Rickie Weeks Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Martin Perez may pique some interest against a lineup with a 27.7 K% against LHP on this slate, but he has just 6.8 K-BB% on the season in a tough park, while RHBs have a .334 wOBA adn 33.1 Hard% against him since last season. What Tampa Bay offers is affordable bats with the platoon advantage as several positions where players may want to save salary. While it's unfortunate seeing Tim Beckham (100 wRC+, .173 ISO vs LHP since 2015) batting seventh, he still offers value as SS for less than $3K on this slate. Steve Souza (90 wRC+, .152 ISO vs LHP since 2015) gains value in the leadoff spot and brings in a 254 wRC+ (fifth best in baseball) with a 46.7 Hard% with three HRs over the last week. Rickie Weeks (123 wRC+, .232 ISO vs LHP since 2015) may be particularly useful as a third OF bat on FanDuel ($2.5K), but is below $3K on DraftKings as well, where he's First Base eligible. Evan Longoria (118 wRC+, .200 ISO vs LHP since 2015) costs around $1K less than Josh Donaldson on either site. If paying up for Stroman, an affordable RH stack of Rays could compliment a Toronto stack.

While there are potentially a number of value bats on DraftKings, if we're truly looking for cheap bargains, Rickie Weeks (152 wRC+, .321 ISO vs LHP since 2016) and Tyler Collins (113 wRC+, .153 ISO vs RHP since 2016) are each in the top half of their lineup for $2.6K or less on either site. While most players may try to find the extra few hundred for Brian McCann (vs Andrew Cashner), players who don't mind Catchers batting lower in the order and need more savings could look towards Alex Avila (135 wRC+, .209 ISO vs RHP since 2016) or Cameron Rupp (148 wRC+, .286 ISO vs LHP since 2016) for $3.1K or less on DK, $2.6K or less on FanDuel. Brandon Guyer (151 wRC+, .194 ISO vs LHP since 2016) bats sixth against a lefty (Daniel Norris), but costs less than $3K on either site. Not yet confirmed, Andrew Toles (125 wRC+, .208 ISO vs RHP career) could bat leadoff against Johnny Cueto for more than the minimum. If players are looking for a below average cheap one in the leadoff spot, Peter Bourjos (78 wRC+ vs LHP since 2016) is your man for just $2.7K on DraftKings.

Three of the top four overall projected bats on the RotoGrinders Player Projections page reside in Houston tonight. Despite Andrew Cashner's extreme splits (LHBs .375 wOBA, 37.5 Hard%/RHBs .321 wOBA, 28.2 Hard%), all three bat from the right side (Altuve, Springer, Correa). All three are also above average hitters against RHP. Springer and Correa also double as potential top values on FanDuel with each projected for more than 3.5 Pt/$/K at $3.5K or less. Rickie Weeks (152 wRC+, .321 ISO vs LHP since last year) also projects as a top two value on either site, facing Wei-Yin Chen (RHBs .342 wOBA, 32.7 Hard% since 2015) in Miami. Players not paying up for Kershaw tonight can also consider Luis Severino as potentially the top pitching value on FanDuel. Our projections have him potentially being worth 4.6 Pt/$/K, nearly a full quarter of a point per thousand fantasy dollars higher than any other pitcher.

Drew Pomeranz is coming off a great opening start to the year against the Baltimore Orioles in which he struck out six and allowed just one earned run in six innings of work. He's set to take the bump in this afternoon's matchup against a free-swinging Tampa Bay Rays lineup that currently ranks second-worst in the Majors in strikeout rate after finishing third-worst in 2016 as well. Pomeranz struggles with inconsistency at times but is still a pitcher that posted a superb 26.5% strikeout rate last season, which will clearly give him massive upside in this matchup, just as much as any other pitcher on the main slate. Additionally, the departure of Logan Forsythe and Steve Pearce from this Rays lineup makes this team all that less potent facing off against southpaws. If Pomeranz is able to limit the free passes (9.3% BB% in 2016), he should have no problem moving down this Tampa Bay order, as Evan Longoria (.200 ISO vs LHP in 2016/17) and Rickie Weeks Jr. (159 wRC+, .419 wOBA, .358 ISO vs LHP in 2016) are really the only established lefty mashers to counteract Pomeranz from the right side of the plate.

With pitching so inexpensive today, players probably aren't in need to too many bargain bats, but you may still be looking to potentially punt a position. If so, Matt Joyce (141 wRC+, .234 ISO vs RHP last season) is in a nice spot, batting second in Texas against a pitcher who allowed a lot of hard contact in the air to RHBs last year (44.4%). He costs just $3K on DraftKings and $2.1K on FanDuel. Rickie Weeks (133 wRC+, .272 ISO vs LHP since 2015) is a minimally priced option in the cleanup spot against tonight's top pitcher, but also a very flawed one. If you're looking to punt Catcher, A.J. Ellis is not much of a bat, but does have a good eye and bats second against a pitcher who is returning from TJS and previously had control problems (Zack Wheeler). Derek Norris did not hit at all last season but bats fifth against Liriano and costs $2.6K or less on either site. Those are the confirmed bats in the top half of any lineup tonight for $3K or less on DraftKings. FanDuel has a few more cheap options. Mitch Haniger might be a league average bat against the hittable Jesse Chavez. He's projected to bat second again for the Mariners at the minimum price. Jesus Aguilar bats fifth for the Brewers against lefty Brett Anderson. He hasn't shown much in the majors, but his power was on display this spring. Wilmer Flores (176 wRC+, .330 ISO vs LHP since 2015) bats cleanup for the Mets and costs just $2.3K on FanDuel.

