For those who are unfamiliar with my thought process, I aim to add as many home run hitters as possible to my daily fantasy baseball lineups. One way of doing that is to look at a player’s isolated power numbers (ISO). The ISO statistic removes singles and provides a larger weight for each extra-base hit.
I also use the weighted on-base average (wOBA) metric. This stat takes every positive outcome into consideration.
Last year, the league average was a .150 ISO and a .313 wOBA. So, when you see me list a player’s ISO or wOBA, you know why I do it.
5 Things to Watch:
1. Here are the three highest over/unders for Friday, provided by OddsShark…
2. Stephen Strasburg and the Nats are pegged in a game with an over/under of 7.5 total runs. With Stras on the hill, Vegas has given Washington strong -260 odds tonight. Strasburg has struck out at least seven batters in three of his past four starts. This season against Atlanta, he is 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA and has punched out 11 batters in 13.2 innings of work.
3. Surprisingly, David Price and the Red Sox are the second-biggest favorite of the night (-240). However, Price hasn’t won a game in over a month and Arizona has the fifth-best batting average against left-handed pitchers this season (.274 AVG).
4. There is rain in the forecast for TB/NYY, LAA/CLE, SD/NYM, DET/TEX, and KC/MIN. Plan accordingly.
5. For the BvP readers: Jacoby Ellsbury is 18-for-28 (.643) against Chris Archer … Logan Forsythe is 8-for-18 (.444) with two home runs against CC Sabathia … Also, Evan Longoria is 26-for-67 (.388) with six homers against Sabathia.
Yesterday’s recap:
John Halpin’s must-start for Thursday, David Freese, went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. He also suggested stacking the Rangers. Rougned Odor and Adrian Beltre homered as part of the nine-run production from Texas.
Must-Start of the day: Jose Altuve, HOU
He has a .239 ISO and a .459 wOBA against lefties this year. Altuve is also 13-for-24 (.542) in the past week.
Deal of the day: Dylan Bundy, BAL
This is a great SP2 option on DraftKings ($7,400). Bundy has punched out at least seven batters in three consecutive starts. He’s also allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his past four performances.
Avoid of the day: Salvador Perez, KC
He is 2-for-22 (.091) with five strikeouts against Kyle Gibson.
Stack of the day: Houston Astros
Francisco Liriano gets his first start at Rogers Centre as a member of the home team. Unfortunately, for him, the ball flies farther there than in Pittsburgh, and some of the Astros’ best hitters succeed against southpaws. Jose Altuve, George Springer and Evan Gattis are among those names. Carlos Correa is doing better, too.
Starting pitchers:
Stephen Strasburg, WAS – (See “5 Things”)
Yu Darvish, TEX – The price is better on FanDuel ($1,900 less than Strasburg). Darvish has struck out at least eight batters in four of his past five starts. This season, at home, he is 2-0 with a 2.91 ERA in 21.2 innings of action with 25 Ks.
Dylan Bundy, BAL – “Deal of the day.”
Tyler Skaggs, LAA – Another way to save money is to select Skaggs. No team has struck out more in the past week than Cleveland (70 Ks). However, the Tribe have the fourth-best batting average against lefties (.275 AVG) this season and have scored the second-most runs (44) in the past seven days.
Catchers:
Sandy Leon, BOS – He has a team-high .325 ISO and a .554 wOBA against southpaws this season.
Evan Gattis, HOU – He has a .291 ISO against lefties in 2016.
Robinson Chirinos, TEX – He has a .253 ISO against righties this year.
First basemen:
Hanley Ramirez, BOS – He has a .250 ISO and a .421 wOBA against lefties this year.
Paul Goldschmidt, ARI – He has a .259 ISO and a .457 wOBA against lefties in 2016.
Mitch Moreland, TEX – He has a .221 ISO against righties this season.
Edwin Encarnacion, TOR – He has a .267 ISO against righties this year.
Second basemen:
Jose Altuve, HOU – “Must-start of the day.”
Devon Travis, TOR – He has a .235 ISO against righties this year and a .444 AVG in hte past week.
Third basemen:
Josh Donaldson, TOR – He has a .279 ISO and a .402 wOBA against righties this season.
Adrian Beltre, TEX – He has a .314 wOBA against righties this year.
Alex Rodriguez, NYY – We have a typo on FanDuel. A-Rod is priced at $696. Now, people actually have a reason to cheer for Rodriguez in his final game.
Shortstops:
Marcus Semien, OAK – He has a .307 ISO against lefties this year.
Carlos Correa, HOU – “Stack of the day.”
Chris Owings, ARI – He has a .258 ISO and a .374 wOBA against lefties this season.
Outfielders:
Carlos Beltran, TEX – He has a .220 ISO against right-handed pitchers this season.
Mookie Betts, BOS – He has a .255 ISO against lefties this year.
George Springer, HOU – He has a .303 ISO and a .413 wOBA against lefties in 2016.
Jake Smolinski, OAK – He has a .311 ISO and a .473 wOBA against lefties this season.
Josh Reddick, LAD – He’s 5-for-13 (.385) against Ivan Nova with four hits going for extra bases (two homers).
