Simply put, it pays to read the DFS MLB Hitting Coach. This past Friday, I was able to defeat 399 other lineups to take down the big $20,000 Guaranteed Fantasy Aces Grand Slam for $3,000. All of the hitters I used for this lineup, minus Stephen Drew (who I had in there as a value play), were featured in the DFS MLB Hitting Coach article that I posted that morning.
No, you’re probably not going to take down a GPP just by using guys from my article, but I do spend a lot of time explaining why I’m featuring the many players in my articles, and am always confident in my selections unless I state otherwise. If you need help building a lineup or need help figuring out if one player makes a better GPP play than another player, feel free to reach out to me in the comments, on Twitter, or when I’m dropping by the Optimal Lineups page.
Nonetheless, let’s ride some of that momentum and make tonight another great night. We have a 10-game slate that kicks off with a roster lock of 7:05 PM ET/4:05 PM PT. Lots of interesting ways to go with tonight’s slate, and best of all, we get a one night break from Coors Field.
There are two games you’ll want to keep an eye on due to weather, and that’s the Tigers/White Sox game at U.S. Cellular and the Indians/Royals in Kauffman. Both forecasts don’t look too bad now, but you never know what can happen by the time we hit roster lock.
As always, players are placed in order based on highest to lowest salary using FanDuel pricing.
| CATCHER | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Team | Bats | Opp | Opp Pitch | AB | H | HR | R | RBI | BB | SB | AVG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | LD% | Hard% | Z-Cont% | FD | DK | Aces |
| Victor Martinez | DET | S | CHW | James Shields | 216 | 72 | 9 | 24 | 35 | 16 | 0 | .333 | .900 | .185 | .352 | .382 | 27.1% | 41.5% | 92.4% | $3,100 | $4,100 | $4,950 |
| J.T. Realmuto | MIA | R | SD | Colin Rea | 204 | 61 | 3 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 3 | .299 | .736 | .108 | .341 | .319 | 16.2% | 28.3% | 89.7% | $3,000 | $3,500 | $4,450 |
| Derek Norris | SD | R | MIA | Wei-Yin Chen | 189 | 41 | 7 | 24 | 16 | 12 | 1 | .217 | .649 | .164 | .254 | .279 | 21.3% | 38.3% | 89.8% | $2,700 | $3,700 | $4,300 |
| Kurt Suzuki | MIN | R | LAA | Jered Weaver | 126 | 29 | 2 | 8 | 15 | 6 | 0 | .230 | .603 | .095 | .265 | .265 | 25.0% | 27.6% | 90.0% | $2,400 | $2,500 | $3,750 |
Victor Martinez has cooled off a bit, but his peripherals are still among the best among catcher eligible players in the league. Plus, he gets a matchup against James Shields who is an absolute mess right now. Not only did he allow a home run to Bartolo Colon, but he also gave up three homers in two innings in his White Sox debut last week.
J.T. Realmuto happens to be swinging a pretty hot bat, and also happens to get a decent matchup against Colin Rea of the Padres. Realmuto has gone 9-for-27 (.333 AVG) with a homer, two doubles, four runs, and two RBIs over his last seven games. He faces Rea, who has demonstrated some reverse splits this season, allowing a .332 wOBA against righties and .293 wOBA against lefties.
Derek Norris is 14-for-38 (.368 AVG) with two homers and six RBIs over his last 10 games. He faces Wei-Yin Chen who he has homered off of in the past, and may even get another chance hitting cleanup with Yangervis Solarte likely still out of the lineup.
Kurt Suzuki is a pretty good value play against Jered Weaver of the Angels. Suzuki is 15-for-52 (.288 AVG) with a homer and five doubles, lifetime, against the veteran Halo. He has also gone 10-for-31 (.323 AVG) with a homer, double, three runs, and five RBIs over his last eight games.
