Ezequiel Carrera Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Although Chris Taylor and Ezequiel Carrera (just 11 PAs) both have a wRC+ above 300 over the last week, both have a hard hit rate below 20% and appear to have been a bit fortunate, especially in Taylor's case without even a walk in 28 PAs. That leaves us with four bats to consider with a wRC+ above 300 and hard hit rate at least one-third of batted balls over the last week (10 PA min.). Or three if you consider that Nori Aoki leads the slate with a 356 wRC+, 33.3 Hard% and one HR in just 11 PAs also. He may or may not play against Nick Pivetta, who has shown a severe reverse split so far (LHBs .283 wOBA). Didi Gregorius is our first legitimate candidate (325 wRC+, 36.4 Hard%, three HRs). He was one of the few hot Yankees on their just concluded road trip. Luis Castillo has been a strikeout artist, but a bit HR prone with seven in six starts and four of those to LHBs. Jose Altuve (313 wRC+, 34.8 Hard%, one HR) may be the top batter on the slate against Nick Pivetta (RHBs .429 wOBA, 45.1 Hard%). Randal Grichuk (308 wRC+, 45.5 Hard%, four HRs) deserves a bump in the order against Jon Gray, who has seen his strikeouts drop this year. Dropping just below 300, we find Bryce Harper (295 wRC+, 57.1 Hard%, two HRs), an excellent candidate against Zach Davies (LHBs .343 wOBA, 33.1 Hard% career) if he's affordable. Zack Cozart (292 wRC+, 55 Hard%, three HRs) has been hammering LHP all season (194 wRC+, .303 ISO) and gets a shot at another HR prone one in Yankee Stadium (Jordan Montgomery 10 HRs last eight starts)

Julio Teheran may not be enjoying his new ballpark, but he can't blame it for his 16.9 K%. His 8.1 HR/FB is saving his 4.08 ERA from further embarrassment and it could be even worse once his HR rate reaches his 10% career mark. If it regresses to a league average mark in a more power friendly park, he’s going to really be in trouble, especially if the strikeout rate remains well below average. LHBs have a .338 wOBA and 35.2 Hard% against him since last season, which are pretty close to his career marks as well. Toronto doesn't have many LHBs, but Justin Smoak (103 wRC+, .215 ISO vs RHP since 2015) appears a great value tonight and has a 302 wRC+ with four HRs (50 Hard%) over the last week. Jose Bautista (136 wRC+, .256 ISO vs RHP since 2015) has been hot too (242 wRC+, 50 Hard%), but players will likely want to avoid other RHBs. Teheran has allowed them just a .239 wOBA since last season. While other LHBs appear solid on a point per dollar projection, there shouldn't be much need to save that much salary tonight. Ezequiel Carrera (52.6 Hard% last seven days) at the top of the lineup and Kendrys Morales (114 wRC+, .220 ISO vs RHP since 2015), if they found a way to use him in an NL park, could be exceptions.

The demand for expensive pitching may not be that over-whelming tonight, but player are likely going to load up on expensive bats, meaning they'll still need to find savings somewhere. Luckily, there are some top and middle of the lineup bargains to help everyone do so tonight. We start off in the outfield with Joey Rickard (130 wRC+, .183 ISO vs LHP career) for just $2.7K or less against Danny Duffy (RHBs .332 wOBA, 34.1 Hard% since 2015). Tommy Pham (134 wRC+, .261 ISO vs RHP since 2015) moves up to second for just a few hundred more than Rickard. He faces Eddie Butler. RHBs had a .384 wOBA against him while pitching for the Rockies. Curtis Granderson (128 wRC+, .224 ISO vs RHP since 2015) costs just $2.5K on FanDuel against Matt Garza (LHBs .369 wOBA, 34.8 Hard% since 2015), the same price as Stephen Vogt (111 wRC+, .183 ISO vs RHP since 2015) and Jed Lowrie (95 wRC+ vs RHP since 2016) against Andrew Cashner (LHBs .372 wOBA since 2015). Jordy Mercer (105 wRC+, .148 ISO vs LHP since 2015) occasionally moves to the top of the lineup vs LHP (unconfirmed) and could serve as an alternate to Corey Seager for a low price ($3.1K DK, $2.3K FD) in Arizona (Corbin .356 wOBA vs RHBs since 2015). Ezequiel Carrera (85 wRC+ vs RHP since 2015) costs just $2.7K on DraftKings.

