Daily Fantasy Strategy — April 17 — For Draftstreet
Anybody had enough rainouts (and snow-outs) yet? Yeah, me too, but hopefully it provided a bit of opportunity in daily leagues for those of you who set their lineups at the very last minute. Those who can’t were likely burned.
If you do have to set your lineup early, DailyBaseballData is always a valuable resource. But guess what? Today it shows zero games with more than a 10 percent chance of rain. So let’s baseball, weather free.
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While we still don’t know a lot about individual players, strikeout rates are beginning to stabilize. The noise present with individual marks means that team marks may be just as noisy – several small, unrelated samples don’t necessarily equal one larger, reliable sample – it’s worth having a look at the early returns for teams. The table below shows which teams are exhibiting platoon splits in the early going, sorted by wOBA drop against lefties.
| Team | K% v RHP | wOBA v RHP | K% v LHP | wOBA v LHP | RHP-LHP K% | RHP-LHP wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinals | 16.10% | 0.324 | 20.30% | 0.231 | -4.20% | 0.093 |
| Rays | 17.80% | 0.316 | 21.10% | 0.247 | -3.30% | 0.069 |
| Indians | 14.30% | 0.337 | 19.60% | 0.273 | -5.30% | 0.064 |
| Dodgers | 21.90% | 0.339 | 28.60% | 0.277 | -6.70% | 0.062 |
| Marlins | 25.30% | 0.343 | 18.80% | 0.288 | 6.50% | 0.055 |
| Diamondbacks | 20.90% | 0.314 | 18.80% | 0.26 | 2.10% | 0.054 |
| Athletics | 20.20% | 0.328 | 16.90% | 0.278 | 3.30% | 0.05 |
| Royals | 13.60% | 0.299 | 19.40% | 0.255 | -5.80% | 0.044 |
| Twins | 22.40% | 0.333 | 24.10% | 0.294 | -1.70% | 0.039 |
| White Sox | 23.30% | 0.347 | 19.10% | 0.311 | 4.20% | 0.036 |
| Brewers | 20.90% | 0.316 | 25.30% | 0.291 | -4.40% | 0.025 |
| Blue Jays | 17.00% | 0.321 | 20.50% | 0.3 | -3.50% | 0.021 |
| Reds | 22.30% | 0.324 | 18.50% | 0.303 | 3.80% | 0.021 |
| Yankees | 22.40% | 0.337 | 14.60% | 0.319 | 7.80% | 0.018 |
| Padres | 24.20% | 0.286 | 21.10% | 0.274 | 3.10% | 0.012 |
| Mets | 24.30% | 0.289 | 29.90% | 0.279 | -5.60% | 0.01 |
| Angels | 20.00% | 0.325 | 17.60% | 0.322 | 2.40% | 0.003 |
| Orioles | 19.80% | 0.304 | 19.70% | 0.303 | 0.10% | 0.001 |
| Pirates | 23.30% | 0.298 | 27.60% | 0.3 | -4.30% | -0.002 |
| Red Sox | 22.30% | 0.298 | 20.10% | 0.303 | 2.20% | -0.005 |
| Mariners | 24.50% | 0.284 | 22.20% | 0.29 | 2.30% | -0.006 |
| Astros | 26.50% | 0.271 | 22.00% | 0.28 | 4.50% | -0.009 |
| Cubs | 22.90% | 0.276 | 27.70% | 0.292 | -4.80% | -0.016 |
| Tigers | 18.70% | 0.307 | 19.20% | 0.331 | -0.50% | -0.024 |
| Rockies | 19.20% | 0.338 | 14.10% | 0.371 | 5.10% | -0.033 |
| Giants | 22.80% | 0.313 | 18.20% | 0.352 | 4.60% | -0.039 |
| Rangers | 18.20% | 0.284 | 18.00% | 0.337 | 0.20% | -0.053 |
| Braves | 22.90% | 0.305 | 25.80% | 0.386 | -2.90% | -0.081 |
| Nationals | 22.90% | 0.329 | 24.10% | 0.41 | -1.20% | -0.081 |
| Phillies | 22.00% | 0.303 | 25.40% | 0.395 | -3.40% | -0.092 |
The Daily Five
Craig Kimbrel – $3,192
I know picking a closer seems strange, and especially recommending one, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw Brett Talley’s piece on why we may undervalue closers for daily leagues. Kimbrel, in particular, seems a safe bet to pitch Thursday, as he had a side session on Wednesday with no discomfort and the Braves draw a Phillies team they’re likely to hold a lead on.
Danny Salazar – $16,714
The Tigers are a dangerous outfit but one that’s missing the left-handed bat of Prince Fielder in the early going. The Tigers have just a .307 wOBA against right-handed pitchers, and Salazar has a pretty nice floor due to his strikeout capabilities. Factor in a 13MPH wind blowing directly in to home plate, and this doesn’t seem too bad a gamble on a day where there are few clear starting pitcher plays.
Rangers stack – I’m picking on Erasmo Ramirez until there’s a reason not to. Not that he’s abjectly terrible or anything, but he doesn’t have an elite groundball rate and doesn’t strike many batters out, which means there should be plenty of balls in the Texas air on Thursday. Ramirez has been slightly friendlier to lefties in his career, too.
Shin-Soo Choo – $7,541
Prince Fielder – $7,510
Mitch Moreland – $5,383
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Blake Murphy is a freelance sportswriter based out of Toronto. Formerly of the Score, he's the managing editor at Raptors Republic and frequently pops up at Sportsnet, Vice, and around here. Follow him on Twitter @BlakeMurphyODC.
Where can I find the wOBA charts you had on here yesterday?