Major League Baseball DFS is all about maximizing your ceiling. In such a high variance sport it is difficult to provide yourself with a comfortable floor. For this reason, the focus on raising your scoring potential is the most important aspect of creating a tournament lineup. To accomplish this we need to be able to play high-upside pitchers with strikeout ability and load up on home-run hitters. Usually, the more consistent players who are swinging a hot bat are the higher priced players. In order for us to grab this type of high-upside and more expensive player, we need to fit in a value bat or two.
For the purpose of this article, a value bat will be defined as a player who is under $3,000 on Fanduel or $3,500 on Draftkings. There will be some flexibility with those price points because sometimes the matchup is just too juicy to leave someone out who is so close to our definition.
Value Batters:
- Justin Smoak, (S) 1B, $3,100 FD / $4,400 DK
Justin Smoak is one of those batters in too good of a match-up to leave off this list. His 2017 splits against left-handed pitchers are through the roof. The Atlanta Braves will be rolling out Jaime Garcia, a left-handed pitcher, in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Versus lefties, the former first round draft pick currently has a .429 average, .550 wOBA, .464 ISO and a 264 wRC+. He is absolutely SMOAKing left-handers! Did you see what I did there? I am sorry, I won’t ever do that again.
- Joey Rickard, (R) OF, $2,600 FD / $2,800 DK
Rickard is projected to be batting leadoff for the Orioles as they face the left-hander, Matt Boyd. He isn’t a special hitter and doesn’t have incredible splits. His positioning as the table setter for the Orioles against a pitcher who is suspect at best is why he is on this list. The Tigers also have the worst bullpen in the Majors and routinely implode when they’re called upon. If he is able to get on base a couple times and be knocked in for a run or two he should be able to exceed value. Anything more than that should be considered a bonus. This value-bat is probably a better play on Draftkings so I would lean in that direction if you decide to go with Joey.
- Kyle Schwarber, (L) OF, $3,100 FD / $4,100 DK
This is another play, similar to Smoak, where the price differential between the sites is quite significant. This is also a very good time to get exposure to a player you like without having to pay too much for him. Just lock him in on Fanduel and fade him on Draftkings. Kyle continues to bat leadoff for the Cubs when they face a righty and today they face a terrible one. Bronson Arroyo is the sacrificial lamb that the Reds are offering up to the Cubs on Tuesday. Arroyo has given up nine home runs and twenty-four earned runs in just thirty-six innings. Savvy DFS players know that Cubs hitters will be more viable when the wind is blowing outward at Wrigley Field. Tuesday, the wind is projected to be blowing out to left field at 17 MPH. Schwarber has had a tough season and he will be under-owned because of it, making him an even better gpp play.
- Leury Garcia, (S) OF, $2,800 FD / $3,300 DK
Garcia was inserted into the starting lineup ten games ago and has responded well. He has been batting leadoff and has decent splits against righties. He is currently on an eight-game hitting streak and has a solid opportunity to continue that today against the right-hander, J.C. Ramirez. There has been some buzz about Ramirez but when you look at his recent form he has given up sixteen hits and two home runs in the last two games combined. Leury Garcia has a solid opportunity to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
- Brandon Drury, (R) 2B, $2,600 FD / $3,800 DK
Brandon has been hitting the ball very well over the past couple weeks. Over that time period, he has an average batted ball distance of 242 feet (an increase of 35 feet) and has hit the ball hard 48% of the time (an increase of 18%). He faces a struggling lefty, Tommy Milone. Over the past five games, Milone has given up seven home runs in just twenty innings pitched. The Diamondbacks are injury riddled right now and Drury usually bats 5th or 6th in the lineup. With a 5.1 projected run total, Drury has a chance to be a key cog in the Diamondbacks lineup tonight.
- Chris Taylor, (R) 2B, $2,600 FD / $3,100 DK
A few weeks ago, Taylor was a prized possession for DFS owners. The popularity has since subsided and he now offers value for savvy owners. The Dodgers will be facing a lefty, Ty Blach, for the San Francisco Giants. Taylor has solid splits versus lefties and should be batting leadoff for the Dodgers. Blach has been hit or miss as a starter. Two games ago he gave up eight runs in three innings against the Reds. He played the Reds last game as well and fared much better in their second meeting, giving up only two runs in seven innings. If we see the bad Blach on Tuesday, Taylor could represent tremendous value batting top of the order for the visiting Dodgers.
- Jed Lowrie, (S) 2B, $2,300 FD / $3,500 DK
Lowrie bats in the top half of the order no matter the handedness of the pitcher. Tuesday, the Athletics travel to Seattle to face one of the worst pitchers in MLB this season. The Mariners will have the righty, Chase De Jong, on the mound. In just seventeen innings pitched he has allowed sixteen earned runs. He also has given up four home runs in that small sample size. Lowrie has played really well over the past two weeks and has increased his batted ball average exit velocity (aEV) from 90 MPH to 92 MPH. In addition to his increased aEV, he has increased his batted ball distance from 213 feet to 226 feet and his hard hit percentage went from 31% all the way up to 40%. Lowrie is incredibly underpriced and in a fantastic matchup. He is not only a value bat but a lock on Fanduel.
You will want to ensure that these bats are in the lineup using the DFS Army Lineups page prior to the Main Slate lock time. The Lineups page is filled with individual batter splits and useful information all on one page. If you use it in conjunction with our Analytics Corner, you will have everything necessary to research the entire slate on just two tabs. An enormous benefit of joining the DFS Army is the entrance into our slack channel where hundreds of members discuss the slate and provide excellent information for one another. Our staff routinely have open discussions about the slate for everyone to partake in. I implore you to take a look if you’re serious about Daily Fantasy Sports. If you decide to subscribe use promo code “DONUTS” for 20% off the subscription price.
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