Daily Fantasy MLB Pitcher Breakdown FanDuel and DraftKings- 5/4/16

Daily Fantasy MLB Pitcher Breakdown FanDuel and DraftKings- 5/4/16

Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other pitching targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article and our updates articles but here we will look at other dudes to consider.

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Stacking in DFS MLB is such an important concept if you’re looking to take down a big tournament on FanDuel or DraftKings. It’s also a good way to diversify cash games because the variance in baseball can mean wild swings (ahem) in the scoring on a particular slate. The concept is easy. You want to pile players from one or two teams into your lineups because those guys compound scores by helping each other score runs when the going is good.

Pitching Targets

Early Slate

Jon Lester FD 10900 DK 10400
Opponent - PIT (Nicasio) Park - @PIT
FD - 38.46 DK - 21.03

If you are looking for an early slate GPP play, Lester is very contrarian and provides a ton of strikeout upside. He comes into this matchup with a 2-1 record and has only allowed more than one earned run once in five starts. Two of those starts he has recorded 10 punch outs. While the Pirates strike out around 22% of the time vs. left handed pitching they own the best team wOBA(.391) against them this season. Proceed with caution and only use in large field GPP's as there are a ton of other viable options today.
Felix Hernandez FD 11500 DK 10700
Opponent - OAK (Manaea) Park - @OAK
FD - 37.56 DK - 20.28

It has been a very up and down start for King Felix in 2016 as he comes int o this matchup with a 2-2 record and has struggled a ton with his control. He is whiffing batters at a slightly lower rate(7.8%) than his career number(8.5%) but the big issue has been the high volume of walks he is handing out(4.96 BB/9) which is double his career rate(2.54 BB/9). If he can get the walks under control today he has a decent matchup vs. the Athletics who rank 25th in team wOBA(.291) vs. right handed pitching and are striking out right around 20% of the time. King Felix is a much better pitcher at home in Safeco but it's hard to argue with this great matchup in a hitters park in Oakland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening Slate

Carlos Rodon FD 8000 DK 7400
Opponent - BOS (Buchholz) Park - @CHW
FD - 25.65 DK - 12.16

Outside of Mike Leake and Jose Fernandez  there isn't whole lot to like for pitchers in the evening slate. If  you are playing GPP you can definitely consider Rodon tonight vs. Red Sox. He struggles with his command at times with a 3.67 walk rate per nine innings but comes with huge K upside(9.0 K/9 rate). I am not totally comfortable with Rodon as the Red Sox sit 6th in the majors in runs scored(135) but have done most of their damage vs. right handed pitching with a .356 team wOBA vs. right handed pitching. They are definitely a good team to target with lefties though as they are 28th in team wOBA(.253) and have a 24% K rate vs. left handed pitching.

 

 

 

 

 

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Chris Durell

View Comments

  • Who do you like for early slate cash games? I really need a w in on this early slate last night sucked!

  • I loved Matz but it looks like the weather will pop up just after opening pitch or close to. I would probably lean towards King Felix in Oakland.

  • How about drew Smyly tonight? Really like him but am kinda scared of those Dodgers bats after their most recent display against Matt Moore who I thought was in a decent matchup last night but they made the trop look small

  • I almost had Smyly in the pitcher breakdown as the Dodgers sit 18th in team wOBA vs. LH pitching but Smyly relies on strikeouts for fantasy points and the Dodgers only K 17% of the time vs. LH pitching. I am not risking it but could see why some will use him.