DFS MLB Hitting Coach: April 22

It’s Friday! And that means the one day of the week where we know we’re going to have a huge late slate. All 30 teams are in action tonight, including the Dodgers and Rockies going at it in the DFS return of Coors Field. 

 

Unfortunately, there are going to be weather concerns tonight, which is a huge pain, especially coming off of a night where a lot of the DFS community missed out on a Jake Arrieta no-hitter due to some bad weather forecasts. 

 

Rain could potentially be a factor in the Twins/Nationals, Rays/Yankees, Cubs/Reds, and Mets/Braves games. It is very difficult to figure out if any of those games are truly in jeopardy of being postponed, so I would highly recommend staying close to all of the team Twitter feeds to keep in the loop.

 

Once again, all players listed in the Hitting Coach are arranged in order of most expensive to least expensive according to FanDuel salaries.

 

 

Jarrod Saltalamacchia remains in play tonight against Josh Tomlin, who he is 4-for-5 (.800 AVG) against, lifetime, with a homer, double, and four RBIs. 

 

Dustin Garneau should get the start tonight for the Rockies against the southpaw, Scott Kazmir. He batted .274/.335/.475 with the AAA Isotopes, and even smashed 15 homers last season. Obviously his upside comes from playing tonight in Coors. 

 

Yadier Molina is 14-for-31 (.452 AVG) in his last eight starts, and has hit a triple, four doubles, and driven in six runs. He is also 4-for-9 (.444 AVG) in his career against Andrew Cashner.

 

Welington Castillo has smashed three homers in his last five games. He will face Jon Niese of the Pirates, who he has homered against previously. 

 

 

Anthony Rizzo will face Jon Moscot of the Reds, who allowed two home runs in his only other start this season. Rizzo has homered in back-to-back games, and is in a good situation to extend that streak tonight. 

 

Lucas Duda has the upper-hand on Rizzo in the sense that he has homered in his last three games, and has gone 6-for-14 (.429 AVG) at the plate while driving in five runs in those three games. Again, weather is a big concern for this Braves game, so keep a close eye on it. 

 

Mark Reynolds is almost like another version of Chris Carter: a career Mendoza line player (well, .230, but he has hit below .200 before), but has an overwhelming amount of power. When you consider that Coors Field is now in play when rostering Reynolds, I consider him a bit underpriced considering the upside. 

 

Mike Napoli has looked really comfortable in an Indians uniform, and has been rock solid lately, going 6-for-21 (.286 AVG) with a homer and two doubles in his last six games. He’ll face Justin Verlander of the Tigers, who has shown some reverse splits in recent years. In fact, in his last three seasons, Verlander has allowed a line of .285/.331/.427 against right-handed hitters compared to .233/.298/.362 against left-handed hitters.

 

Adam Lind can be on your FanDuel lineup tonight for pennies. He is only $2100, even though it seems like he has broken out of his slump. He is 4-for-12 (.333 AVG) with a double, and four runs scored in his last three games.

 

 

Ian Kinsler continues to produce, and his price is still within reason. He is 5-for-14 (.357 AVG) with two doubles against Josh Tomlin throughout his career. 

 

Logan Forsythe is a beast against lefties. The Rays leadoff hitter batted .299/.373/599 against southpaws in 2015, and happens to be 6-for-15 (.400 AVG) with two homers against CC Sabathia in his career.

 

Neil Walker gets a dream matchup against Bud Norris when he’s probably in the middle of his hottest run in years. He’s 9-for-23 (.391 AVG) with a homer, double, and five walks, giving him a .517 OBP against Norris.

 

Brandon Phillips might end up being the best option if you’re looking to pick on Jon Lester tonight. I’d normally have Billy Hamilton at the top of my list, but he’s probably not going to start due to an injury. Phillips is 6-for-15 (.400 AVG) against Lester throughout his career.

 

 

Manny Machado can be a guy you would be wise to ride in your lineups until he actually breaks out of his ridiculous tear. He has hit for extra bases in five consecutive games, and has homered in two of his last four. Young has had a 5.19 xFIP or worse in each of his last four seasons.

