Carlos Asuaje Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Those intending to pay up for either Clayton Kershaw or Corey Kluber tonight may want to take a closer look at the matchup in San Diego as well. While both Cardinals and Padres reside on the lower half of the board with implied run lines between four an four and a half runs, there may be some hidden (or not so well hidden value in those games). Clayton Richard is the more obvious target here. He's an elite ground ball generator, but a below average strikeout rate and tendency towards harder contact makes him a pitcher that players can still attack. He's allowed five HRs over his last three starts and has a hard hit rate above 36% in 10 of his last 13 starts. Over this span, 81 LHBs have a .347 wOBA with one HR, 29.6 K-BB%, 57.7 GB% and 3.8 Hard-Soft%. However, 277 RHBs have a .398 wOBA with 12 HRs, 4% K-BB%, 60.2 GB% and 26.7 Hard-Soft%. In general, stack any RH Cardinal bats, but the player that is an absolute must tonight is Jose Martinez on FanDuel for just $2.6K. He's been destroying LHP to the tune of a 254 wRC+, .520 ISO, 45 Hard% and 47.5% fly ball rate. Stephen Piscotty (90 wRC+, .107 ISO vs LHP) is cheap on either site and has a 212 wRC+ (52.9 Hard%) over the last week. Paul DeJong (144 wRC+, .333 ISO vs LHP) and Yadier Molina (137 wRC+, .305 ISO vs LHP) are both generally affordable on either site. Don't sleep on the Padres either. Lance Lynn (.229 BABIP, 82.2 LOB%) is over-rated and over-valued. He's struck out more than four in just three of his last 11 starts. He has generated a league average ground ball and hard hit rate against batters from either side of the plate this season. The difference has been an 18.4 K-BB% against RHBs and a 2.1% rate against LHBs, who have a .349 wOBA with 15 HRs against him. Corey Spangenberg (125 wRC+, .185 ISO vs RHP), Yangervis Solarte (117 wRC+, .204 ISO vs RHP) and even Carlos Asuaje (111 wRC+, .119 ISO vs RHP) can provide significant salary relief.

Chris Flexen was just an “other of note” among Mets prospects via Fangraphs this pre-season, but Baseball America has him 10th in the organization in their mid-season update after the 23 year-old has dominated in his first taste of AA. The Mets don’t normally aggressively promote guys like this, so even if it’s just a spot start, something must have caught their eye and maybe that’s a 24.0 K-BB% in seven starts since being promoted from high A ball with a fastball that sits low to mid-90s. He has all the secondaries (slider, curve, change) with a slider that has improved by bounds this year (according to a local publication). He debuts in one of the top spots on the board in San Diego (86 wRC+, 25.5 K%, 7.1 Hard-Soft% vs RHP) at a reasonable price. Considering that his cost is $500 less on FanDuel and he has been going deep into recent starts (at least six innings in all seven AA starts and at least seven in five), he doesn't have to be just an SP2 paired with a higher cost arm. Cheap Padre bats are usable if not considering Flexen though. Manuel Margot has a 225 wRC+ and 42.9 Hard% over the last week. Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe both exceed a .200 ISO vs RHP this year and Carlos Asuaje leads the lineup with a 136 wRC+ against RHP this year.

While the Rockies, just as yesterday, are the only team implied above six runs, more than half a run above the next highest team (Yankees 5.62), the difference is that 17 of 30 offenses tonight have a run line above 4.75 runs, which should spread out offense. Further thought may keep a lot of those high cost bats low owned on a pitching deficient slate where Clayton Kershaw could be some monstrous chalk tonight. Other considerations are that the Rockies are facing a pitcher who allows a ton of hard contact (15.1% Barrels/BBE), but Dinelson Lamet has a 30.9 K% and may be in some lineups at $7K or less, muting the ownership of Colorado bats. There's also the possibility that the Yankees are still suffering hangover effects of a marathon weekend in Boston, having been shut down by Adalberto Mejia. The Padres are the other team at Coors and 5.28 runs could be considered low for that park against Antonio Senzatela. With a 4.6 ERA/SIERA and just 7.0 SwStr%, there could/should be a concentration on San Diego bats, a stack of which could still net you Kershaw if done correctly. Wil Myers (111 wRC+, .205 ISO vs RHP since last season) is the highest costing bat on either site ($4.1K DK/$4K FD) with most projected starters well below that on FanDuel. Hector Sanchez was a last minute replacement last night. He homered and has a 118 wRC+, .275 ISO vs RHP since last season. Carlos Asuaje has a career 109 wRC+ vs RHP, but a 150 wRC+ (41.7 Hard%) since the break. Cory Spangenberg has a 243 wRC+ since the break. All three are LHBs and Antonio Senzatela has allowed a .335 wOBA to batters from that side this year.