FanDuel Lineup and Picks for Friday, May 11

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HOUSTON, TX – APRIL 15: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park on April 15, 2018 in Houston, Texas. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Rangers at Astros

Rangers Probable Starter – Cole Hamels, LHP

3.94 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and 10.25 K/9

Vs LHH – .313 average, .378 wOBA and 33.3 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .228 average, .333 wOBA and 49.5 hard contact rate

I’ll admit that I’m a bit mystified about this spot. On one hand, I want to stack up the Astros because I don’t believe that Hamels will continue to be a solid pitcher. Some of his metrics look a little sketchy and wouldn’t lead me to believe he can sustain it. Giving up hard contact nearly half the time usually doesn’t end well. On the other hand, Hamels has faced the Astros twice and been reasonably good against them. He’s only given up five runs across 11.2 innings of work which isn’t terrible. I might pick and choose a couple of Astros but likely won’t go nuts here.

Astros Hitters to Target

Elite Options – George Springer, Jose Altuve

Secondary Options – Carlos Corea, Yuli Gurriel

Astros Probable Starter – Justin Verlander, RHP

1.17 ERA, 0.71 WHIP and 11.74 K/9

Vs LHH – .099 average, .167 wOBA and 16.3 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .181 average, .240 wOBA and 28.8 hard contact rate

Man, has Verlander been awesome this year. His floor performance to this point is a 35 point effort against the Orioles. The Rangers have the third highest strikeout rate against righty pitching and I have no interest in any of their batters save for one man. I might sound like a broken record, but I may have a share or two of Joey Gallo simply because Verlander is carrying a 60.5 fly ball rate, which is far and away a career high. If Gallo gets a ball in the air, it can leave the park. Other than that, I’ll leave the Rangers hitters on the sidelines.

Rangers Hitters to Target

Elite Options – None

Secondary Options – Joey Gallo

Home Run Pick – George Springer

MILWAUKEE, WI – MAY 09: Travis Shaw #21 of the Milwaukee Brewers flies out in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at the Miller Park on May 9, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

Brewers at Rockies

Brewers Probable Starter – Brandon Woodruff, RHP

3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 9.64 K/9

Vs LHH – .222 average, .265 wOBA and 50.0 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .300 average, .342 wOBA and 43.8 hard contact rate

The Brewers are in a tough spot today because they are forced to start Woodruff on short notice. Zach Davies was supposed to start but came up with an injury so don’t read too much into Woodruff tonight. He’s likely not going to be in the game all that long so we’ll just stick with the big guns for the Rockies tonight.

Rockies Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado

Secondary Options – Trevor Story, David Dahl, DJ LeMahieu

Rockies Probable Starter – Chad Bettis, RHP

2.05 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 5.52 K/9

Vs LHH – .208 average, .227 wOBA and 31.6 hard contact rate

Vs RHH – .202 average, .272 wOBA and 37.5 hard contact rate

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like there’s quite a few Brewers who didn’t get a massive price bump like a team normally does at Coors Field. Lorenzo Cain was a monster last night and it still under $4,000. Ryan Braun and Domingo Santana are even cheaper and even Travis Shaw is right around the $4,000 mark. The performance Bettis has put up so far are just too far outside his career normals to take all that seriously. Most of this game is far too expensive if you decide to pay up for pitching this evening.

Brewers Hitters to Target

Elite Options – Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Ryan Braun, Travis Shaw

Secondary Options – Domingo Santana

Home Run Pick – Travis Shaw