This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
Fan Duel has a 13-game slate for Major League Baseball (MLB) on Friday night to kick off your holiday weekend. Set those lineups early before heading out to celebrate with your friends and family. Be safe, good luck, and good bless America. Here are some of the plays to keep an eye on for Friday:
Starting Pitcher
Adam Morgan ($5,600)
Clayton Kershaw is easily the best pitcher on the mound Friday. There is no need to talk about why you should roll him out there, but his price means you really have to sacrifice elsewhere. If you wanted to go a different route and pay up for some big bats, Morgan is the way to get that done. He threw a great game first time out against a left-heavy St. Louis lineup, and he now faces another lefty-heavy lineup, one that is devoid of their biggest bat (Freddie Freeman). Morgan is a young rookie who has some strikeout stuff. At his price, he really only needs to get about 11 points to pay it off, which will be easy if he picks up a win. Even without the win, he has six strikeouts in five innings, which is 11 points on its own. If he can limit the runs it would be enough to pay off his value, regardless of whether he can pick up the win.
Catcher
Josh Phegley ($3,000)
Catcher is a very tough position Friday as most of the top guys are either in a bad splits matchup or are facing one of the top pitchers. One guy with good lineup placement and the splits advantage is Phegley, who has always hit left-handers well, dating back to his minor league days. He gets a matchup with lefty J.A. Happ and should again be in a good RBI spot if he is batting fifth in the order. He homered off a lefty last week and had a big two-RBI double Thursday. He has been producing against left-handers out of that five hole and that trend should continue if he is in there against Happ.
First Base
Joey Votto ($3,400)
Votto is not a guy whose ownership has been high this season. He tends to get lost among the large group of rosterable first basemen that daily players use. Votto's price is solid and his consistency is top notch. He recently snapped a streak of 32 straight games of getting on base at least once. He has a positive matchup against Mikey Fiers, who has allowed lefties to hit .289 against him this year with six homers in 40 innings. Votto has been smashing righties, hitting .281 and 12 home runs in 192 at-bats. Fiers throws hard and strikes out a lot of batters, but when he misses, he gives up a lot of long balls.
Second Base
Scooter Gennett ($3,100)
Gennett has had some big games lately, so you are no longer going to get him for a minimum salary. The little lefty has scored over 30 points in his last seven starts, which gives him an average of 4.2 fantasy points per game. He faces a righty in rookie Michael Lorenzen, who has allowed over a .300 batting average this year with five home runs in only 21 innings against left-handers. Gennett has been moved up to the two hole against righties in recent games, so it's much easier to justify the elevated price when he has that type of lineup placement.
Shortstop
Troy Tulowitzki ($3,800)
The top priced shortstop on the day is in too good a spot to overlook. Tulowitzki faces Chase Anderson, who has allowed right-handed batters to hit .271 with seven home runs in 49 innings this season. Last year he allowed them to hit .302 with nine home runs in 62 innings. Tulo is a guy who prefers left-handed pitching, but he is still hitting .290 with five homers in 200 at-bats against righties this year. He is not cheap, but he is in line for a big game at a weak position,.
Third Base
Manny Machado ($4,200)
Third base is a stacked position Friday. Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado are all in good spots and should have high ownership. They are all solid options but also pricey. The guy with the best combination of matchup, upside and price is Machado. He faces John Danks, who has allowed right-handed bats to hit .321 against him this year with 12 home runs in 60 at-bats. Machado is hitting .333 with three homers in 66 at-bats against left-handed pitching. He has been on fire since being moved to the leadoff spot and this is a perfect matchup for Machado against a guy who really struggles against right-handed batters.
Outfield
Yasmany Tomas ($3,300)
Tomas has been a great find for the Diamondbacks. He has done an admirable job providing protection in the lineup for Paul Goldschmidt. Both guys have a solid matchup Friday against Kyle Kendrick, who has allowed right-handed batters to hit .282 against him this year with 14 home runs in 52 innings. Tomas is hitting a robust .325 against righties and has been knocking in runs from the cleanup spot in the order. He has a lot of upside at a square price.
Eddie Rosario $2600
Rosario has bounced back and forth between the two and the five hole in the lineup. He gets an excellent matchup Friday against Jeremy Guthrie, who is one of the worst in the league against left-handed batters. He has allowed lefties to hit .339 against him with 10 home runs in 44 innings this season. Rosario is hitting over .275 against righties and is the one left-handed bat outside of Joe Mauer that you can use to attack Guthrie.
Gerardo Parra ($2,600)
Parra has been great since taking over full time in the outfield. He started the season as a bench player, worked his way into a platoon split and is now starting ahead of Khris Davis. He faces Michael Lorenzen, who has allowed lefties to hit .307 with five home runs in 21 innings this season. Parra is hitting .304 on the year against right-handed pitching and should find himself leading off again for the Brew crew. Parra makes a great play here with his cheap price, good matchup and the hot stick he has been swinging.
