At FantasyLabs, we believe that we have the best daily fantasy sports tools and data available. We also realize that these tools and data are only as beneficial as our ability to communicate their functionality and worth.
With this in mind, our Trend of the Day series features articles that walk subscribers each weekday through an important trend, created with our free Trends tool. Also, shortly after you create a trend, you will be able to see it under the “My Trends” column in our Player Models.
MLB Trend of the Day: Distance Matters
If we’re looking to win big in GPPs, we’re going to need players capable of sending the ball deep any given night. Batted-ball distance (one of our advanced stats) is a good indicator of a batter’s long-ball potential. And it would seem that batted-ball distance allowed would be a good indicator of an opposing pitcher’s “Oops, I just gave up another home run” potential.
How much does distance matter? Let’s find out.
Step 1: Adv Stats – Year > Distance – Season > 220 to 432
We start by setting our first parameter of batted-ball distance to 220 feet or more. We’re targeting batters who are consistently able to hit for distance on the year.
Step 2: Adv Stats – Opp > Opp Pitcher Distance > 220 to 278
Setting our average distance of batted balls allowed by opposing pitchers to 220 feet raises our Plus/Minus significantly. There are four pitchers on tonight’s slate who allow a batted-ball distance of at least 220 feet.
Step 3 Trends > Pro Trends > 5 to 12
Batters with multiple Pro Trends have historically fared quite well. The more Pro Trends we have, the higher our Plus/Minus climbs. In general, we are looking for high-distance batters who are 1) facing high-distance pitchers and 2) in good spots.
Results
Putting it all together, we get a trend that adds +3.96 fantasy points with 51.9 percent Consistency.
Current Matches
Our trend found several players for tonight’s eight-game slate.
The Nationals have four players who meet our criteria in Daniel Murphy, Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon, Ryan Zimmerman. Projected to bat 3-5-6-7 against righty Archie Bradley, they present a unique and high-upside way to gain exposure to a team that Vegas currently has implied to score 4.7 runs. Bradley is bottom-five in both WHIP and HR/9 among pitchers tonight. He also has recently seen increases in both his Batted-Ball Distance and Hard-Hit Percentage Differentials. Utilizing these four batters in a stack or individually could yield some terrific results.
Good luck tonight!
Note: Our Player Models and Lineups page update in real time to give subscribers the most accurate information available. As Vegas totals change, the current player matches may also change after this article is published.