| FIRST BASE | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Team | Bats | Opp | Opp Pitch | AB | H | HR | R | RBI | BB | SB | AVG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | LD% | Hard% | Z-Cont% | FD | DK | Aces |
| Wil Myers | SD | R | MIA | Wei-Yin Chen | 244 | 70 | 13 | 40 | 37 | 16 | 8 | .287 | .830 | .217 | .318 | 0.351 | 19.5% | 34.6% | 86.7% | $4,200 | $5,100 | $5,300 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | TOR | R | PHI | Jerad Eickhoff | 247 | 61 | 15 | 32 | 54 | 27 | 1 | .247 | .817 | .243 | .258 | 0.349 | 22.3% | 33.7% | 85.4% | $4,000 | $4,500 | $5,150 |
| Joey Votto | CIN | L | ATL | Aaron Blair | 216 | 50 | 11 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 4 | .231 | .789 | .204 | .279 | 0.337 | 24.5% | 44.4% | 82.2% | $3,400 | $4,500 | $5,000 |
| Albert Pujols | LAA | R | MIN | Ricky Nolasco | 237 | 55 | 12 | 24 | 41 | 28 | 2 | .232 | .723 | .177 | .222 | 0.311 | 16.5% | 35.4% | 92.2% | $3,300 | $3,600 | $4,650 |
Wil Myers is almost chronically underowned in the big GPPs, and quite frankly, I don’t know why. All he has been doing is producing and he’ll be a pretty contrarian play tonight with the multitude of good options available at first base (this includes Miguel Cabrera who I am actually fading but will be very popular). He returns home to Petco Park where he has gone 11-for-20 (.550 AVG) with four homers, two doubles, seven runs, and six RBIs over his previous five games.
Edwin Encarnacion may be coming off of his best series of the season against the Orioles. Over his last three games, he has gone 6-for-12 (.500 AVG) with three homers, two doubles, three walks, six runs, seven RBIs, and even his first stolen base of the season. He is facing Jerad Eickhoff who has been awful away from home this season, allowing a .391 wOBA and 1.69 HR/9 on the road.
Joey Votto gets a crazy good matchup against Aaron Blair who is giving up a brutal 6.74 xFIP to left-handed hitting this season. That is soooooooo bad, it’s silly.
Albert Pujols happens to absolutely destroy Ricky Nolasco. Throughout his career, the Machine has gone 13-for-28 (.464 AVG) with three homers, five doubles, and 11 RBIs against Nolasco. He is also at a very reasonable price point throughout the industry.
| SECOND BASE | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Team | Bats | Opp | Opp Pitch | AB | H | HR | R | RBI | BB | SB | AVG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | LD% | Hard% | Z-Cont% | FD | DK | Aces |
| Ben Zobrist | CHC | S | WSH | Max Scherzer | 204 | 66 | 8 | 44 | 38 | 40 | 2 | .324 | .931 | .176 | .349 | .400 | 24.3% | 36.0% | 92.2% | $3,400 | $3,300 | $5,050 |
| Jurickson Profar | TEX | R | OAK | Sean Manaea | 66 | 23 | 2 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 0 | .348 | .907 | .182 | .396 | .388 | 21.8% | 20.0% | 90.4% | $3,000 | $3,100 | $4,350 |
| Jean Segura | ARI | R | LAD | Mike Bolsinger | 257 | 76 | 5 | 32 | 28 | 10 | 7 | .296 | .765 | .136 | .333 | .331 | 18.1% | 27.4% | 92.1% | $2,900 | $4,000 | $5,100 |
| Chase Utley | LAD | L | ARI | Zack Greinke | 205 | 55 | 4 | 35 | 20 | 23 | 1 | .268 | .753 | .127 | .327 | .333 | 26.8% | 41.9% | 88.9% | $2,900 | $3,200 | $4,550 |
Ben Zobrist has two official at-bats against Max Scherzer this season. Both of those at-bats ended up with a ball going out of the ballpark. While Zobrist is a very good cash play, he has been overpriced for quite some time now. Still, his salary has dropped down significantly and when you consider his deflated price on DraftKings thanks to the “facing an ace” algorithm, I can tell you now that he’s going to be in a lot of my lineups.
Jurickson Profar will likely remain in the lineup with the lefty, Sean Manaea, going for the A’s. Manaea has been outstanding against lefties, allowing just a .175 wOBA, but is giving up a brutal line of .311/.370/.538 with a .382 wOBA and all seven of his home runs against righties.
