FantasyLabs is a data company. With our free Trends tool and Player Models, you can leverage our advanced statistics and premium exclusive metrics to identify players to use in your daily fantasy sports lineups.
Each weekday, our Data Dive articles use 10 of these metrics to highlight notable players in the day’s main slate.
Batters
There are only seven games on tonight’s slate, leaving a shallow pool of players to build our lineups around. Which batters can we utilize to our advantage?
Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA): .477, Will Middlebrooks
Projected to bat seventh for the Brewers tonight, Middlebrooks leads all batters in the slate with a .477 wOBA versus left-handed pitchers. A cheap option at third base given his $2,100 salary on FanDuel, Middlebrooks makes for a potential play if you’re chasing higher-priced options at other positions. He definitely carries risk, but his high wOBA against lefties should place him on your radar for tonight.
Isolated Power (ISO): .395, David Ortiz
Boasting a .395 ISO, David Ortiz continues to rake against right-handed pitchers. Not only does he have the slate’s highest ISO, but he backs it up with a strong wOBA (.472) and slugging percentage (.734). Ortiz leads all batters with 12 Pro Trends, and he also seems to be seeing the ball even better. He has increased his hard-hit rate to 61 percent and his exit velocity is up to 97 miles per hour. It could be a long night for opposing pitcher Tyler Duffey each time he sees Big Papi step up to the plate.
Recent Hard-Hit Batted-Ball Percentage (%): 71, Chris Carter
Among batters projected to start tonight, Jonathan Villar ties Carter in recent hard-hit percentage, but Carter enters in a much better matchup, facing lefty Francisco Liriano, which bodes well for Carter since he holds a .301 ISO against southpaws. Batting fifth for Milwaukee, Carter’s has turned his hard-hit rate into production, averaging 258 feet on batted balls during his recent upswing. Liriano’s 5.11 earned run average could get even worse if Carter is able to take advantage of his current play and go yard again tonight in PNC Park.
Batted-Ball Distance Differential (Ft): 80, Giancarlo Stanton
Stanton’s up-and-down season has been rather remarkable, but when Stanton is on he looks unstoppable. Bill Monighetti highlighted Stanton’s success versus right-handed pitching yesterday, and Stanton takes on another righty tonight in Philadelphia’s Jerad Eickhoff. Stanton owns both the highest recent distance on batted balls (304 feet) and Distance Differential (+80 feet) among all batters tonight. His 66 percent recent fly-ball rate and 101 MPH recent exit velocity suggest that he’s in a prime position to take advantage of Eickhoff’s middling 1.043 HR/9 rate.
Bargain Rating (%): 99 (FD), Jedd Gyorko
With multiple first basemen and outfielders possessing 99 percent Bargain Ratings on FanDuel, I’m going to highlight the only shortstop who also ranks among the top. Gyorko possesses a .329 wOBA and .470 Slugging rate to go along with his five Pro Trends tonight. Opposing pitcher Andrew Cashner’s 1.578 WHIP is far from flattering, and Vegas currently has the Cardinals implied to score 5.1 runs tonight. Gyorko’s affordable $2,500 salary on FanDuel makes him someone to target in cash games, although his red-hot recent performance — 32.3 fantasy points over his past three games — might give him relatively high ownership in tournaments.
Pitchers
Tonight’s slate has few pitching options to choose from. Let’s dive a little deeper and see what the data has to say.
K Prediction (SO): 6.7, Jerad Eickhoff
Eickhoff’s 6.7 K Prediction narrowly leads the position. Miami’s projected lineup has one of the lowest SO/AB rates on the slate at just 0.2298, as the Marlins just tend not to strike out that often. In Eickhoff’s previous matchup with Miami, he notched only four Ks on his way to just 21 fantasy points on FanDuel. However, his recent stats show a big improvement, as his fly-ball rate is lower and his ground-ball rate is higher than his yearly averages.
Home Runs per Nine Innings (HR/9): 0.597, Adam Wainwright
Adam Wainwright’s HR/9 rate leads all pitchers in the slate. Facing the Padres, Wainwright has a terrific moneyline of -200, with San Diego projected to score only 3.5 runs. With an 89 percent Bargain Rating on FanDuel, Wainwright has exceeded expectations spectacularly over his last ten outings.
Recent Velocity (MPH): 96.4, Michael Foltynewicz
Throwing exceptionally well as of late, Foltynewicz has been lighting up the radar gun with a great velocity of 96.4 MPH. Of course, Foltynewicz has a tough matchup at Coors Field tonight, and his 2.113 HR/9 doesn’t help his situation. The Rockies currently lead the slate with a 6.9 implied run total. Foltynewicz’s last outing was against the Rockies back in Atlanta, where he managed to score only 27 fantasy points on FanDuel. He’s a tournament play at best.
Moneyline: -200, Steven Wright
At the time of this writing, Steven Wright and the Red Sox are tied with Wainwright and the Cardinals for the highest moneyline. Wright has been pitching fairly well for Boston with a high 59 percent recent ground-ball rate. He has the second-lowest HR/9 among tonight’s pitchers and the third-highest K Prediction at 5.9. If you’re looking to chase the elusive 12-point FanDuel win in tournaments, then Wright could be a nice pivot away from Wainwright, given that Wright’s salary is $300 higher and thus will likely result in his having a lower ownership.
Recent Hard-Hit Percentage Allowed (%): 17, Matt Moore
Matt Moore’s elusive pitching has forced batters out of their comfort zone each time he has been on the mound. Batters are managing only a 17 percent hard-hit rate against Moore and struggling to get clean contact. Moore has been inconsistent fantasy-wise, but he gets a nice matchup against Oakland, whose projected lineup owns the lowest wOBA tonight.
Good luck tonight!
