DFS MLB Hitting Coach: May 9

Happy Monday, guys! While Monday tends to be a travel day for most teams, it’s a little bit different this week, as we have 13 games on tap for tonight’s DFS MLB slate. Some really compelling options available at pitcher will have you looking for some value throughout your lineups. I will make sure to provide you with some of my favorite value plays tonight.

The nastiest looking weather forecast right now looks like it’ll be the rain in the  Chicagoland area, which is bad news if you’re looking to roster Padres or Cubs. A couple other games may have issues with rain as well, including Pirates/Reds, Orioles/Twins, and possibly Tigers/Nationals. 

Starting with today’s playbook, I will be using a preliminary version of our new player dashboard feature for my statistics. It is still a work in progress. Some of the stats will be added over time (I’m thinking HR and H’s off the top of my head), but I feel like the advanced statistics, such as LD%, wOBA, and ISO are extremely important in making some of your decisions. This will improve overtime, and should be amazing once we perfect it in a few weeks. 

Nonetheless, I am still including salaries with those charts, and players are still organized from highest to lowest salary based on FanDuel pricing!  Here we go!

Chris Herrmann went DOUBLE DONG yesterday against the Braves, including a two-run homer in extras to put the D-Backs over the top. He is actually quite affordable when compared to the other Coors options tonight. The only problem with Herrmann is the possibility of Castillo getting the start instead; however, it just makes sense for them to go with him tonight considering how hot he has been hitting, and because they’re facing a righty in Tyler Chatwood. Herrmann even got some time in the Outfield when he was with the Twins, so that’d be an option as well, considering David Peralta and Yasmany Tomas are battered and bruises. 

Brian McCann has huge upside against Chris Young of the Royals. McCann hasn’t hit for average against Young throughout his career, but he does have a couple of homers against the veteran right-hander. Young is currently in the middle of the worst season of his career, rolling with a 5.76 ERA, and 2.43 HR/9. Worst of all, he’s giving up a career worst, 39.1% hard hit percentage. FYI, that is the 5th worst in the Majors. 

Wilson Ramos looks locked in at the plate. Over his last five starts, Ramos has gone 12-for-26 (.462 AVG) with a home run, seven RBIs, four runs, and two walks. 

Josh Phegley has two career at-bats against Clay Buchholz, and both of those hits were doubles. He had some good success last season in Fenway, and I think if he gets the start, he can absolutely be a great value with big upside. 

David Ortiz has been playing like an angry Big Papi. He may be retiring after this season, but it doesn’t mean he’s an after thought this season. He currently has nine home runs with six of those homers coming over his last nine games. He doesn’t have a good matchup tonight, as he’ll be facing the A’s ace Sonny Gray, but he is so locked in at the plate, I feel you have to consider him in your GPPs. 

Mark Reynolds is a guy I’ve been hyping up throughout the season, mainly because I’m probably one of the few people who realizes what he’s been doing at the plate. Yes, he cannot possibly be an entirely different hitter overnight. We can see that by his 30.8% K/rate. But what continues to happen is that he’s taking the ball the opposite way, helping him beat the exaggerated shifts that teams tend to play against him. I see that ridiculous BABIP decreasing over the course of the season, but I’ll take my chances on a guy who has natural power, against a home run prone pitcher, and certain to have low ownership in my GPPs. 

Eric Hosmer gets a bit of a park boost with the short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium. He has batted .311/.377/.525 with two homers in 61 at bats at Yankee Stadium throughout his career, and brings with him a 7-game hitting streak, where he has gone 9-for-24 (.375 AVG) with two homers and seven RBIs. 

John Jaso is coming off of a nice series against the Cardinals, where he went 6-for-12 (.500 AVG) with a homer and a double. On top of that, he has hit three homers in his last eight games, and is a pretty nice value on FanDuel. 

Brandon Phillips is 9-for-21 (.429 AVG) with two homers against Jon Niese throughout his career. He is coming off of a huge run where he homered five times in his last five games. Nothing like a date with Jon Niese to keep him going.

Chris Owings will be your cheapest D-Back option at Coors on FanDuel tonight, and he has a good history against Tyler Chatwood, going 4-for-7 (.571 AVG) with three doubles against the young right-hander throughout his career. 

Derek Dietrich hasn’t hit a home run since 5/1. Not terrible, AT ALL, but it helps because it has driven people off of the bandwagon. He is still hitting the ball extremely well, and has doubled in back-to-back games. I love his price and I love his matchup against Wily Peralta, who he has gone 8-for-14 (.571 AVG) with a homer, triple, double, and four RBIs against throughout his career. 

Howie Kendrick has been hitting much better lately, and has reached base safely in each of his last five starts. He is a great source of salary relief on FanDuel tonight at a mere $2200. 

Nolan Arenado is 3-for-6 (.500 AVG) with two homers and three RBIs, lifetime, against Rubby De La Rosa. Arenado has been able to put up big numbers on the road this season, which bodes well for a guy who gets to face a pitcher prone to the long ball, at home, in Coors tonight. 

Kris Bryant has gone 21-for-61 (.344 AVG) with three homers and 14 RBIs over his last 15 games. 

David Wright has batted .350/.581/.650 with two homers and 11 walks over his last seven games. He gets to face a southpaw in Scott Kazmir, which is great, because Wright has batted .340/.433/.572 against lefties throughout his career. 

Martin Prado continues to produce, and is coming off of a 4-for-5 outing against the D-Backs. It’s not always about power, folks. I’ll take a guy at his price who has batted 40-for-101 (.396 AVG) and gets to be on-base with guys like Yelich, Stanton, Bour, and Ozuna behind him anyway. 