Jean Segura’s looking much better at the plate. Over his last four games, he has gone 6-for-16 (.375 AVG) with a stolen base. He gets a great matchup against Mike Bolsinger, who he has gone 5-for-8 (.625 AVG) with two triples against in their previous meetings.
Chase Utley is really the only Dodger in the lineup that has a decent history against Zack Greinke. Utley has gone 4-for-12 (.333 AVG) with a homer and two doubles against Greinke throughout his career. He’s a great value on DraftKings.
| THIRD BASE | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Team | Bats | Opp | Opp Pitch | AB | H | HR | R | RBI | BB | SB | AVG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | LD% | Hard% | Z-Cont% | FD | DK | Aces |
| Danny Valencia | OAK | R | TEX | Cesar Ramos | 155 | 52 | 10 | 27 | 24 | 11 | 0 | .335 | .962 | .245 | .372 | .406 | 23.6% | 39.8% | 89.0% | $3,300 | $5,200 | $4,850 |
| Jake Lamb | ARI | L | LAD | Mike Bolsinger | 206 | 54 | 11 | 30 | 38 | 25 | 3 | .262 | .866 | .257 | .305 | .367 | 19.7% | 40.8% | 85.8% | $3,100 | $4,300 | $4,750 |
| Yunel Escobar | LAA | R | MIN | Ricky Nolasco | 234 | 73 | 3 | 28 | 18 | 17 | 0 | .312 | .775 | .103 | .345 | .339 | 23.3% | 26.9% | 92.0% | $3,000 | $3,400 | $4,650 |
| Trevor Plouffe | MIN | R | LAA | Jered Weaver | 163 | 39 | 4 | 14 | 16 | 5 | 1 | .239 | .625 | .123 | .271 | .269 | 19.7% | 32.1% | 86.1% | $2,500 | $3,300 | $4,650 |
Danny Valencia is 15-for-36 (.417 AVG) with three homers, four doubles, five walks, eight runs, and six RBIs over his last 10 games. He is also batting .400/.455/.850 with five homers in just 40 at-bats against southpaws this season.
Jake Lamb happens to be batting .289/.360/.548 with eight of his 11 home runs this season against right-handed pitching. I think he’s a little too expensive for cash games on DraftKings, but he’s a great value on FanDuel.
Yunel Escobar is batting .412/.459/.588 with a home run in 37 career plate appearances against Ricky Nolasco of the Twins. The BvP here is real, folks. He even reached base safely in all four plate appearances in their meeting earlier this season. While Escobar doesn’t have much power upside, he will be leading off, and has gone 7-for-17 (.412 AVG) over his last four starts.
Trevor Plouffe’s PITCHf/x matches up quite well against Jered Weaver. Plouffe flat out excels against offspeed pitches, and the 2016 version of Jered Weaver throws exclusively offspeed pitches. So yeah, not a surprise that Plouffe went 3-for-3 with a homer and a double earlier this season against Weaver.
| SHORTSTOP | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Team | Bats | Opp | Opp Pitch | AB | H | HR | R | RBI | BB | SB | AVG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | LD% | Hard% | Z-Cont% | FD | DK | Aces |
| Eduardo Nunez | MIN | R | LAA | Jered Weaver | 208 | 68 | 9 | 32 | 24 | 8 | 14 | .327 | .872 | .188 | .351 | .372 | 16.1% | 27.0% | 89.5% | $3,300 | $4,800 | $4,700 |
| Danny Espinosa | WSH | S | CHC | Kyle Hendricks | 200 | 44 | 11 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 2 | .220 | .714 | .190 | .241 | .301 | 18.8% | 34.0% | 82.1% | $2,900 | $3,200 | $4,000 |
| Freddy Galvis | PHI | S | TOR | R.A. Dickey | 229 | 52 | 6 | 24 | 23 | 8 | 3 | .227 | .625 | .144 | .267 | .266 | 25.7% | 25.0% | 90.4% | $2,500 | $2,800 | $3,750 |
| Tim Anderson | CHW | R | DET | Matt Boyd | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 | .556 | .111 | .286 | .236 | 0.00% | 28.6% | 87.5% | $2,200 | $2,700 | $3,000 |
Eduardo Nunez is almost too good to be true. Over his last 10 games, he has gone 14-for-44 (.318 AVG) with four homers, 10 runs, and five stolen bases. Nunez also matches up well against Weaver, and went 2-for-3 with a single, triple, and a stolen base earlier this season. Nunez’s speed can is absolutely one of his underrated strengths, and from a DFS perspective, it’s one of those things that can easily turn your lineup into a winning one out of the blue.
