Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice – 8/16/2016
Nick Rodriguez
We have a full 15-game slate on our hands with a ton of options, so lets get right into the action!
Pitching Targets
Corey Kluber FD 10700 DK 11400
Opponent – CHW (Quintana) Park – @CLE
FD – 39.23 DK – 25.9
Corey Kluber is my top cash-game play of the day. He will be going up against a White Sox offense that owns a .306 wOBA on the year and does not have a true power threat outside of Todd Fraizer. Kluber on the other hand, has been one of the most dominant pitchers over the last few seasons. He strikeouts 26.7% of the batters he faces and also owns a 3.18 xFIP. There are a ton of options today, but he’s the guy I’m looking to target in my cash games.
Blake Snell FD 7900 DK 8700
Opponent – SD (Jackson) Park – @TB
FD – 35.33 DK – 22.95
We saw what southpaw Drew Smyly did yesterday against the Padres and I’m expecting a similar performance from southpaw, Blake Snell.
Blake Snell has looked solid in his young career. He’s sporting a 3.18 ERA to go along with a 3.42 FIP and 23.1 K%. The problem for Snell has been the walks. He owns a whooping 12.4 BB%, which can affect his pitch-count tremendously and hurts the amount of innings he could go. Which is why he’s a GPP play for me.
He’s got tremendous upside, especially going up against this Padres’ offense. They own the second highest K% on the year (24.4 K%) and have been cold as of late. In their last 14 contests, they own a .291 wOBA (27th in MLB) to go along with an 82 wRC+ (27th in MLB). If Snell can keep the walks in check, we can expect him to put up similar numbers to Smyly.
Stack Targets
Washington Nationals vs. Chad Bettis (COL)
There are many different ways to approach tonight, but we always have to look at Coors. Today we have Gio Gonzalez vs. Chad Bettis on the bump, in Colorado. You could probably stack against either one of these pitchers, but I prefer to do it against Mr. Bettis.
The Nationals have been one of the hottest teams in baseball walking into Coors. In their last 14 contests, they own a 111 wRC+ (11th in MLB) to go along with a .340 wOBA (8th in MLB) and .204 ISO (4th in MLB). Chad Bettis is a solid pitcher with a 4.02 xFIP, but opponents own a .288 AVG against him. He gets hit often, so look for the Nats’ to take advantage at beautiful Coors Field.
My top 4 guys to stack: My top 4 guys to stack: Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy and Jayson Werth And don’t forget Bryce Harper**
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Edwin Jackson (SD)
Believe it or not, Edwin Jackson pitched seven innings in his last outing and did not allow a single run. I’m sure that will scare a few people from stacking the Rays tonight, but not me. Edwin owns a 5.14 xFIP on the year, so he’s going to crack eventually. Not only is his xFIP extremely high, but he also walks over 10% of the batters he faces. That’s never a good thing and pitchers can get into a lot of trouble when giving free passes. We saw it happen to Luis Perdomo in the first inning last night.
Not only is this a beautiful matchup, but the Rays have also been hot. In their last 14 contests, they own a .200 ISO (5th in MLB) and .342 wOBA (5th in MLB). They have been crushing the baseball as of late, so I expect them to take advantage of Jackson and his 5.14 xFIP.
My top 4 guys to stack: Brad Miller, Kevin Kiermaier, Evan Longoria and Logan Forsythe.
Also consider the Red Sox- Orioles game as a stacking option