FanDuel fantasy baseball picks and lineup: Sunday April 8

2 of 7

CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 03: Jose Martinez #58 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a two run single in the 1st inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on June 3, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Catcher/First Base

High End Spend: Edwin Encarnacion ($3,700) — .281/.294/.781 with 5 HR in 32 at-bats

The big bat for the Cleveland Indians has already left the yard three times this season and might just do it again today. He has a very solid track record against Royals starter Jason Hammel and that could be because Hammel throws his slider about 25 percent of the time in his career. The best slider hitter in baseball last season was none other than E5. He hasn’t shown the same prowess quite yet this year but the other options aren’t as great. I’ll take my chances that Encarnacion gets a hold of a slider today.

In Consideration: Carlos Santana, $3,400

Mid-Range: Jose Martinez ($2,900) — 1.000/1.000/2.500 with 1 HR in 2 at-bats

For at least one start, Diamondbacks starter Taijuan Walker hasn’t taken the step forward some were hoping. Martinez draws a good matchup at home and has a healthy .290 batting average to go along with a .789 OPS and a .341 wOBA against righties so far in his career. He’s started off the 2018 season on fire, hitting over .350 with a whopping .405 wOBA against right handed pitchers so far. There’s a very solid argument to have at least a mini-Cardinals stack going today and the price on Martinez is fantastic for his upside. The one mark against Martinez is Walker does have a very good fly ball percentage. I’m still fine considering Martinez doesn’t even crack the $3,000 mark.

In consideration: Tyler Austin, $2,900

Value: Jorge Alfaro ($2,100) — 0 at-bats vs. Trevor Richards

This is dependent on if he starts, but the offensive explosion in Philly hung 20 runs on Miami last night and that could continue today. Alfaro scored a huge 31.9 FanDuel points and he’s still only $2,100. Hopefully manager Gabe Kapler will have him start today. If not, we’ll have a pivot ready to go on Twitter.