Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Draftstreet 4/4/14

A big day for baseball, and I hear there's some basketball tournament thingy tonight as well. Why spend time on foreplay? Let's just get to it, brother.

A quick note - our baseball product for FanDuel is LIVE!. It's going to be free until the end of the regular season in basketball - so PLEASE, if you have any feedback, we'd love to hear it!

Be sure to sign up for a free 3-day trial to access the NBA system and spreadsheets that help produce our picks. And give a follow on Twitter @dailyfantasysr.

A little note about baseball picks

If you're coming over from basketball - welcome. If you're a lifelong fantasy baseball player, welcome. I want to give a quick heads up about how we are going to do our baseball picks.

Unlike basketball, contextual information matters very little baseball. Guys rarely take days off, and "playing well recently" means almost nothing. Playing time hardly ever changes (unlike in basketball where guys can increase their opportunities by 50% on a coach's whim), and when it does, it's fairly obvious.

So, we're going to be giving picks each day without huge write-ups. The only thing that changes about a player in a given day (for the most part) is the park he's playing in and the pitcher he is facing. Most of the other stuff is noise, unless a player has drastically changed his position in the lineup. For pitchers, all that really matters is who they are facing, which park, and if they've been recently injured.

We cool?

Let's do it.

 

Pitchers

Danny Salazar FanDuel 7000 DraftKings 8800 DraftStreet 20379
Salazar is by far my favorite play tonight. $7k isn't super cheap, but Salazar has nice K upside and Minnesota had a sub 700 OPS vs. righties last year.

Dan Straily FanDuel 5900 DraftKings 8600 DraftStreet 15162
Hopefully you've been noticing, but there's real money in taking cheap pitchers in nice match-ups. Straily is one such guy - facing the Mariners at home.

Garrett Richards FanDuel 4700 DraftKings 6400 DraftStreet 12883
Richards is by far my favorite bargain basement guy today. A hard thrower facing the Astros in a match-up in which they'll be heavily favored for the W.

 

Catchers

Dioner Navarro FanDuel 2500 DraftKings 2800 DraftStreet 5075
People just haven't noticed that Navarro is starting, and last season's solid performance isn't looking like a fluke. I'm playing him against lefties without reservation.

Brian McCann FanDuel 3600 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 6987
I love McCann against McGowan - particularly because McGowan struggled with his control last year.

Hank Conger FanDuel 2300 DraftKings 3000 DraftStreet 5086
I believe he'll get the start against Harrell, since Iannetta is much weaker against righties. If he does, Conger is a terrific play at this price.

 

First Basemen

Adam Dunn FanDuel 2700 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 5038
One of the best ways to win a DFS baseball tournament is with the long ball. Enter Adam Dunn. He's a little tougher to swallow on efficiency sites because he k's every other AB, but he can get hold of one. We had him as a top play yesterday, and he went yard. Love the matchup here too against Jeremy Guthrie who can't K anyone.

Brandon Moss FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 3700 DraftStreet 7133
Playing Moss is all about choosing your spots. This is one of them. He feasts on right handers who can't strike anyone out. Say hello to Chris Young. Yeah, that Chris Young.

Anthony Rizzo FanDuel 3500 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 6421
Just as I was starting to type this pick, a highlight of Rizzon came up on the TV screen. That's a sign. Two homeruns today minimum. Kidding, but it's possible against Roberto Hernandez. Yeah, that Roberto Hernandez.

Albert Pujols FanDuel 4100 DraftKings 5000 DraftStreet 8304
To go nicely with your Angel stack.

 

Second Basemen

Howie Kendrick FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 3900 DraftStreet 6108
A great guy to stack with the other Angels recommendations today, or as a stand alone play. Not a good day for Harrell's mom to read the picks.

Emilio Bonifacio FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 3600 DraftStreet 5400
Bonifacio is temporarily raking, but the system doesn't even know that, and still loves him at home against Hernandez.

Aaron Hill FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 5921
Hill gets to face Nicasio in Coors and Coors does things to baseballs that other parks only dream of.

 

Shortstops

Jed Lowrie FanDuel 3200 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 6594
Nobody knows what exactly to expect from Chris Young, but as a switch hitter, Lowrie will get to line-up against Chris Young in a very favorable position. Now, Lowrie is worse against righties, but Young's deceptive delivery works much better against same-handed batters.

Troy Tulowitzki FanDuel 4200 DraftKings 5200 DraftStreet 9175
Tulo at home. IT HAS BEGUN! Randall Delgado not spooking me here a bit.

Mike Aviles FanDuel 2500 DraftKings 2800 DraftStreet 5268
Your bargain basement option if you want to go cheap. Still priced like a back-up, and he's playing.

 

Third Basemen

Evan Longoria FanDuel 4200 DraftKings 4700 DraftStreet 8961
A beautiful match-up for Longoria. Saunders brings nothing from the lefty side that Longoria can't put in the seats.

Mike Moustakas FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 3700 DraftStreet 5449
This mostly comes down to the system's negative attitude toward Erik Johnson. It doesn't like him, if you're curious.

Carlos Santana FanDuel 3700 DraftKings 4600 DraftStreet 6239
Santana is slightly worse against righties, but dude, the righty he's facing is Mike Pelfrey. Don't ask a lot of questions - just get him in there.

 

Outfielders

Josh Reddick FanDuel 3000 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 6510
Another lefty against Chris Young, and Young struggles with giving up the long ball. Reddick's got his warts, but not against soft-tossing right handers - Reddick is a drastic platoon split guy.

Shin-Soo Choo FanDuel 4000 DraftKings 4700 DraftStreet 8898
Love Choo and his patient approach against any young right hander, and Odorizzi fits that bill.

Desmond Jennings FanDuel 3800 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 7176
I don't want to say Joe Saunders is a batting practice pitcher at this stage in his career. I don't want to say that righties have always ate his lunch, and now he's old. I don't want to say any of this, so I won't - I'll just say, play Jennings.

Alex Gordon FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 6971
Gordon has a career OPS 60 PTs higher against righties, and again, Johnson is no world beater.

Michael Cuddyer FanDuel 3500 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 7361
Not a lot to see here, except that you'll often see Rockies here when they are against less than ace pitchers. Delgado fits that bill.

Mike Trout FanDuel 5500 DraftKings 6200 DraftStreet 10927
I rarely get recommend Trout because the price is so damned high, but facing Harrel in Houston is close to an ideal match up for him. A quick note about Trout - he's been a reverse platoon guy so far in his career. A staggering .70 points higher OPS vs. righties.

Giancarlo Stanton FanDuel 4600 DraftKings 5100 DraftStreet 6874
So sad that Stanton has to play in a pitcher's park, but Eric Stults and his pitch-to-contact approach (to put it nicely) is a terrific fit for him.

Marcell Ozuna FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 6551
Price hasn't caught up to his starter status, and Stults is a great matchup for young righties who are less polished.

Remember! You can use our Baseball Lineup Construction Tool for free until mid-April. Please check it out and give us feedback!

You can also sign up for our mailing list by using the column in the sidebar (and you'll get a free eBook on setting Daily Fantasy Basketball lineups. The Baseball eBook is on its way). Our mailing list puts the picks in your inbox like a freshly baked pie.