Danny Espinosa, like Troy Tulowitzki and Evan Longoria, is a former Long Beach State Dirtbag. He has huge power upside and it seems half of the DFS community has no clue. Over his last 10 games, he has homered SIX times, while driving in eight, and scoring 11 times. His price is more than reasonable considering his upside. You can’t forget that he is only 29 years old, and had a 21 home run season just back in 2012. By the way, Stephen Drew is always a good punt play whenever he is in the lineup.
Freddy Galvis has a pretty respectable history against the knuckleball, including a decent history against R.A. Dickey, going 4-for-12 (.333 AVG) with a home run and a triple.
Tim Anderson’s price is a little too affordable to ignore. Obviously there’s a downside to playing Anderson, but he is the White Sox’s top prospect and definitely has the ability to make an impact given his crazy skill. Plus, if the baked potato can homer off of James Shields, why can’t Anderson?
| OUTFIELD | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Team | Bats | Opp | Opp Pitch | AB | H | HR | R | RBI | BB | SB | AVG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | LD% | Hard% | Z-Cont% | FD | DK | Aces |
| J.D. Martinez | DET | R | CHW | James Shields | 238 | 65 | 12 | 33 | 36 | 24 | 1 | .273 | .843 | .227 | .325 | .359 | 21.7% | 37.7% | 84.1% | $4,000 | $5,000 | $5,250 |
| Marcell Ozuna | MIA | R | SD | Colin Rea | 238 | 76 | 12 | 38 | 37 | 17 | 0 | .319 | .914 | .231 | .370 | .387 | 20.0% | 37.3% | 87.6% | $3,700 | $4,600 | $4,500 |
| Ryan Braun | MIL | R | SF | Matt Cain | 196 | 62 | 11 | 26 | 36 | 20 | 5 | .316 | .919 | .224 | .331 | .387 | 18.8% | 33.9% | 89.9% | $3,700 | $3,900 | $5,300 |
| Michael Saunders | TOR | L | PHI | Jerad Eickhoff | 209 | 65 | 11 | 32 | 23 | 23 | 0 | .311 | .955 | .258 | .397 | .405 | 23.3% | 34.7% | 87.3% | $3,600 | $3,900 | $4,700 |
| Jason Heyward | CHC | L | WSH | Max Scherzer | 208 | 50 | 4 | 33 | 22 | 28 | 7 | .240 | .682 | .106 | .301 | .307 | 21.7% | 23.4% | 89.0% | $3,300 | $3,300 | $4,400 |
| Ryan Rua | TEX | R | OAK | Sean Manaea | 123 | 35 | 4 | 23 | 13 | 11 | 6 | .285 | .818 | .171 | .373 | .354 | 16.1% | 27.6% | 81.3% | $3,200 | $3,200 | $4,000 |
| Ben Revere | WSH | L | CHC | Kyle Hendricks | 128 | 26 | 1 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 2 | .203 | .540 | .078 | .221 | .241 | 17.7% | 23.7% | 93.6% | $3,100 | $3,100 | $4,300 |
| Justin Upton | DET | R | CHW | James Shields | 223 | 50 | 4 | 27 | 17 | 15 | 3 | .224 | .608 | .112 | .331 | .265 | 21.0% | 34.3% | 77.7% | $2,900 | $4,400 | $4,350 |
| Ezequiel Carrera | TOR | L | PHI | Jerad Eickhoff | 77 | 26 | 1 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 3 | .338 | .821 | .091 | .410 | .362 | 16.1% | 23.8% | 85.2% | $2,800 | $2,700 | $4,100 |
| Tyler Naquin | CLE | L | KC | Edinson Volquez | 89 | 29 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 0 | .326 | .908 | .213 | .463 | .387 | 22.8% | 43.1% | 75.4% | $2,800 | $3,100 | $3,900 |
| David Peralta | ARI | L | LAD | Mike Bolsinger | 140 | 36 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 2 | .257 | .759 | .193 | .314 | .322 | 20.8% | 33.0% | 91.0% | $2,600 | $4,000 | $4,450 |
| Nick Markakis | ATL | L | CIN | Daniel Wright | 225 | 55 | 1 | 20 | 34 | 31 | 0 | .244 | .665 | .084 | .287 | .297 | 20.6% | 30.7% | 90.5% | $2,600 | $3,500 | $4,300 |
| Jarrett Parker | SF | L | MIL | Chase Anderson | 51 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .196 | .680 | .216 | .233 | .287 | 18.8% | 39.4% | 83.1% | $2,600 | $2,800 | $4,600 |
J.D. Martinez has the best chance of going yard tonight. He gets to face a gas can of a pitcher in James Shields at the Cell. Not only that, but J.D. consistently has one of the highest Hard Hit Rates in the Majors and Shields is giving up the 2nd highest Hard Hit Rate of his career.
