Welcome into the Monday edition of the FanDuel daily fantasy MLB column! Monday presents us with a medium-seized seven game slate.
Sunday was kind of a weird day. If you stuck with the sample lineup that was in the article with Mx Scherzer, you likely were fine even though the offense didn’t do a ton of work. I got worried about potential rain in the DC area and played Noah Syndergaard instead and that didn’t really work out for me. Let’s dig into the slate we have on tap tonight.
Giants at Phillies
Giants Probable Starter – Jeff Samardzija, RHP
5.27 ERA, 1.83 WHIP and 7.80 K/9
Vs LHH – .409 average, .508 wOBA and 38.9 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .182 average, .218 wOBA and 32.0 hard contact rate
The veteran for the Giants hasn’t found his footing yet coming back from an injury but even in his struggles, there’s only one type of batter that looks very attractive tonight. Lefties have been what’s giving Samardzija trouble and he’s facing a major ball park shift. Citizens Bank is much more hitter friendly than AT&T and lefty hitters for the Phillies are definitely in play tonight. The two that stand out more than the others are Carlos Santana and Odubel Herrera. Samardzija is an above average pitcher when he’s pitching well so I won’t go crazy against him this evening.
Phillies Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Odubel Herrera, Carlos Santana are both very cheap
Secondary Options – Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams if he plays
Phillies Probable Starter – Zach Eflin, RHP
*All stats are one start* 1.50 ERA, 0.50 WHIP and 6.00 K/9
Vs LHH – .250 average, .512 wOBA and 50.0 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .125 average, .134 wOBA and 28.6 hard contact rate
Eflin may have pitched well in his first start this season but that goes against the track record he has in the majors. The Giants bats could be an interesting stack because if Eflin reverts to being poor again, they could smack him around. In the past, Eflin hasn’t shown any significant splits so really any hitter could be an option I’d probably just stick to mostly the bigger names if you have the money for them. They are getting a little expensive since they were on fire in Atlanta. Brandon Belt is a perfect example. He’s a great hitter and has been smashing righties all season. $3,800 seems a little pricey for him.
Giants Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Brandon Belt, Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey
Secondary Options – Alen Hanson, Brandon Crawford, Evan Longoria
Home Run Pick – Odubel Herrera
Mets at Reds
Mets Probable Starter – P.J. Conlon, LHP
Major League Debut
It seems like we’ve had a lot of major league debuts recently and Conlon is next in line. The 24 year old lefty is taking the spot of Jacob DeGrom and he doesn’t look too inspiring from his minor league numbers. In AAA so far, his ERA is over 6.00 and his WHIP is over 1.50. As always, we don’t know what we’ll get with a debut. The Reds are obviously in play and worth a stack in GPP’s and there’s likely a couple who can be used in cash games.
Reds Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Eugenio Suarez, Adam Duvall, Tucker Barnhart
Secondary Options – Joey Votto, Jose Peraza
Reds Probable Starter – Homer Bailey, RHP
4.81 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 5.03 K/9
Vs LHH – .254 average, .345 wOBA and 31.8 hard contact rate
Vs RHH – .226 average, .313 wOBA and 51.4 hard contact rate
I always want at least one or two bats against Homer Bailey and tonight is no different. His fly ball rate can be deadly at home, as it sits at 44 percent for the season. The hard hit rate given up to righties certainly suggests Bailey has been lucky to only give up a .226 average. The biggest issue is the lefty bats for the Mets have been ice cold. Maybe a matchup with Bailey wakes them up. A player like Michael Conforto is appealing because he’s so cheap relative to what he normally costs. Yoenis Cespedes likely will miss this matchup which is a bummer because he would have been a great play tonight. If this game is the highest scoring of the night, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Mets Hitters to Target
Elite Options – Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Asdrubal Cabrera, Todd Frazier
Secondary Options – Jay Bruce
Home Run Pick – Michael Conforto