TGIF, ladies and gentlemen! We have a full 15 game slate tonight, which means an evening full of baseball! What could be better than that? With this big of a slate, there’s studs galore, but there’s also plenty of value! Continue reading for some value bats, as well as my favorite arm of the day, given the price! Let’s jump into it!
Both Sites
Andrew Benintendi , OF KC ($2,900 FD/$3,900 DK) - Benintendi is a bit higher priced on DraftKings than I would typically include here, but the matchup is simply too good. He’s hitting .323 with a .852 OPS against righties this year, and in his last 10 games overall, he’s hitting .313 (10-for-32) with two home runs, five runs scored and nine RBI. He gets to face Minnesota’s Matt Shoemaker , who has surrendered a .303 average to opposing left-handed hitters and a 1.79 HR/9 mark overall.
Eric Haase , C DET ($2,900 FD/$3,400 DK) - Haase against a lefty is something I personally love to attack. He’s hitting .292 with three home runs in 24 at-bats against southpaws, while sporting a monstrous 1.000 OPS. Also, Detroit is on the road, and Haase is hitting .391 with a 1.375 OPS in 23 road at-bats this year. Chicago’s Dallas Keuchel has a 4.53 ERA on the year, but he’s served up eight earned runs and four home runs in his last 16 innings of work.
Freddy Peralta , SP MIL ($8,700 FD/$10,400 DK) - Arizona’s offense has been hot over the past two weeks, sporting the third-best batting average in all of baseball, but for the year as a whole against righties, they are merely league average and boast a 23.9 percent strikeout rate. Peralta has at least seven strikeouts in every start this year and he’s been excellent at home this year, posting a 1.41 ERA and 46 strikeouts across six starts. He’s not cheap, coming in as the fifth-most expensive pitcher on DraftKings and sixth-most on FanDuel, but he easily could end up being the highest scoring pitcher on the slate.
FanDuel
Tyler O'Neill , OF STL ($3,400) - You have to love when a right-hander is on the mound against the Cardinals, because that puts O’Neill on the radar. He’s hitting .288 with a .938 OPS against righties this season, and right-handed pitchers have served up 11 of his 12 home runs on the year. Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo has struggled this year, as he’s served up an .885 OPS to right-handed hitters and he has an 8.74 ERA in five road starts this year. Ouch.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B MIA ($3,200) - Chisholm has hit safely in seven of his last 10 games, and he’s posted an .842 OPS in road contests this year. Furthermore, he gets to face Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller , who has allowed 14 earned runs in his last 18.1 innings of work and has surrendered an .888 OPS to left-handed hitters. For Keller’s big-league career, lefties have hit .312 and posted a ridiculous .914 OPS.
Josh Donaldson , 3B MIN ($3,000) - Don’t look now, but Donaldson is going on one of his patented hot streaks. He’s hit safely in five of his last six and has two three-hit performances in that span. He homered twice last night, boosting his road numbers this year to a lofty .321 average and 1.028 OPS. Kansas City’s Brad Keller has a 1.24 HR/9 mark on the year to go along with 5.68 ERA and he’s allowed opposing right-handers to post a whopping .918 OPS against him. All aboard the Minnesota righties today!
DraftKings
Omar Narváez , C MIL ($3,600) - Narvaez has punished right-handed pitching this year, to the tune of a .311 batting average and .861 OPS across 103 at-bats. He’s hit safely in just two of his last four games, and is in a mini slump, but his prowess against righties and Matt Peacock’s struggles against lefties (.283 BAA and .901 OPS) set up a good scenario for the Milwaukee backstop. If you don’t go with Haase on DraftKings, Narvaez might be worth the extra couple hundred bucks.
Hunter Renfroe , OF BOS ($3,500) - Renfroe has hit safely in seven straight games, while scoring a run or recording at least one RBI in every contest. He’s homered twice in that span as well. He’s been better this year against lefties, but New York’s Michael King has been more susceptible to righties (.701 OPS) than lefties (.605 OPS) thus far in 2021. We are simply riding the hot bat here.
Yonathan Daza , OF COL ($3,000) - To his credit, Frankie Montas has been quite good on the road this year, allowing a measly 2.50 ERA in three road starts this year. However, the home parks of the Astros, Rays and Twins don’t pose the same threats of Coors Field. Righties have gotten to Montas, posting an .850 OPS against the Oakland right-hander, and Daza sports a solid .303 average against righties this year. At home, Daza is a beast, as he’s hitting .368 on the year with an .862 OPS. He should hit near the top of the order, and the pricing is a gift from DraftKings, as you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to get a piece of this park.
Player News
Rangers placed OF Kevin Pillar on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain.
Pillar has been battling a lingering back issue the last few weeks and the Rangers are going to give him some extra time off to put the issue to bed. He’ll likely return in a couple weeks to his role as a reserve outfielder.
Jake Fraley is absent from Wednesday’s lineup with left calf tenderness.
Fraley will sit out Wednesday’s showdown at Truist Park in Atlanta with Reds manager Terry Francona telling reporters he’ll need to undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the issue. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now, but there’s a chance he winds up requiring a trip to the injured list.
Noelvi Marte has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left oblique strain.
Not good. Reds manager Terry Francona didn’t have an exact timetable for Marte’s return saying only that he’s going to be out a little while. Fantasy managers should anticipate a multi-week absence since return timelines for Grade 2 strains typically fall in the 4-8 week range. It’s remarkable that the 23-year-old former prospect was able to play through the issue the last few weeks before finally being shut down. There should be a clearer return timetable at some point in the near future, but he’s facing an extended shutdown.
Jeremy Peña had a three-run homer, a double and four RBI as the Astros blasted the Brewers 9-1 on Wednesday.
Before coming through today, Peña hadn’t scored or driven in a run in five games this month. The four-RBI game is his second as a big leaguer, with the other coming in a 17-4 win on July 29, 2023. Moving into the leadoff spot figured to be a boon for his fantasy value, but it hasn’t really worked out that way so far. For one thing, he hasn’t attempted a steal in 10 games as a leadoff man. He was 5-for-5 in steals over his first 22 games, but 0-for-0 in 14 games since.
Framber Valdez pitched seven strong innings, allowing just one run and three hits, in picking up his second win Wednesday against the Brewers.
Eric Haase’s fifth-inning homer accounted for Milwaukee’s lone run today. Valdez struck out seven and walked two in winning for the first time since Opening Day. It’s his fifth quality start in eight tries, but today’s game was the first of those eight in which the Astros totaled more than three runs. Valdez will face the Royals next week.
Quinn Priester surrendered three runs — one earned — in five innings Wednesday in a loss to the Astros.
The unearned runs, both coming in the fifth, were truly undeserved in this case. This was a rare opportunity for Priester. Even though lefties have a nearly 300-point OPS advantage against him in his career, he faced exclusively righties today, as the only lefty swinging Astros are their backup catchers. Priester did well to allow just three hits, but he dropped to 1-1 with a 5.08 ERA anyway. He could soon be replaced by Brandon Woodruff.