Ryan Rua Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Lopez heads into his start against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park on Sunday afternoon looking to avoid his third consecutive outing of allowing at least four runs, but he appears to have his work cut out for him facing off with a scorching Rangers offense that has scored in double figures in each of the first two games of this series. Despite some prospect pedigree coming up through the Washington Nationals minor league system, Lopez has really struggled to put it all together at the Major League level, as he continues to sport a merely average 16.8% strikeout rate, high 9.8% walk rate, and 5.56 xFIP that is nearly two full runs higher than his 3.73 ERA through 16 starts this season, signaling negative regression should be on the horizon sooner rather than later. Not only that, but his groundball ability versus left-handed hitters (29.8%) has become nearly nonexistent, which has caused Lopez' xFIP to balloon to 6.21 against southpaws, neither of which are encouraging signs in a matchup with this Rangers squad that possesses plenty of left-handed power bats that can take advantage of his lack of contact control in the Texas heat. So, needless to say, there's a reason the Rangers own the highest implied total (5.9) outside of the windy Wrigley Field game and elevates Shin-Soo Choo (47.5% HH%, 0.243 ISO, 0.480 xwOBA vs RHP) and Nomar Mazara (39.9% HH%, 0.190 ISO, 0.428 xwOBA vs RHP) vs RHP to elite options in all formats, whether individually or part of a full stack in large-field tournaments. In a tier below, Joey Gallo (50.8% HH%, 0.263 ISO, 0.575 xwOBA vs RHP) and Rougned Odor (39.3% HH%, 0.203 ISO vs RHP since 2017) are volatile, high-upside targets given their power potential that unfortunately coincide with astronomical strikeout rates against right-handed pitching. If looking to differentiate Texas stacks a bit in tournaments, Ryan Rua (0.421 xwOBA vs RHP) is an intriguing low-cost option after homering in last night's contest, though he does sacrifice the platoon advantage against Lopez and has also struck out nearly 50% of the time in 56 plate appearances versus righties in the Majors this season, relegating him to a stack-only tournament play.

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.

Coors bats reign supreme atop the RotoGrinders Player Projections in terms of raw point projections. Paul Goldschmidt (141 wRC+, .217 ISO vs RHP since 2015) and Mike Trout (179 wRC+, .260 ISO vs LHP since 2015) are the first two non-Coors bats you'll find. Both have interesting matchups tonight against two of the the top three SwStr rates on the board (both above 14%) tonight, though both Cahill and Manaea will occasionally allow a lot of hard contact. More troubling for Goldy is that he has just a 32.7 FB% against RHPs while Cahill has kept RHBs on the ground around 60% of the time. On FanDuel, Rangers RHBs appear the top values with DeShields ($2.2K batting leadoff), Rua ($2.1K) and Napoli (129 wRC+, .224 ISO vs LHP since 2015) all projecting well against Hector Santiago (.323 wOBA, 37.1 Hard% vs LHBs since 2015) in Texas tonight. On the pitching side, Dylan Bundy now projects as a top two overall pitcher and value on either site after losing Martinez and Syndergaard from the slate.

Danny Duffy won't retain the 93% strand rate that has allowed him to compile a 2.80 ERA, but he does have an elite 14.1 SwStr% despite a 22.1 K% just above average. The Rangers are a decent offense, which plays up in a favorable run scoring environment in Texas with temperatures expected to be in the high 70s. Duffy is projected as the third best pitcher and second best value on DraftKings tonight (RotoGrinders Player Projections) where he costs a very reasonable $8.2K. Duffy can struggle against RHBs (.327 wOBA, 34.5 Hard%, 42 HRs since 2015) and Mike Napoli (108 wRC+, .177 ISO vs LHP since 2015) has the most success against him with two homers in seven PAs, but that was long enough ago that there's no Statcast data between the two and Duffy has become a much better overall pitcher in the last year. Players looking for a cheap bat should eye Ryan Rua (94 wRC+, .174 ISO vs LHP) on FanDuel for the minimum ($2K), where he projects as a top value (RotoGrinders Player Projections). With SS a bit light tonight, Elvis Andrus (141 wRC+, .168 ISO vs LHP since last season) is certainly worth a look as well.

