This article is part of our DFS Baseball 101 series.
I've written a lot about the importance of hitting splits during this daily fantasy baseball season, and this week, I'll dig into what I call "Splitting the Splits".
This is where we look at handedness and park factors to uncover even more indicators in building successful lineups.
Let me preface the piece with a few things for clarification:
The data I used is from FanGraphs, which limits me to either using one single season or a player's entire career. All of the data used are career numbers from players who have only been with one team, which is why I purposely left out players like Albert Pujols because he played most of his career in St. Louis, so the data would be skewed. I've written enough about Lefty/Righty (L/R) and Home/Road (H/R) splits this year, so guys like Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have been covered, yet, those players don't provide much value on splits anyways because they hit everyone just about equally no matter what park.
For this article, I'm using wRC+ (weighted Runs Created Plus) as the measure.
wRC+ Top Hitters at Home vs. Left-Handed Pitching (LHP)
Giancarlo Stanton 196
Stanton is so impressive to put up a 196 in Marlins Park, which is a notorious pitcher's park. This really points out the extreme value you want with him in hitter's parks on the road versus LHP.
Wilin Rosario 190
Rosario's value is mostly driven by the thin air at Coors Field, as you will see with Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado below. Take this trio of Rockies' hitters at home versus weaker LHP.
Andrew McCutchen 186
McCutchen destroys LHP, and you especially want to pair him with Starling Marte, Jordy Mercer, and Gaby Sanchez against weaker LHP.
Yasiel Puig 179
While the sample size on Puig is not huge, we still have enough to see that he is an elite bat, even against RHP at home (pitchers' park).
Paul Goldschmidt 176
Taking advantage of the huge park factor at home for right-handed batters (RHB), Goldy is a must play at 1B when he is in Chase Field versus weaker LHP. Obviously, with him out for the season with a broken hand, this is more of something to keep in mind for next season.
Starling Marte 176
Khris Davis 170
Davis is great for pairing with Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy against weak LHP.
Ryan Braun 169
Matt Kemp 166
Troy Tulowitzki 164
Nolan Arenado 164
David Wright 161
Evan Longoria 159
Billy Butler 156
Joey Votto 155
Jose Altuve 154
Dustin Pedroia 154
Trevor Plouffe 153
Ryan Zimmerman 153
John Mayberry 151
Buster Posey 150
Marcell Ozuna 147
Anthony Rizzo 146
A.J. Pollock 146
Mike Trout 145
Brian Dozier 140
Brandon Guyer 140
wRC+ Top Hitters at Home vs. Right-Handed Pitching (RHP)
Corey Dickerson 194
It's a small sample size, but the Coors Field factor is a bonus, and you can look to get him in your lineup with Justin Morneau (who I had to leave out of this due to park change) and Carlos Gonzalez (if the guy is ever healthy).
Yasiel Puig 174
Puig has mashed at home regardless of who the pitcher is.
Mike Trout 167
It doesn't usually matter who Trout faces, if it's a righty or lefty, but you want to pick your spots when using him because he is always a top-five priced hitter.
David Ortiz 167
Big Papi destroys left-handers in Fenway and can wrap homers around that short porch in right field at Fenway. I've noticed he especially loves to light up extreme fly ball pitchers.
Carlos Gonzalez 167
Cargo is part of the Rockies' left-handed batters (LHB) trio with Corey Dickerson and Justin Morneau. You only want to use him at home versus weaker RHP when he is healthy.
Matt Adams 164
Big Country mashes righties at home but has one of the most extreme splits with only a 117 wRC+ on the road, and he's even worse against lefties (64 home, 66 road).
Matt Carpenter 154
Ryan Howard 154
Freddie Freeman 153
Andre Ethier 149
Scooter Gennett 148
Gennett is a RHP killing specialist but one of the worst hitters against LHP. Usually, he hits out of the top of the order when he is in the lineup.
Pablo Sandoval 143
Bryce Harper 141
Evan Gattis 139
Joe Mauer 139
Charlie Blackmon 138
Jay Bruce 136
Adam Lind 136
Daniel Nava 135
Neil Walker 134
Alex Avila 132
Brandon Belt 130
wRC+ Top Hitters Away vs. LHP
Jordy Mercer 221
Who would have thought that this guy has the highest wRC+ on this entire list? It's not the biggest of sample sizes, but it's enough to stand up and warrant using him versus weaker LHP with the other Pirates mentioned above.
Buster Posey 188
While there aren't a ton of hitter's parks in the National League, getting Posey outside of his home park in San Francisco is key when using him in daily fantasy baseball against weaker LHP.
Ryan Braun 182
David Wright 175
Evan Gattis 171
Mike Trout 170
Scott Van Slyke 168
Van Slyke is a specialist that usually takes Andre Ethier's or Adrian Gonzalez's spot in the order when a lefty is on the mound. He's another nice, cheap guy to use whenever he is in the lineup.
Paul Goldschmidt 163
Khris Davis 163
Starling Marte 159
Anthony Rendon 159
Jonathan Lucroy 158
Andrew McCutchen 155
Ed Lucas 150
You can't use this guy any other time except on the road versus weaker LHP, but he is a great sleeper pick to use in daily games because his price tag will always be cheap.
Desmond Jennings 149
Carlos Santana 147
Salvador Perez 143
Welington Castillo 143
Ben Zobrist 133
Todd Frazier 132
Dayan Viciedo 131
Devin Mesoraco 131
Brian Dozier 130
Will Middlebrooks 130
A.J. Ellis 130
Carlos Ruiz 129
wRC+ Top Hitters Away vs. RHP
Mike Trout 172
Joey Votto 169
Joe Mauer 152
David Ortiz 150
Scooter Gennett 149
Christian Yelich 146
Lucas Duda 143
Jason Heyward 140
Didi Gregorius 138
Matt Joyce 134
Bryce Harper 132
Freddie Freeman 130
Andre Ethier 130
Kyle Seager 129
Jason Kipnis 125
Pablo Sandoval 124
Eric Hosmer 121
