FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Monday, April 30

3 of 7

CHICAGO – APRIL 22: Jose Altuve #7 of the Houston Astros bats against the Chicago White Sox on April 22, 2018 at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jose Altuve /

Second Base, High End Spend

Jose Altuve, $4,500

.367/.367/.400 with 0 HR in 30 at-bats

With the usual caveat that Altuve could be in this spot literally every single night, he’s in quite a good spot this evening. Yankees starter Sonny Gray has been dreadful his past three starts and barely serviceable in his other two. Gray has also been getting blistered by righty hitting, surrendering a .340 average, .985 OPS and a .413 wOBA. Altuve is one of the best hitters in baseball and righty pitching isn’t slowing him down in the least. It’s not surprising but his batting average is over .380, the OPS is over .930 and the wOBA is .412. You don’t win the A.L. MVP for nothing, boys and girls. Altuve has heated up the past few days and could do it again tonight.

Also Consider – Javier Baez, $4,200(depending on the pitching for the Rockies)

Mid-Range

Joey Wendle, $3,100

N/A

The Tigers are giving Jordan Zimmermann the ball tonight and that means I want to play bats against him because he’s a terrible pitcher at this point in his career. Wendle really stands out because he is so affordable and Zimmermann is giving up a .396 wOBA to lefties, along with bad numbers everywhere else across the board. For his part, Wendle is hitting lefties really well this season with a .369 wOBA. What’s interesting with Wendle is his fly ball rate is super low at just 21.4 percent while his ground ball rate is over 60 percent. If he can start giving the ball more lift, the number could take off even more. Wendle is simply a little too cheap given matchup and potential tonight.

Also Consider – Scooter Gennett, $3,600

Value

For an eight game slate, the lower end of second base is pretty ugly. Carlos Asuaje might be an option at just $2,100 but I also think Jeff Samardzija might have a bounce back start tonight. Granted, the price tag is appealing but the matchup isn’t great from any perspective, including the ball park.