Ichiro Suzuki Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

It's not like players needed extra-incentive to roster Noah Syndergaard tonight. He's struck out one-third of the batters he's faced with a 64.5 GB% through two starts, but Giancarlo Stanton, whom Syndergaard has owned (6 Ks in 12 PAs) is out of the lineup tonight, greatly reducing Miami's power potential in this lineup. Syndergaard was already an elite option and if anything, the presence of Ichiro Suzuki over Stanton may actually reduce Thor's strikeout total slightly.

Jacob deGrom returns a bit early after his skipped start due to Steven Matz's continued shoulder issues. The hope is that extra rest will revitalize him after two rough starts as extra time off has done in the past for him. deGrom himself believes he's just leaving too many pitches over the plate and his Fangraphs heat maps fully support this. He only allowed a lot of hard contact in the second of those bad starts though with his velocity down just a bit, so maybe the extra rest with the knowledge of command issues will help. Something else that will likely help is an awful looking Marlins lineup with Ichiro Suzuki (92 wRC+, .070 ISO vs RHP this season) batting second and Jeff Francoeur (70 wRC+, .123 ISO vs RHP this season) batting fifth in the absence of Marcell Ozuna tonight. J.T. Realmuto is out as well. deGrom is going to be very difficult to fade on a three game slate, but our Projected Ownership page has him at 67% on DraftKings and 50% on FanDuel tonight.

Seth Lugo left after five innings in St Louis due to a leg cramp, but did not allow a run and has not embarrassed himself in two starts against quality offenses in St Louis and San Francisco despite a hard hit rate above 40% each time. He hasn't allowed a major league HR in 28.2 major league innings and while that won't last, it could continue tonight. The Marlins have shuffled the order with Ozuna (86 wRC+, .141 ISO vs RHP since 2015) batting second tonight and Yelich (136 wRC+, 174 ISO vs RHP since 2015) dropped to cleanup, but that doesn't make the remaining batters any better when you still have Ichiro Suzuki (64 RC+, .047 ISO vs RHP since 2015) batting sixth in 2016. The Marlins have not hit a HR in over a week (20.7 Hard%). Seth Lugo may not even be a back end starter long term on a decent team, but he only has to cover $4.1K on DraftKings against a terrible lineup tonight. The one look in this lineup might be Xavier Scruggs, the one hot bat in the lineup (183 wRC+ last seven days) for the absolute minimum on FanDuel and batting fifth.

The Marlins may be quite a bit more pleasant for a LHP without Giancarlo Stanton for the rest of the season, Brandon Finnegan still has the second highest walk (11.7%) and hard hit (38.3%) rates among qualified pitchers making that thought much less appealing. RHBs have a .334 wOBA against him since last season with that same 38 Hard%, while the Marlins retain two strong RHBs against LHP in this lineup. One without power in Prado (158 wRC+, .138 ISO vs LHP since last season), but with 145 wRC+ and 40.9 Hard% over the last week and one with power in Ozuna (157 wRC+, .251 ISO vs LHP since 2015), but currently slumping (14 wRC+ over the last week). However, Ozuna costs $700 less than Prado and is under $4K on DraftKings, which has to make him a strong value play there, while both may add something beyond a price tag $500 cheaper than that on FanDuel. You may wonder why Ichiro is hitting sixth against a LHP and we can only guess it's his 112 wRC+ against them since 2015, though with absolutely no power. J.T. Realmuto has just an 85 wRC+ vs LHP since last season and even worse this year with very little power.

Colin Rea has just a 4.4 SwStr% over the last month and is a pitcher with little upside. RHBs (.332 wOBA) have actually done better than LHBs (.291 wOBA) since last season, though lefties have hit the ball harder (34.6 Hard% vs 27.7%). Giancarlo Stanton is OUT tonight, replaced by Ichiro Suzuki (114 wRC+ vs RHP this year) in the leadoff spot, which may actually make it harder for Rea to find strikeouts in this lineup. Those who thought Derek Dietrich (136 wRC+, .205 ISO vs RHP since 2015) might be a good option tonight may want to reconsider with him batting 7th tonight. Justin Bour (123 wRC+, .248 ISO vs RHP since 2015) is the power bat who may make the most sense here for about $3K on either site as he moves up a spot to 5th tonight.

