FanDuel MLB: Monday Value Plays

FanDuel MLB: Monday Value Plays

This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.

Today seems to have it all from a DFS perspective: an all-day slate starting at 1:07 PM EST, a Colorado home game, and two stud pitchers toeing the rubber in the main slate. Madison Bumgarner takes the mound for the Giants, but being in Coors Field increases his risk factor and actually makes the Rockies an interesting stack. Kyle Freeland will oppose Bumgarner, and surprisingly his numbers at home are really good this season (2.95 ERA). Both Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber take the mound but each has a less than ideal matchup against the Red Sox and the Royals. The usual Beat The Score contests, (Free!) Home Run Challenge and Main Slate of games start at 7:05 PM EST.

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PITCHER

Corey Kluber, CLE at KC ($11,200): All of the upper-tier starting pitchers have a flea or two attached to them. Max Scherzer faces the Red Sox, who strike out the least against right-handed pitching while boasting the highest wOBA (.348) against that handedness. That actually makes Max an excellent GPP option tonight, as his ownership percentage could be the lowest of the season for those reasons. Kluber becomes the best option, as while the Royals strike out at the second-lowest rate in the majors (19.1 percent) their wOBA against right-handed pitching (.287) is the second worst in baseball. Coming off his worst start of the season, it's tough to imagine (short of an injury he's hiding) that Kluber has a second consecutive rough start.

GPP Fade: Jonathan Loaisiga, NYY vs ATL ($6,700): Loaisiga faces a tough task in the Braves. The left-handed bats for Atlanta can take advantage of the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium, and as a team have a respectable .315 wOBA against right-handed pitching (13th in the league). However, the most notable stat is that the Braves own the sixth-lowest rate (20.2 percent) against righties this season.

Cheap GPP Consideration: Nathan Eovaldi, TB at MIA ($6,300): Looking at his game logs, Eovaldi is the perfect GPP play tonight when considering the mid-to-lower priced pitching options. He's the third-cheapest pitcher on the slate, has a great matchup with the Marlins, and has shown upside a couple of times already this season. Eovaldi has games of 40 and 55 fantasy points in his six starts with two others scoring 21 and 22 points. The Marlins have the 11th-highest strikeout rate (23.6 percent) and have the sixth-lowest wOBA (.298) against right-handed pitching, making this a good matchup for Eovaldi.

CATCHER/FIRST BASE

Greg Bird, NYY vs ATL ($2,900): It's always nice to get a piece of the Yankees lineup at under three grand, especially when it's a lefty hitting in the middle of the lineup. In Bird's short career he has a .356 wOBA at home against right-handed pitching and gets Anibal Sanchez tonight. In each of his last three seasons, Sanchez has allowed a .336 wOBA or worse to left-handed hitters on the road.

SECOND BASE

Jason Kipnis, CLE at KC ($3,100): Kipnis will face off against Jakob Junis tonight and both players appear headed in opposite directions. Kipnis has turned it around after a slow start and has a .957 OPS over his last 14 games, while Junis has a 6.69 ERA over his last six starts (10 home runs in his last four starts). Junis' .330 wOBA to lefties this season almost mirrors his .334 mark from last season.

THIRD BASE

David Freese, PIT at LAD ($2,200): Using Freese either allows for a lineup that includes a stud pitcher, or some of the bats in the Coors Field game tonight. He should be hitting cleanup against Alex Wood, and Freese had a .364 and .407 wOBA against southpaws each of the last two seasons. Wood has allowed a .328 wOBA at home to right-handed hitters this season.

SHORTSTOP

Daniel Robertson, TB at MIA ($2,400): Robertson is a rare punt play at this position who still has upside based on the righty-vs-lefty matchup. Robertson gets Wei-Yin Chen tonight and has a .382 wOBS against lefties this season thanks to reducing his strikeout rate to 16 percent. Chen has struggled this season against right-handed bats, giving up a .396 wOBA.

OUTFIELD

Jesse Winker, CIN vs CWS ($3,000): James Shields will pick up a bat tonight as the White Sox travel to Cincinnati to take on the Reds. Winker is one of the lone lefty bats in the Reds lineup outside of Joey Votto ($4,300) and has a great matchup against the homer-prone Shields. On the road against lefties is where Shields has struggled the most, posting at least a .405 wOBA in each of the last three seasons against them. Winker has a .413 wOBA over his 146 career plate appearances at home.

Adam Eaton, WAS vs BOS ($3,100): Since returning to the lineup Eaton has assumed the leadoff spot for the Nationals. He has a .378 wOBA against right-handed pitching this season (.387 last season) and is always a threat to steal bases and add those bonus fantasy points to his total. Since the start of the 2017 season, left-handed hitters have raked against Rick Porcello to the tune of a .342 wOBA.

UTILITY

Brian Dozier, MIN at MIL ($3,900): Without Miguel Sano in the lineup, Dozier is the best Twin to use in DFS against left-handed pitching. Dozier's career .372 wOBA shows how much success he's had against southpaws, and he's been hitting lately in a better RBI spot having moving to cleanup. Brent Suter's 4.47 home ERA also makes him a good matchup for Dozier.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Kevin Payne plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: Fanduel: kevinccp, Draft Kings: kevinccp, Yahoo: kevinccp.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin Payne
Kevin has worked for RotoWire over a decade and has covered basketball, baseball and football. A glutton for punishment, he roots for his hometown Bills, Sabres and the New York Yankees. You can follow him on Twitter @KCPayne26.
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