George Springer, Jose Altuve and Anthony Rizzo are the clear favorites of the Rotogrinders projections tonight. The Astros are facing soft tossing lefty Jason Vargas at home, while Rizzo has an appointment with Jimmy Nelson, who has allowed a .357 wOBA and 35.5 Hard% to LHBs over the last two seasons. Rizzo (149 wRC+, .264 ISO vs RHP since 2015) has a 92 mph aEV on 18 BBEs against Nelson. Francisco Liriano is the clear top choice on the mound, projecting for 34 points on FanDuel and 17 on DraftKings, but it's then kind of interesting that Rickie Weeks is projected as the top point per dollar play tonight. Liriano has upside, but is a flawed pitcher, prone to control and HR issues and Weeks (133 wRC+, .272 ISO vs LHP since 2015), who costs the minimum or barely more, has been batting cleanup against LHP so far. Jesse Chavez is the top projected value at Pitcher on FanDuel, costing the minimum after having pitched out of the bullpen last year, but he's still on the bottom half of overall Pitcher projections.

We attempt to scour the lineups for low price options. We're looking for cheap starters ($2.5K or less), who are at least league average bats in the top half of the lineup tonight. Cheap outfielders reign supreme tonight. DraftKings gives us Matt Joyce (141 wRC+ vs RHP last season) and Rickie Weeks (159 wRC+ vs LHP last season) for just $2.3K each. Travis Jankowski (105 wRC+ vs RHP) costs just $2.5K atop the San Diego lineup. Just out of range is Gyorkis Hernandez (115 wRC+ vs LHP) at $2.6K. On FanDuel, Weeks and Hernandez are both min-priced options, as is Mitch Haniger (94 wRC+ vs RHP), batting second for Seattle. Both Hunter Renfroe and Joey Gallo are higher risk players, batting further down in the order, but each showed up in the top three in our HR Predictor page today. Jankowski ($2.2K) and Joyce ($2.4K) are both slightly more expensive.

The Reds and Diamondbacks are set to meet in a contest that checks-in with one of the heftier run totals on the board. This is a tough task for Brandon Finnegan, pitching on the road in a great hitters’ park against a Diamondbacks lineups that quietly now leads the majors in wOBA against left-handed pitching. Finnegan is also quite awful from a pitching perspective, accumulating a meager 17.5% strikeout rate, a 11.6% walk rate, a 37.6% hard hit rate, and a 5.21 SIERA this season. Finnegan has allowed a hard hit rate of 40.6% against right handed hitters this year. Just let that sink in. We can stack up the Diamondbacks with confidence tonight, and there is a case to be made for nearly every hitter in that lineup. A.J. Pollock (137 wRC+, .379 wOBA, .185 ISO vs LHP since 2015), Paul Goldschmidt (186 wRC+, .459 wOBA, .263 ISO vs LHP), Wellington Castillo (155 wRC+, .413 wOBA, .308 ISO vs LHP), and Rickie Weeks Jr. (156 wRC+, .415 wOBA, .322 ISO vs LHP) are the core options here hitting in the heart of the Arizona order.

Jon Niese makes his first start for the Mets this season. He's having a terrible season, is dealing with a knee injury, hasn't pitched more than two innings in a month and is facing an offense that mashes mediocre LHP in a difficult park. RHBs have punished him for a .346 wOBA since last season. There are no LHBs in this lineup. There's also no Welington Castillo against a lefty and Mitch Haniger is not even yet available on many sites batting second. While these things are a bit of a disappointment, players can still happily stack Diamondbacks with a health projection over five runs, especially on FanDuel, where a guy like Yasmany Tomas (152 wRC+, .308 ISO vs LHP this season) costs just $3.2K. Paul Goldschmidt (183 wRC+, .250 ISO vs LHP since last season) is the obvious and expensive choice at a well balanced First Base position tonight. Rickie Weeks has been a surprise lefty masher this season (151 wRC+, .288 ISO) and a great value play on FanDuel ($2.5K) and DraftKings players could even look at Tuffy Gosewisch (114 wRC+, .263 ISO career vs LHP) as a salary saver at $2.8K.

While the Diamondacks mash LHP (112 wRC+, 34.3 Hard%, 20.0 HR/FB) a lot of that is due to their home park, while they are in a much more negative run environment tonight against a ground ball pitcher (50.4%) without one of their most potent RH bats against southpaws (Welington Castillo). Steven Matz pitched better than the results in his last start, striking out six of 25 Yankees with six of seven base runners scoring. While he’s struck out no more than six, he’s struck out no fewer than five in any of his last seven starts either, going at least six innings in five of his last six. You'd like a bit more upside from a $9K pitcher, but he can be used on either site tonight with a positive expectation and Arizona projected for just 3.3 runs. There are three interesting bats, each with a wRC+ above 150 and ISO above .230 against LHP this year. Again, much of that is due to a great home park, but those numbers are strong enough that they may translate into something positive here at reasonable or inexpensive prices. Paul Goldschmidt has to be considered at no more than $4.3K on either site against a lefty. Yasmany Tomas costs $3.2K on FanDuel and adds a 238 wRC+ over the last week. Rickie Weeks bats cleanup and costs just $2.3K on FanDuel ($3.6K on DraftKings).