Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftStreet, and DraftKings 5/10/14

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Pitchers

Jeff Samardzija FanDuel 7900 DraftKings 9400 DraftStreet 17244
Dream matchup for Samardzija - Atlanta strikes out like crazy, and that is sort of a strong suit of the former college wide receiver.

Max Scherzer FanDuel 11000 DraftKings 12800 DraftStreet 27530
Max has a fantastic match up against the lowly twins, made all the better by Gibson's inability to pitch in the majors. It's obviously a huge investment, but Max is as sure a bet as they come for a big day.

CC Sabathia FanDuel 7100 DraftKings 10100 DraftStreet 14944
Disclaimer: I like the guys above significantly better than CC. This is more of a sneaky separation play. A couple of rough outings for Sabathia, but his peripherals are still great, and with Braun on the DL, I'm a lot less concerned about Milwaukee's ability to handle left handed pitching, and Lohse is nothing to write home about against the righty-killers the Yankees have. And here's the thing: you're targeting a Win and a bunch of Ks in this one. If some of the Brewers righties get theirs, who cares?

Also considered: Tyler Skaggs, Matt Cain

Catchers

Alex Avila FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 3300 DraftStreet 6195
As I start writing these picks, I just have a hunch we're going to see more than a couple Tigers against Kyle Gibson. Avila is one of the more extreme platoon guys in all of baseball, and Kyle Gibson has given up more walks than he has strikeouts.

Jonathan Lucroy FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 3900 DraftStreet 5421
Lucroy is more of a steady Eddie than an upside play, but I don't mind him against the left handed Sabathia at all.

Jason Castro FanDuel 3000 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 4111
Castro is another mega-extreme platoon split guy - he's not even a major leaguer against lefties, but against righties? A very solid 122 wRC+. The system isn't worried about Miguel Gonzalez, in case you are.

Brian McCann FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 3500 DraftStreet 5301
McCann is off to not the greatest start, but please understand something: he's running impossibly bad against right handed pitching. It's totally fair if you think he's on the wrong side of his prime, but he just isn't going to finish the season with a BABIP .83 points below his career average.

First Basemen

Eric Hosmer FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 7064
The system isn't even aware that Hosmer is on fire recently, and frankly, it doesn't need to be. Chris Young is helpless against left handed pitching, and even in Seattle, Hosmer should spray line drives all over the field.

Joey Votto FanDuel 3600 DraftKings 4600 DraftStreet 6142
Personal man-crush Joey Votto stares down Jordan Lyles, whose control-oriented pitch to contact game isn't going to fare well against Votto's incredible ability to make hard contact. Loving Votto today. Loving. Him.

Mark Reynolds FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 5155
Not to go all Brewers crazy on you, but facing a flyball pitcher like Sabathia is right in Reynolds' wheelhouse. I don't love him on sites that fear the strike out, but on sites that favor bulk production? Reynolds could be your guy.

Also considered: Freddie Freeman, Ryan Howard

Second Basemen

Chase Utley FanDuel 3500 DraftKings 4900 DraftStreet 6611
I can't explain to you how annoying it is to me that Chase Utley is still good at this stage in his career. But here we are - he's flirting with a .900 OPS again, and now he gets to face hope of the Mets Dillon Gee. Gee is not awful or anything, but Utley is still great. Expecting a nice game from the Phillies' cadre of lefties.

Ryan Raburn FanDuel 2300 DraftKings 3100 DraftStreet 4306
Hey Look! The Indians are facing a left hander! Raburn has been fantastic against lefties for his entire career - it's those pesky righties that have kept him from being a terrific major leaguer. Tampa Bay's reclamation project on Bedard can only be called an utter failure at this point, and I think the Indians' lefty mashers are poised to ruin him.

Dustin Pedroia FanDuel 3800 DraftKings 5000 DraftStreet 8478
An underrated platoon split guy - Pedroia takes on the young Perez, who, while a promising young talent, has still just amassed 31 Ks against 15 walks in 47 and 2/3 this year. A mismatch for the experienced Pedroia, and I think he's on base early and often in this fantastic hitters' park.

Also considered: Ben Zobrist, Robinson Cano

Shortstops

Xander Bogaerts FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 3600 DraftStreet 4591
The early returns on the young Bogaerts' career are interesting. While sample sizes are an issue, he has been PHENOMENAL against left handers. He's got a 1:1 K/BB ratio, and a shocking 1.045 OPS. I expect that number to come down a bit over time, but not in this game against Martin Perez.