Matt Andriese has a 2.11 ERA through three starts, but a 4.77 SIERA due to a .167 BABIP and 3.8 HR/FB. He's struck out just 14.1% of batters on an 8.3 SwStr%, but a few more last year (17.4%) with the same SwStr%. His 18.1 Hard-Soft% suggests more offensive damage might be on the way with a cost above $7.5K on either major site difficult to justify. The Marlins will sit their normal 3rd and 4th hitters, though Stanton has been doing nothing but strike out recently anyway. A more disappointing move might be Derek Dietrich (134 wRC+, .215 ISO vs RHP since 2015) dropping down to 5th because Ichiro Suzuki (55 wRC+, .033 ISO vs RHP since 2015) profiles more as a leadoff hitter after a 228 wRC+ over the last week. He does cost just $2.5K or less though. Andriese has held RHBs to a .274 wOBA since last season, so if we're staying with LHBs, Dietrich would be one playable bat, but perhaps the bigger value is Justin Bour (128 wRC+, .257 ISO vs RHP since 2015) moving into the three hole for less than $4K on either site.

Tampa Bay takes a trip down south to Miami today in what is the only afternoon game of the day with the Rays and Jake Odorizzi slight favorites over the Marlins and Tom Koehler. Odorizzi flashes high upside at times but is wildly inconsistent - he's best avoided in most formats but could be a sneaky GPP play pitching in a pitcher friendly park against a somewhat lackluster offense. He's a reverse splits pitcher that is more effective against left-handed bats (.290 career wOBA including .255 this season) and struggles against right-handed hitters (to the tune of a .325 career wOBA including .357 this season). Martin Prado, Marcell Ozuna, and the struggling Giancarlo Stanton are secondary options if you are playing the all day slate and you can also include hot-hitting (10 hits in his last three games) Ichiro Suzuki as a viable play. Tom Koehler struggles against both sides (>.318 career wOBA allowed) and left-handed bats have roughed him up the last two seasons (.367 wOBA allowed this season, .332 wOBA allowed in 2015). Brad Miller, Logan Morrison, and Corey Dickerson are the lone southpaws in the Rays lineup today and are all viable options along with the rest of the top five in the batting order (Brandon Guyer, Evan Longoria, Steve Pearce, and Steve Souza).

Matt Moore is still missing a decent number of bats on a start to start basis, but has a 35.0 Hard% and 16.7 HR/FB with six HRs over his last five starts with occasional control issues too. The Marlins stack entirely RH behind Ichiro Suzuki (337 wRC+ last seven days), who is one of two Marlins swinging the bat well recently. J.T. Realmuto moves up to 3rd against a pitcher with a .351 wOBA allowed to RHBs since last season, but he has just a 104 wRC+, .184 ISO vs lefties since last season at a moderate cost tonight. The two bats to look at are an ice cold Stanton on a strikeout rampage, but a 189 wRC+ with an unconscionable .457 ISO and 55.8 Hard% vs LHP since last season. The cold streak has slightly reduced his cost tonight, as you rarely see him below $5K (DK) or $4K (FD) vs a lefty. Marcell Ozuna (163 wRC+, .216 ISO vs LHP since 2015) is the other hot bat in the lineup (192 wRC+ last seven days), though now costs $5K on DraftKings tonight.

In an already rather neutral situation, Giancarlo Stanton will take a set for the Marlins tonight, leaving them without two key lineup pieces (Dee Gordon) against the unimpressive Zach Davies in Milwaukee. Davies is a bit of an unknown, who's projections range from a mid-rotation starter at peak upside to bullpen arm according to fangraphs. Ichiro Suzuki (45 wRC+ vs RHP since 2015) immediately inherits the leadoff spot, but might be toast at this point. The good news is Christian Yelich (128 wRC+ vs RHP) seems to finally be reaching his potential, but the Marlins continue to stick their best bat vs RHP (Derek Dietrich 140 wRC+, .238 ISO) down in the order when he does play.