Daily Fantasy Strategy — May 25 — For Draftstreet

“Stack Yankees lefties at home.” “Start (left handed pitcher X) against the Reds.”

Platoon-specific recommendations are frequent here and in the Daily Grind posts that Brad Johnson does such a good job with, but I find I constantly have to be reminding myself of which platoon situations are worth paying attention to. That is, there is a bit of fluidity in these recommendations, though at this point we should have a general idea of how teams perform against lefties or righties.

Still, it’s worth posting the team platoon splits here every so often as a refresher. What sticks out today when we look is that the Joey Votto-less Reds have slipped all the way to 30th in the league in wOBA against lefties, while the Braves happen to be the league’s most platoon-dependent offense, ranking first in wOBA against lefties and 29th in wOBA against righties.

Team	K% v RHP	wOBA v RHP	wRC+ v RHP	K% v LHP	wOBA v LHP	wRC+ v LHP	wRC “LHP gain”
Braves	23.00%	0.278	73	25.50%	0.373	139	66
Mets	21.80%	0.282	78	25.40%	0.326	109	31
Nationals	21.20%	0.298	85	21.30%	0.338	112	27
Phillies	20.60%	0.297	84	22.30%	0.335	110	26
Rangers	18.80%	0.305	85	18.40%	0.342	111	26
Cubs	22.70%	0.286	74	25.90%	0.324	99	25
Astros	24.20%	0.297	87	21.10%	0.316	100	13
Padres	22.20%	0.276	75	20.20%	0.293	87	12
Pirates	20.30%	0.311	97	21.90%	0.326	109	12
Red Sox	20.80%	0.303	86	22.80%	0.321	98	12
Angels	21.70%	0.324	108	16.40%	0.338	118	10
Rockies	18.50%	0.355	110	16.00%	0.365	117	7
Giants	22.30%	0.311	99	20.20%	0.319	105	6
Orioles	18.70%	0.314	94	18.90%	0.322	100	6
Tigers	16.90%	0.332	108	18.70%	0.338	113	5
Yankees	19.50%	0.317	96	18.70%	0.322	101	5
Diamondbacks	19.90%	0.305	86	20.50%	0.307	88	2
Mariners	21.60%	0.295	85	21.00%	0.298	86	1
Marlins	24.00%	0.331	106	18.30%	0.327	106	0
Royals	14.80%	0.296	83	15.40%	0.294	82	-1
Brewers	20.40%	0.312	93	25.20%	0.3	86	-7
Rays	17.50%	0.306	97	20.60%	0.296	90	-7
Blue Jays	18.70%	0.342	115	19.10%	0.329	106	-9
Twins	21.90%	0.318	101	23.00%	0.303	90	-11
White Sox	23.00%	0.329	104	23.30%	0.312	93	-11
Athletics	17.10%	0.336	115	19.30%	0.316	102	-13
Cardinals	18.60%	0.313	99	20.50%	0.294	86	-13
Reds	19.40%	0.309	91	21.40%	0.288	78	-13
Indians	18.20%	0.341	119	16.70%	0.292	85	-34
Dodgers	19.20%	0.341	119	23.70%	0.289	84	-35

This may be useful for you today, in particular, since the Braves draw lefty Franklin Morales (though unfortunately it’s in Atlanta, not Colorado), and the oft-frustrating lefty-heavy Indians (they rank sixth in Lefty-Lefty plate appearances) draw a righty in Miguel Gonzalez, in a friendly park to lefties no less.

The Daily Five
Jason Hammel – $15,991
I don’t really trust Hammel long-term but he’s pitching really well right now, limiting walks and increasing strikeouts. The one concern is an uptick in fly ball rate, but he draws in at Petco on Sunday, against a Padres offense that is 25 percent below the league average against righties, even when controlling for where they play their games. You need about eight points from Hammel at this price, and he’s averaging over nine a start with one of the best match-ups possible today.

Trevor Bauer – $12,748
This is all heart right here. Bauer comes cheap, ranking in the bottom third for starter price today, and the upside is obvious and tantalizing. Bauer can deal, he’s got an array of impressive pitches and is, by all accounts, a very cerebral pitcher, which is obviously going to appeal to the type of person who reads Fangraphs. He’s also cut the walks this season, which have been his Achilles heel in the past – we know that K%-BB% is important, and Bauer’s would be a top-30 mark if he qualified, and his Triple-A mark from this season so far would be borderline elite. As for the matchup, the Orioles are a shade below-average against righties and walk less than almost any other team.

Stacks
We mentioned the Yankees off the top, but their lefties are fairly pricey against Andre Rienzo at The Cell. Go for it if you can save money elsewhere, by all means. The Braves likewise have a nice matchup but their top bats are pricey, but if you can wait until lineups are out (I can’t at the time of writing), you can probably find some value beyond the heart of the order. Oakland righties against J.A. Happ should do damage as well, but as a Jays fan I’ve long since given up trying to figure Happ out.

And so we’ll go with the Indians, who as mentioned, get the righty Gonzalez at Camden, where lefty power gets a boost (Vegas agrees, and the over/under for this one is set at nine).
David Murphy – $5,836
Lonnie Chisenhall – $5,505
Yan Gomes – $5,571
(And Michael Brantley at $8,677 if you can find the cash)

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