Despite the game in Coors tonight, Corey Seager (157 wRC+, .221 ISO vs RHP career) is the only batter from that game to crack the top six overall hitters according to tonight's RotoGrinders Player Projections, which have Bryce Harper (169 wRC+, .288 ISO vs RHP since 2015) leading all players on each site. He faces the rookie Nick Pivetta at home tonight. Despite a league average strikeout rate through two starts, Pivetta has allowed a ton of hard contact (45.7 Hard-Soft% with a 91.2 mph aEV and four HRs). From a value standpoint, David Peralta (131 wRC+, .208 ISO vs RHP since 2015) costs just $2.9K on FanDuel and usually bats second for the offense with the second highest projected run total tonight (5.37), while DraftKings likes a couple of sub-$3K bats near the top of the order (Ezequiel Carrera and Joey Rickard), along with Mitch Moreland ($3.4K) all for 2.3 Pt/$/K or better. Clayton Kershaw is still the top projected arm on the slate, even at Coors, but Joe Bagini could be a viable SP2. The converted reliever struck out four of 15 batters in his first start and is only projected to throw around 70 pitches tonight. In 90.1 major league innings (86 out of the pen), he has a 21.8 K%, he also has a 54.2 GB% and 23.0 Hard%. He still sat around 94 mph in his start and already has a multi-pitch repertoire, costing just $4.9K on DraftKings, facing a Seattle lineup without Robinson Cano. The projections have him at 2.91 Pt/$/K. FanDuel has Kershaw as the top value (4.45 Pt/$/K) as well as the top overall arm at a cost below $10K tonight.

While there aren't really many incredibly expensive arms tonight, the game in Coors likely dictates players are still going to need to save money somewhere. Players can probably consider Ezequiel Carrera a top punt option, batting second for the Blue Jays against Chase De Jong for exactly $2.7K on either site. De Jong has just a 10 K% and 50% fly ball rate through two starts. Ryan Rua is a league average bat against LHP that bats further down in the lineup, but in one of the more run friendly environments in Texas and at a cost of $3K on DraftKings, $2.5K on FanDuel. Chris Coghlan is another average bat against RHP, who is even cheaper ($2.5K on DK, $2K on FD). Matt Davidson (139 wRC+, .361 ISO vs RHP) bats sixth against Phil Hughes (RHBs .355 wOBA since 2015) for just $2.6K on FanDuel. The punt catcher may be Chris Gimenez tonight. He faces Derek Holland (RHBs .340 wOBA since 2015) for less than $3K on either site and has done the most with his opportunities against southpaws since 2015 (129 wRC+, .244 ISO). He can be paired with teammate Jorge Polanco (117 wRC+, .179 ISO vs LHP since 2015) for just a bit more on either site ($3.2 DK, $2.8 FD) at another difficult position. Matt Szczur (77 wRC+, .162 ISO vs LHP since 2015) bats second against Martin Perez (RHBs .339 wOBA since 2015) for just $2.3K on FanDuel. Conor Gillaspie (84 wRC+, .154 ISO vs RHP since last season) could be a min-priced bat or close to it in the middle of the San Francisco lineup against Bronson Arroyo. If Andrew Romine (77 wRC+ vs RHP since last season) leads off again against JC Ramirez, he's not very good, but costs just $2.1K on DraftKings.

Trey Mancini is going to be a popular play tonight and he is inexpensive on DraftKings ($3.4K), but we're looking even cheaper tonight if the plan is to pay up for pitching. Dipping further down the lineups, Chris Young ($2.8K DK, $2.6K FD)is batting seventh against Francisco Liriano, but has been a lefty masher (158 wRC+, .244 ISO) the last couple of years. Justin Smoak ($2.8K DK, $2.3K FD) has three career HRs against Rick Porcello. Back to the top of the lineup, Aaron Hill ($2.2K DK, $2.5K FD) might be an average bat (103 wRC+ since 2016) against LHP. Kevin Pillar ($3K DK, $2.4K FD) isn't much, but he is batting leadoff for a lineup projected to score four runs tonight. Ezequiel Carrera ($2.6K DK, $2.4K FD) is much the same right behind him. A Toronto stack, some of whom have strong numbers against Porcello, could get you to Kershaw alone. Alllen Cordoba ($2.5K DK, $2K) is an unknown in the two spot for the Padres tonight against a struggling Zack Greinke.

Players continuing yesterday's two game slate have likely already made their choices in this game. Corey Kluber may have been more attractive with potentially a longer leash than Game Five elimination starters, he's on equal footing with Lester and whoever the Dodgers decide to start. In fact, Lester is probably the top pitcher on the slate (omitting Kershaw) as a LHP facing the Dodgers, but Kluber has his upside as well. He looked very healthy in his start against the Red Sox, going seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts and stays home to face a Toronto offense that strikes out a bit more than 22% of the time on the road and vs RHP, though they did hammer RHPs for a 15.0 HR/FB. Russell Martin (101 wRC+, .173 ISO vs RHP) has the most success against Kluber in a small sample with two HRs and a 96 mph aEV on five recorded batted balls in 10 PAs. While Donaldson (156 wRC+, .272 ISO vs RHP), Encarnacion (132 wRC+, .176 ISO vs RHP) and Bautista (126 wRC+, .220 ISO vs RHP) are all viable on a mini-slate, Kluber dominated RHBs this year (.266 wOBA, 29.2 K%, 26.8 Hard%), though he did allow 13 HRs. Leadoff man Ezequiel Carrera had just a 71 wRC+ and .103 ISO vs RHP this year and a 78 wRC+ vs RHP for his career.