Sean Manaea is a good young pitcher that has some pedigree as a prospect, but he has definitely had his issues with right-handed batters in his rookie season. Manaea has posted decent strikeout and walk numbers but is surrendering too many fly balls (39.1%) and hard contact (34.7%) to righties. He is able to get away with a pitching profile like that at times in Oakland, but may not be as fortunate in Arlington against a Rangers lineup with some good right-handed hitters. Speaking of the Texas righties we want to target, Adrian Beltre (164 wRC+, .423 wOBA, .257 ISO vs LHP), Carlos Beltran (172 wRC+, .429 wOBA, .269 ISO vs LHP), Ian Desmond (142 wRC+, .391 wOBA, .195 ISO vs LHP), Ryan Rua (122 wRC+, .362 wOBA, .157 ISO vs LHP), and Jonathan Lucroy (.232 ISO vs LHP) are the bats that are primarily in play, although a case can be made for any of them in tournaments.

Manaea has been slowly but surely figuring it out at the major league level and finally pitching to the expectations of an elite prospect. Because of this, we should use some caution in targeting the Rangers, however, there is still some upside for their right-handed bats in this matchup. Manaea has a decent 18.2% K% accompanied by a low 5.9% BB% against righties, but that is the type of pitcher profile that sets up perfectly for the Rangers as they're a team that prefers to swing the bat ranking towards the bottom of the league in walks versus left-handed pitching (6.6% BB%). Manaea does a good job inducing ground balls to lefties (51.1% GB%) but has no such luck against right-handed batters (40.0% FB%, 1,29 HR/9). The top Rangers bats in consideration are Ian Desmond (164 wRC+, .424 wOBA, .200 ISO vs LHP) and Adrian Beltre (137 wRC+, .385 wOBA, .202 ISO vs LHP). Ryan Rua (136 wRC+, .384 wOBA, .178 ISO vs LHP) and Elvis Andrus (144 wRC+, .396 wOBA, .192 ISO vs LHP) also make decent tournament plays to round out Rangers stacks.

Hector Santiago hasn’t allowed an ER in three starts with just one in two of his previous three. Over this span of six starts, he has .219 BABIP with an 87.0 LOB% and 5.6 HR/FB with a league average 12.6 K-BB% and 37.8% hard hit rate. While he has some fans in the daily fantasy community, players always have to wondder when that hard contact is going to come back to bite him. The Rangers have several above average bats against LHP and RHBs have a .322 wOBA against Santiago since last season. Ian Desmond (166 wRC+, .202 ISO vs LHP this season) is the top bat here and $4.3K on either site. Adrian Beltre (145 wRC+, .223 ISO vs LHP since last season has seven extra-base hits in 42 career PAs against Santiago, while Ryan Rua (142 wRC+, .188 ISO vs LHP this season) is a cheap bat ($3.2K on either site) in the cleanup spot. The hidden bargain may be in the 8th spot for those looking for a cheap catcher though. Robinson Chirinos (128 wRC+, .260 ISO vs LHP since last season) homered twice last night and has a .452 ISO in July (31 ABs), costing less than $3K on either site.

Ryan Rua boasts an impressive 152 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers this year. His ISO is not as impressive, standing at a respectable 0.197, leaving DFS players to view Rua as a high floor, average ceiling option today against Milone. Rua is striking out 20% of the time against LHPs, so there is some risk in playing him, but Milone is a below average pitcher, sporting a 3.98 xFIP agaisnt RHBs this year. Rua may be better used as part of a Rangers stack, but he can be considered a viable mid-tier option, regardless of his limitations.