Jean Segura FanDuel 3100 DraftKings 3400 DraftStreet 5963
Hey look, we're stacking guys against one of my pitcher picks! Segura has been downright lousy compared to pre-season expectations in terms of his ability to play real baseball. But for fantasy? He's stealing plenty of bags, and the guys around him hit lefties much better than they do righties. A relatively weak day for SS, and I like Segura.

Elvis Andrus FanDuel 3000 DraftKings 3900 DraftStreet 5040
Andrus has been squaring the ball up fantastically - his BBs are up, his Ks are down, and he's stealing like mad. Lester has been terrific in his own right, but I think Andrus could return nicely for fantasy owners here.

Also considered: Everth Cabrera, Jimmy Rollins, JJ Hardy.

Third Basemen

Aramis Ramirez FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 4200 DraftStreet 5987
By now, you might be confused that I've recommended so many Brewers. Fair. Fair. The thing is - CC's value isn't going to come from ERA in this one, it should come from the W and the Ks. Aramis Ramirez remains a very tough guy to K, and his BABIP .51 points lower than his career levels can't last forever. A weird pick, kinda, but I love it.

Carlos Santana FanDuel 3200 DraftKings 4400 DraftStreet 6066
It's the all BABIP run-bad team! Carlos is running a staggering .121 points under his career BABIP this year, and it simply isn't due to skill regression or anything of the sort. His K/BB is still terrific, and the guy is a career 135 wRC+ hitter against any lefties, much less old corpses of lefties like Bedard.

David Wright FanDuel 3600 DraftKings 4800 DraftStreet 6825
The daily conundrum with Wright - he should eat Kyle Kendrick for dinner, but what about the rest of the Mets? Wright enters with a 7 game hit streak, and feels like a safe play here, if his upside is limited due to his crappy comrades.

Also considered: Chris Johnson, Mike Moustakas

Outfielders

Marcell Ozuna FanDuel 2600 DraftKings 3400 DraftStreet 6200
Ozuna squares the ball up a heck of a lot more solidly against left handers. With more than .100 more slugging points against them this year, he makes a great play against the pitch-to-contact Stults, regardless of how difficult the park is for hitters.

Domonic Brown FanDuel 2600 DraftKings 3200 DraftStreet 3671
I love Brown and his 106 career wRC+ against right handers in this game. Not that his performance against them is all that stellar, but the rest of the guys who bat around him are just so much more effective against right handed pitching. Brown stands to have a lot of chances to put fantasy points on the board in this game.

Jason Heyward FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 4832
Heyward never turned into the star he ought to have been (at least for fantasy purposes), but he can still crush a ball thrown by a righty. Samardzija is pretty tough, but I think Heyward has a reasonable game nonetheless.

George Springer FanDuel 2400 DraftKings 2900 DraftStreet 4643
He's awfully cheap for a guy who can score fantasy points in buckets with either his brawn or his speed. Miguel Gonzalez has been better this year than his ERA would indicate, but he's still not skilled enough to scare me away from this talented youngster.

Norichika Aoki FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 3600 DraftStreet 5469
and Alex Gordon FanDuel 2600 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 5592
Aoki is rather platoon neutral, so the system is mostly seeing red when it comes to Chris Young's abilities overall at this stage in his career. Aoki should be able to get on base with good frequency against Young, and the stack possibilities with the Royals have me liking Aoki quite a bit. Gordon is not platoon neutral - he has a 114 wRC+ against righties vs. a 96 against lefties, and Chris Young hates pitching against lefties. Great spot here for Gordon.

Allen Craig FanDuel 2500 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 6217
The hate on Allen Craig this year is ridiculous. The guy is sitting on a BABIP more than .100 points below his career norms, and his true talent level lies WAY ahead of his year to date stats. While he prefers lefties, he's been great against righties in his career too, and the new strikeout-less Volquez should be just the guy to get him back on track.

Austin Jackson FanDuel 3300 DraftKings 4200 DraftStreet 6666
That whole Kyle Gibson thing again. Jackson is a heavy reverse platoon split guy, and should have a ton of opportunity to rack up counting stats with his Tiger buddies both knocking him in and being on base in front of him.

Also considered: Billy Hamilton, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday.

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