Dustin Fowler Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

If you're someone not buying into tonight's high priced pitching, perhaps you're wondering if there's any value in opposing them. Considering Jose Berrios's recent struggles and around a two mile per hour drop in velocity over his first two starts, players may be wondering if all is not right. In that case, both Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda exceed a 115 wRC+ and .240 ISO vs RHP over the last calendar year, while nobody else in the Kansas City lineup is above 100 and/or .161. Also Whit Merrifield (100 wRC+, .120) has a 240 wRC+ over the last week and costs less than $4K. Gerrit Cole has an ERA and estimators all above four over the last month. Dustin Fowler (101 wRC+, .164 ISO) is an affordable leadoff bat. Matt Olson (149 wRC+, .328 ISO) is one of the top bats in baseball against RHP. Both are likely to be very low owned. A huge reason for Mike Clevinger's success this season is his improvement against LHBs (.286 wOBA), but that's predicated on just a 1.9 HR/FB despite a league average 32.6 Hard%. Since last season, LHBs still have a .346 xwOBA against him. The Reds have three LHBs who hit RHP extremely well: Joey Votto (165 wRC+, .181 ISO), Scooter Gennett (125 wRC+, .193 ISO) and Jesse Winker (143 wRC+, .173 ISO) along with an affordable leadoff bat in Scott Schebler (103 wRC+, .234 ISO). Clevleand is one of the most positive run environments in play tonight.

The A's have a 4.58 implied run line that's third best on the board this afternoon. Michael Fulmer did tie a season high with nine strikeouts last time out, but failed to get through six innings. Each of his previous two outings were seven inning, one-run efforts, though he's allowed at least three runs in six of his last nine starts (four or more in four). With a league average 20.9 K% for the season, his ERA and estimators are all slightly above four, but his start to start efforts seem completely unpredictable. LHBs (.303 wOBA, .332 xwOBA, 36.3 Hard%) have given him more trouble than RHBs (.282 wOBA, .316 xwOBA, 30.3 Hard%, 52.3 GB%) since last season. All three of Oakland's LHBs would seem in play here: Dustin Fowler (99 wRC+, .155 ISO, 47.7 Hard% vs RHP last calendar year), who costs less than $3K on FD, Jed Lowrie (127 wRC+, .192 ISO), who has a 196 wRC+ over the last week, and Matt Olson (150 wRC+, .331 ISO, 50.2 Hard%), who tops the lineup with a 57.7 Hard% over the last week. Khris Davis (134 wRC+, .298 ISO) is the RHB worthy of attention.

The A's have a 120 wRC+ on the road, 108 wRC+ vs RHP and 140 wRC+ over the last seven days, including a Hard-Soft rate above 24% in each of the first two instances and a 16.2 HR/FB outside of Oakland this year. Combine that with the 16 HRs Mike Fiers has allowed this year and Vegas has arrived at 4.95 implied runs, the second highest total on the board tonight. Since last season, the wOBA and xwOBA for all batters is between .340 and .360 against Fiers, as is his wOBA for this season alone with LHBs owning a slight edge with nine of his 16 HRs surrendered. Matt Olson (148 wRC+, .331 ISO) is the top bat in the lineup against RHP over the last calendar year. He has a 219 wRC+ with a team best 58.3 Hard% over the last week. Dustin Fowler (101 wRC+, .152 ISO), Matt Joyce (120 wRC+, .234 ISO), Jed Lowrie (124 wRC+, .187 ISO) and Khris Davis (135 wRC+, .300 ISO) are all fine options in front of Olson as well.

The Oakland A's have a perfectly respectable 4.68 implied run line despite a power and run suppressing park in Oakland against Jason Hammel, who has pitched into the sixth inning in four straight starts and allowed a total of four runs over his last three. His .383 xwOBA is second worst on the board however, and he most recently faced this same Oakland team, a start in which he struck out just three over six innings. Batters from either side of the plate have a wOBA within five points of .330 against him, but it seems that a big park in Kansas City has benefited him, as his xwOBA pushes that mark above .350 for both sides. Each of the first five batters in the Oakland lineup has a 110 wRC+ or better against RHP over the last calendar year. Jed Lowrie (118 wRC+, .174 ISO) is the only one of the five below a .200 ISO. Matt Olson (152 wRC+, .340 ISO) is the clear top bat, followed closely by Khris Davis (134 wRC+, .279 ISO), who costs a bit more. Both, along with Dustin Fowler (115 wRC+, .203 ISO) have a wRC+ above 200 and hard hit rate exceeding 50% over the last week.

Bartolo Colon has somehow made it work in Texas, completing seven innings in half of his 10 starts for the Rangers, though in just two of his five home starts, while allowing between three and six runs in each one. Vegas is leaning towards the high end of that tonight. The A's are currently and narrowly the top team on the board tonight (5.39), against a pitcher who has allowed 10 of his 15 HRs at home this season (four in a start in Texas twice!) and has only struck out more than four batters in one start this year. Batters from either side of the plate exceed a .350 wOBA and xwOBA against him with a hard hit rate above 35% since last season. Red hot Dustin Fowler (110 wRC+, .218 ISO vs RHP last calendar year) jumps into the leadoff spot. He has a 219 wRC+ and 57.1 Hard% over the last year. Matt Olson (155 wRC+, .344 ISO) is even hotter (266 wRC+, 72.2 Hard% last seven days). Khris Davis is another hot bat (165 wRC+, 58.3 Hard%), who torches RHP (133 wRC+, .275 ISO).