Marcell Ozuna will forever be (maybe) a great value play on Aces. Over his last six games (all on the road), he has gone 10-for-28 (.357 AVG) with a homer, double, three runs, and eight RBIs.
Ryan Braun has batted .360/.385/.600 with a home run, lifetime, against Matt Cain. Braun has performed much better against right-handed pitching this season, and has a good shot at doing some damage just a couple days after going double dong against the Mets.
Michael Saunders is on FIRE. He started in all four games against the Orioles this past weekend, and went 9-for-16 (.563 AVG) with two homers, three doubles, four runs, and four RBIs.
Jason Heyward is 6-for-9 (.667 AVG) with a homer, two doubles, two walks, and five runs over his last two games. He has a tough matchup against Max Scherzer, but he does happen to have a good history against Mad Max, going 4-for-8 (.500 AVG) with a double. Again, I like him more on DraftKings thanks to the deflated price.
Ryan Rua has been amazing against southpaws this season, batting .375/.455/.521 over 48 at-bats. He’s a little too pricey on FanDuel tonight, but is a great value on DraftKings.
Ben Revere, as I mentioned Friday, is looking a lot more like the Ben Revere we have come to know and love the last few seasons. In his last five starts, he has gone 10-for-24 (.417 AVG) with a double, two walks, six runs, and three RBIs.
Justin Upton had a rough series against the Yankees, but still gets the nice matchup against James Shields, and happens to be just $2900 on FanDuel. Upton was teammates with Shields last season so it’ll be interesting to see who has the advantage in this matchup. By the way, he is unplayable at $4400 on DraftKings.
Ezequiel Carrera will likely be in the lineup again for the Blue Jays as long as Jose Bautista is unable to play in the outfield (Justin Smoak will likely sit while Joey Bats gets to DH). Carrera rarely gets playing time, but usually makes the most out of it when he does. He reached base safely in six out of 14 plate appearances in his three starts this weekend while Bautista was out with a thigh injury.
Tyler Naquin homered in each of his final three games of the Indians’ last series against the Royals, including a shot off of tonight’s opposing pitcher, Edinson Volquez. His ridiculous .462 BABIP is definitely going to drop, but considering he has a 42.9% Hard Hit Rate, a lot of what we’re seeing is legit. Don’t use him in cash, but definitely consider him in GPPs.
David Peralta is back in the D-Backs lineup, and happens to be a great value tonight on DraftKings at just $2600. I love what I see from his peripherals and I think he makes a very safe play tonight, especially being at home, and getting an above average matchup against Mike Bolsinger.
Nick Markakis may be the epitome of the “boring” DFS play. He has very little power upside and plays for one of the worst teams in baseball. Still, he is a very safe cash game play. Daniel Wright hasn’t shown anything we should be scared about and Markakis makes a ton of contact while batting in the heart of the Braves lineup.
Jarrett Parker is under $3000 on both DraftKings and FanDuel and has some big power upside. He has homered twice in his last 15 at-bats, and gets a decent matchup against Chase Anderson, who is allowing a 1.76 HR/9 this season.
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!