FanDuel MLB: Wednesday Value Plays

FanDuel MLB: Wednesday Value Plays

This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.

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PITCHER

Ross Stripling, LAD vs PHI ($7,500): There's nothing wrong with paying up for Max Scherzer ($11,800) tonight. However, Stripling has a lot of upside for a guy coming in over $4,000 cheaper. He's scored 60 and 52 fantasy points in his last two outings, and the Phillies are a good matchup for him. Their 26.4 percent strikeout rate when facing right-handed pitching is the second-worst mark in the league to only the Padres, and their .310 wOBA is the 12th worst in the league as well.

GPP Fade – Clayton Richard, SD vs MIA ($7,100): Richard might look like a decent candidate tonight considering in his last home start he put up a 58-point effort against the Cardinals. That appears to be an anomaly though, as he's only cracked the 40-point mark one other time in 11 starts this season. The Marlins are primarily made up of right-handed hitting and have only struck out at 20.9 percent, the ninth-lowest mark in the league against left-handed pitching. Richard has an ERA north of 4.00 in each of his last two seasons for the Padres while striking out out less than 20 percent of the batters he's faced.

Cheap GPP Consideration – Jon Gray, COL vs SF ($6,700): Gray is the perfect cheap GPP option tonight given his upside and the fact that he'll have extremely low ownership playing in Coors Field. Gray has excelled in Coors with a 25.2 percent strikeout rate with a .288 wOBA against. This season he's scored 55 and 61 fantasy points at home, showing the type of upside he has. The Giants have struck out 25 percent of the time against right-handed pitching, the fifth-highest mark in the league.

CATCHER/FIRST BASE

Tyler Flowers, ATL vs NYM ($2,900): It's always a sneaky contrarian play to use Flowers in a spot where most would deploy a first baseman. However, over the last few days Flowers has homered off Chris Sale and Jacob deGrom, no easy task. Coming into this season, Flowers had posted a .337, .337 and .377 wOBA against lefties before putting up .580 in a small sample this season. If he gets the night off, Kurt Suzuki (.486 wOBA against lefties last season) would be another good option.

SECOND BASE

Ozzie Albies, ATL vs NYM ($3,800): Albies cost has finally dipped below the $4,000 mark, and tonight is a good spot to take advantage. Jason Vargas has been terrible outside of one start this season, giving up more earned runs (17) than innings pitched (15) to right-handed batters. On the other hand, Albies has crushed left-handed pitching with a .396 wOBA last season and an even better .458 mark this season.

THIRD BASE

Brian Anderson, MIA at SD ($2,900): Anderson has been one of the few bright spots in the Marlins lineup, hitting .284 with 24 RBI and 29 runs. Anderson's .365 wOBA shows he's been especially effective against left-handed pitching. Since 2013, Richard has given up at least a .345 wOBA to right-handed hitters and his career mark stands at a lofty .355.

SHORTSTOP

Jean Segura, SEA vs TEX ($3,300): Segura is off to a great start this season, hitting .330 with four home runs, 12 stolen bases and a surprising 35 RBI. Those number translate into 12.6 fantasy points per game, the second-highest mark at the position tonight behind only Manny Machado. Matt Moore is a good matchup, as Segura's .364 wOBA against left-handed pitching is in line with his .353 stat from last season.

OUTFIELD

Nelson Cruz, SEA vs TEX ($3,200): This is way too cheap of a price tonight for Cruz considering he's facing a left-handed pitcher. Even with a Coors game on the slate, it's too hard to ignore him especially given that he gets Moore (7.99 ERA) coming off the DL. Cruz has a .410 wOBA against left-handed pitching since joining the Mariners, and that mark is almost even at home and on the road. Teammate Guillermo Heredia ($2,200) is also a good punt play, as he will likely lead off and owns a .345 wOBA against lefties since the start of the 2017 season.

Michael Conforto, NYM at ATL ($3,400): Conforto's bat has heated up recently with a .903 OPS over his last 14 games and he's found himself in the cleanup spot with Brandon Nimmo leading off. Conforto has a career .378 wOBA against right-handed pitching and gets the enigma that is Julio Teheran tonight. Teheran had lowered his ERA to 3.14 on May 9 after two scoreless outings, only to see it rise again to its current 4.20 mark. The right-hander has been much worse at home, sporting a 5.79 ERA since the start of 2017, the result of allowing 23 home runs in 119.2 innings.

UTILITY

Nolan Arenado ($5,400) / Trevor Story ($4,400), COL vs SF: If using a cheaper option such as the aforementioned Stripling or Gray at pitcher, it'll be easy to fit both players in here, and they'll be facing southpaw Derek Holland at home. For their careers, Arenado has a .472 wOBA against LHP at home while Story has a .498 mark. Story will likely be manning the cleanup spot looking to drive in runs, while Arenado is the top hitting option on the slate given his history.

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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