 

Evan Longoria isn’t a 15 year veteran or anything, but he somehow has 78 plate appearances against CC Sabathia. Longo has owned the matchup, batting .375/.487/.781 with six homers throughout his career against CC. 

 

Travis Shaw has had four two-hit games in his last six, and has driven in seven runs in his last seven. He faces Collin McHugh who has been awful against left-handed hitters this season, allowing a line of .414/.467/.679 with a .490 wOBA.

 

Brandon Drury continues to get starts against left-handed pitchers, and has even been getting time in the 2-hole in front of Paul Goldschmidt. In his last four starts, he has gone 5-for-13 (.385 AVG) with a homer, triple, double, and three RBIs. He was able to show some pop in the minors, hitting 15 homers in 2014, and 23 homers in 2015. 

 

 

Trevor Story is 9-for-25 (.360 AVG) with three homers, two triples, and two walks at Coors Field this season. This is compared to his road numbers, which is 8-for-42 (.200 AVG) with five homers, two doubles, and two walks. He’ll cost you a pretty penny, but his upside is through the roof.

 

Eduardo Nunez’s numbers have been quite head-turning, especially when you notice that beyond his ridiculous batting average and OBP, he has three stolen bases. He is literally producing at a rate that mirrors Dee Gordon’s 2015. 

 

Freddy Galvis is working with a 6-game hitting streak, where he has gone 8-for-25 (.320 AVG) with a home run, three doubles, and a stolen base. 

 

Alcides Escobar seems to always be dirt cheap on FanDuel, yet still provides some decent upside, especially when the Royals are swinging hot bats behind him. Just to confirm, I do not think much of Yovani Gallardo at this stage of his career.

 

 

Mike Trout, for some reason, loves to hit against Felix Hernandez. He has gone 23-for-65 (.354 AVG) with four homers, two triples, three doubles, 10 RBIs, and a whopping 13 runs scored against the Mariners ace.

 

Jose Bautista is 5-for-10 (.500 AVG) with a homer and zero strikeouts against Sonny Gray. 

 

Yoenis Cespedes vs. right-handed pitching and swinging a hot bat is, more often than not, MONEY IN THE BANK. He is absolutely pitiful against lefties, yet crappy managers will continue to match their right-handed relievers against him too. Cespedes is a solid 3-for-10 (.300 AVG) with a home run against Bud Norris.

 

Mookie Betts has had a ridiculous last couple days against the Rays. In his last two games, he has gone 4-for-9 (.444 AVG) with two homers, four RBIs, five runs scored, and a stolen base. 

 

Christian Yelich had another game where he reached base safely twice against Max Scherzer of the Nationals. After a long homestand, he gets to go back on the road, where he has hit 7-for-16 (.438 AVG) with a homer, double, and six walks. This may seem bizarre, but 18 of Yelich’s 21 career home runs have come on the road. 

 

Yasmany Tomas is 7-for-15 (.467 AVG) with two homers against left-handed pitching this season. He’ll face a weak lefty in Jon Niese tonight at Chase Field.

 

Melvin Upton has been looking oddly like his clone BJ Upton back when BJ was a Tampa Bay Devil Ray. He has had some success against Adam Wainwright throughout his career, going 4-for-9 (.444 AVG) with two doubles and a stolen base. But what I really like about him is that he’s starting to show his speed again. In fact, Upton has stolen four bases in his last six games. 

 

Michael Saunders continues to kill it from the leadoff spot. Batting leadoff for any team is one thing, but batting leadoff against a loaded lineup that has Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnation, and Tulowitzki is another.

 

Joey Rickard may only have a few more days at under $3000 on FanDuel, so you may want to take advantage of it tonight, especially with the big O’s bats facing Chris Young, who has had a career fly ball rate of 54.9%.

 

Ian Desmond started his 2016 campaign extremely cold, but he is starting to turn it on now, just a few weeks into the season. He is 4-for-11 (.364 AVG) with a home run, two doubles, four RBIs, and four runs scored in his last three games. 

 

Brandon Guyer has batted .281/.379/.435 with eight home runs off of southpaws in just 299 at bats in the last three years.