spots for the Phillies offensively thus far, and he's been considerably better against RHP as we can see with his .408 wOBA and 157 wRC+ (compared to a .313 wOBA and 93 wRC+ vs. LHs). While he's not cheap, he provides plenty of upside atop the Phillies order. Andres Blanco, Jimmy Paredes (where he's available) and Tommy Joseph all provide salary relief in prime lineup spots, so while they aren't "safe" targets, they do possess nice upside given the price tags. Paredes is making his Phillies debut tonight and they'll throw him into the fire immediately, slotting him third ahead of Maikel Franco.

The run total is modest at 8 runs with both teams expected to score close to 4 runs apiece. Tom Koehler starts for the Marlins and while he has been underwhelming this season he gets the benefit of facing a woeful Phillies lineup (28th in team wOBA vs RHP) and is in consideration as a punt SP option, especially on the four game early only slate. His counterpart, Jeremy Hellickson, has been outstanding this season with a 3.49 SIERA and 24.9% K rate. The Marlins aren't the best match up (8th in team wOBA and 5th in K rate against RHP) but Hellickson is a definite sleeper option at the SP position today. Hitters from both teams are secondary options today. From the Marlins we can look to their usual left-handed bats (Dietrich, Yelich, and Bour) as well as the always intriguing and powerful Giancarlo Stanton. The Phillies provide a bunch of low priced options and you can plug some in and hope they pay off - David Lough, Cesar Hernandez, Andres Blanco, Ryan Howard, Maikel Franco are all viable with the latter three being the preferred targets.

Aaron Blair has just a 3.31 ERA through three major league starts, but has walked (nine) nearly twice as many as he's struck out (five), which, unfortunately, wipes him off the board in one of the better matchups tonight. The Phillies have just a 69 wRC+ vs RHP, so there aren't going to be too many bats we're interested in in a negative run environment, but Andres Blanco's (128 wRC+, .220 ISO vs RHP since 2015) insertion into the two spot at $2.5K or less makes things interesting. Although Maikel Franco (113 wRC+, .194 ISO vs RHP) and Herrera (118 wRC+ vs RHP) cost more on Fanduel, Ryan Howard (107 wRC+, .244 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is near the bare minimum there, while all three are affordably in the $3.5K range on DraftKings. A Phillies top four stack should be low owned and could help you to afford Kershaw.