Trevor Story is coming off of a great road trip, where he has gone 14-for-42 (.333 AVG) with two homers, a triple, two doubles, and nine RBIs over his last 10 games. He gets a good matchup against Rubby De La Rosa, who I must remind you, allowed more home runs last season than anyone not named Kyle Kendrick and James “I allowed Bartolo Colon’s first career home run” Shields. 

Troy Tulowitzki is probably on everyone’s naughty list right now, but there’s no denying that his matchup against Jake Peavy is a good one. Tulo is actually 7-for-22 (.318 AVG), lifetime, against Peavy, with a homer, triple, double, and four walks. 

Eduardo Nunez has surreptitiously put together another nice little 8-game hitting streak, where he has gone 10-for-21 (.323 AVG) with a home run and four doubles. His play has helped him stay in the lineup, and he’ll have a decent matchup tonight against a contact pitcher in Tyler Wilson.

Brad Miller is a big reason why the Rays were able to sweep the Angels in Anaheim this weekend. Miller started all three games, and went 6-for-14 (.429 AVG) with two homers, solidifying his spot as the Rays #2 hitter. 

Giancarlo Stanton may actually have low ownership tonight with everyone in on Coors Field, paying too much attention to his BvP, or just doesn’t have much salary after paying up for one of the expensive pitchers. I will say this, if you ignore Giancarlo tonight, you may be making an astronomical mistake. Wily Peralta has been the ginormous dumpster fire this season, and with Stanton, you’re getting a guy who has hit four home runs over his last eight starts, and has huge upside. While paying up for him in cash games may be silly, don’t be afraid to pull the trigger in your GPPs. 

Bryce Harper reached base safely in each of his seven at-bats on Sunday against the Cubs. His price has dropped off a bit of the last few weeks, but he gets a great matchup against Anibal Sanchez, whose 4.75 xFIP is his worst in nearly 10 years.

Gerardo Parra has batted .318/.328/.485 with two homers over his last 15 games, and is batting .306/.333/.496 with two homers this season at Coors Field. He has homered off of Rubby De La Rosa in the past, and given his hot bat, I actually prefer him over CarGo tonight. 

Christian Yelich has had a heck of a year, and is currently in the middle of a 6-game hitting streak where he has been able to demonstrate his power, hitting three homers, and scoring runs in each of those six games. By the way, he and the rest of the Marlins face Wily Peralta, who is currently rolling with a 5.08 xFIP, and 94.8% Z-Contact Rate (percentage of times a batter makes contact on pitches inside the zone). I’m willing to bet that Yelich takes one out to the right-field gap, or over the fence tonight. 

Adam Duvall is in the middle of a 6-game hitting streak, where he has gone 8-for-21 (.381 AVG) with four homers, a double, and six RBIs. He is going to face Jon Niese of the Pirates, who is currently maintaining a rough 1.89 HR/9, and .4.78 xFIP. 

Michael Brantley will be a name you’re going to see a lot of in my articles. He has such a knack for getting on-base that it makes him an extremely safe cash game play more often than not. He has reached base safely in seven of his last eight starts, and has four straight games where he has accumulated at least 9.2 FanDuel points. 

Avisail Garcia is in the middle of a nice 9-game hitting streak, where he has gone 14-for-30 (.467 AVG) with two homers, a triple, two doubles, six RBIs, and 10 runs. People have been hesitant to roster him because he hits so low in the White Sox lineup (usually 7th behind Laurie), but given his production, I don’t understand why that’s a big issue. This brings up another thing I want you guys to be aware of. It’s generally not good to roster too many guys who bat low in the batting order, but if you have seven players who are batting 5th or higher, and one guy batting 7th, 8th, or 9th, don’t sweat it. There just needs to be a solid justification in playing that type of player, whether it is a solid matchup, a sweet hot streak, or an incredible value. 

Michael Saunders should be back in the leadoff spot tonight against the right-handed Jake Peavy. If you guys aren’t aware, Peavy is allowing left-handed hitters to bat .411/.450/.750 with 16 extra base hits in 56 at-bats this season. Saunders provides some decent value throughout the industry tonight, and can help you get some exposure to a Blue Jays team that is facing a pitcher with a 9.00 ERA and 1.90 WHIP. 

Josh Reddick is a guy who you’re going to have a tough time trying to talk me out of playing in cash games. Over this last four games, Reddick has gone 12-for-17 (.706 AVG) with two doubles and three RBIs. Plus, he is 4-for-9 (.444 AVG) with a homer and double throughout his career against Clay Buchholz. 

Brett Gardner gets a great matchup against Chris Young of the Royals, and is a very affordable $3000 on FanDuel tonight. He homered last night against Steven Wright of the Red Sox, and has batted .364/.417/.636 against Chris Young throughout his career. 

Ben Revere has finally returned after suffering a rough injury on Opening Day. To make a long story short, Revere is extremely good at getting on base, and is basically like a Billy Hamilton who actually has skill with the bat. He absolutely lacks power, but should be able to score more runs per game than ever considering he’s finally batting leadoff for a very offensively gifted team. 

Austin Jackson will be back in the 2-hole as long as Jimmy Rollins remains out of the lineup. Jackson gets a great matchup against Colby Lewis, who he has batted .382/.400/.559 with a homer and three doubles against throughout his career. 

Aaron Hicks should continue to get starts as long as Jacoby Ellsbury remains out of the lineup. He started his season with a horrific run of at-bats, but has gone 3-for-11 (.273 AVG) with a home run in his last four starts. For a guy like Hicks, you definitely like seeing him get more at-bats to get in a groove. He was absolutely a formidable hitter in 2015 with the Twins. 

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!