DFS MLB Hitting Coach: April 5, 2016

Just like Jeff Mans’s DFS MLB Playbook, today’s DFS MLB Hitting Coach will focus on players from tonight’s nine-game main slate that will start at 7:05 PM ET.

Again, given the fact that most teams have only played one game this season, the data in the Hitting Coach tables will focus on statistics from the 2015 Regular Season and 2016 Spring Training.

Let’s get started!

PAYING UP

Buster Posey is still in his own class when it comes to catchers. Even though he has historically performed better against southpaws, his career numbers of .303/.370/.453 against right-handed pitching is nothing to cry about. Generally speaking, there is a huge bias in ownership when it comes to batter/pitcher handedness. Players will generally favor right-handed hitters vs. left-handed pitchers and left-handed hitters vs. right-handed pitchers. While I don’t necessarily think this is a big deal tonight with Posey, it’s definitely something you want to keep an eye on when you’re looking for some low-ownership when building GPP lineups. 

BIG VALUES

Francisco Cervelli is an OBP machine. He has a career on-base-percentage of .358, including an impressive .370 OBP in 2015.

James McCann has no relation to Brian McCann, but he was able to demonstrate some flashes of power in the Grapefruit League, knocking out four homers in limited action. On top of that, he is 2-for-2 in his career against Wei-Yin Chen, including one of his seven Major League homeruns. 

PAYING UP

Paul Goldschmidt may prefer facing southpaws, but he still has a dominate line of .289/.385/.511 against righties in his career.

Miguel Cabrera has only faced his former team twice in his career, going 4-for-7. He faces Wei-Yin Chen who allowed 28 homers in 2015.

REASONABLY PRICED OPTIONS

Jose Abreu will get the chance to face the newly cleansed Sonny Gray, who has not looked too great this Spring, posting a 5.60 ERA and allowing three homers in 17.2 innings. Based on his ownership yesterday (with consideration that Gray was the announced starter), he had minimal ownership and is definitely an under-the-radar GPP play.

Brandon Belt led the Majors with a 28.7% line drive percentage. Over the last three years of his career, he has posted a line of .282/.355/.487 against right-handed pitching.

REASONABLY PRICED OPTIONS

Ian Kinsler has a good history against Wei-Yin Chen, going 5-for-12 with two extra-base hits when Chen was with the Orioles.

BIG VALUES

Chase Utley should continue to bat lead off for the boys in blue, and faces James Shields who allowed 33 homers last season, which was tied for the most in the Majors. Considering Kyle Kendrick of the Rockies was the other player who allowed 33 homers, it’s definitely something you want to think about.

Jed Lowrie has gone 3-for-7 against Jose Quintana in his career, and will likely continue to hit in the two-hole, where he went 2-for-4 in his return to Oakland.

PAYING UP

Josh Donaldson only has two hits in eight at-bats against Jake Odorizzi, but those two hits were homeruns. He also has four walks against him, giving him an even .500 OBP in his career against the Rays righty.

REASONABLY PRICED OPTIONS

Matt Carpenter is a lefty who will be facing a lefty in Jonathon Niese tonight; however, he owns the BvP matchup against the former Met, going 4-for-8 with two doubles and zero strikeouts.

Kyle Seager has similar success against Martin Perez, going 10-for-20 with three homers against the lefty in his career. 

REASONABLY PRICED OPTIONS

Corey Seager should continue to bat in the two-hole, and will get a crack at James Shields’s league leading 17.6% HR/FB ratio. 

BIG VALUES

Trevor Story had quite the opening day story, becoming the first MLB player in history to hit two homeruns in his first career game. His price throughout the industry is ridiculous.

Jedd Gyorko’s career OBP is .57 points higher against lefties compared to righties. He faces Jonathan Niese tonight, who he has torched in the past, going 5-for-9. 

PAYING UP

Andrew McCutchen is Michael Wacha’s worst nightmare. Cutch has owned him in the past, going 8-for-16 with three extra-base hits.

REASONABLY PRICED OPTIONS

J.D. Martinez is a fly ball hitter facing a fly ball pitcher in Wei-Yin Chen.  He has only faced Chen twice in his career, but his loan hit went out of the yard.

David Peralta is another OBP machine. He’ll face Chad Bettis tonight who he has gone 4-for-5 against in his career.

BIG VALUES

Kevin Pillar starts are foursome of big-time value in the Outfield. He should continue to bat leadoff for the Jays, and will face Jake Odorizzi who he has gone 3-for-8 with a homerun against in his career.

Franklin Gutierrez remains one of my favorite “L/R splits” plays. Once again, in 2015, he batted .317/.357/.615 with eight homers in just 104 ABs against lefties.

Kevin Kiermaier may eventually get a look at the leadoff spot if he continues to make good ball contact, and if Logan Forsythe continues to struggle. He reached base in each of his four plate appearances last night, and has gone 2-for-2 against Aaron Sanchez in his career.

Craig Gentry is a speedster who is a deep, deep, deep sleeper. Even though his 2015 was a year he’d probably like to forget, he has always been a good OBP player, and especially so against lefties. Most importantly though, if he happens to get the start, he will be facing Jon Lester, who can’t cook a hot dog can’t throw a ball to first base. 

Be sure to keep an eye on the Fantasy Alarm Daily Lineups page to confirm that your players are starting.

If you guys have any questions, you can always reach me on Twitter @kle18. Good luck!