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 four highest over/unders for Friday, provided by OddsShark…
2. There are four teams hovering around the -200 line tonight, which indicates a strong percentage of winning. Gio Gonzalez (-198), Francisco Liriano (-238), Luke Weaver (-203), and Jeff Samardzija (-210).
3. Supposedly, no rain tonight!
4. Check out these hitters who’ve been on fire in the past week: Gary Sanchez (10-for-22 with four home runs), Justin Upton (8-for-20 with three home runs), and Nolan Arenado (10-for-24 with four home runs).
5. For the BvP fans: Ryan Raburn is 7-for-14 (.500) with three home runs against Gio Gonzalez … Justin Upton is 9-for-22 (.409) against Ricky Nolasco … Victor Martinez is 7-for-17 (.412) with two extra-base hits against Nolasco.
Yesterday’s recap:
Drew Pomeranz was John Halpin’s favorite SP for Thursday and he dominated: 6 IP, 2 ER, and 11 Ks.
Must-Start of the day: George Springer, HOU
He is batting .333 with two home runs in the past week. Also, against left-handed pitchers, Springer has a .312 ISO and a .424 wOBA against lefties this year.
Deal of the day: Luke Weaver, STL
Always scroll to the bottom of the pitcher pool on DraftKings to see if any salary catches your eyes. Tonight, Weaver and the Cardinals get some strong Vegas odds. His price tag is under $5K. In his first nine innings of action, Weaver has allowed five earned runs and punched out nine batters. With the low-risk salary, you can have a high reward.
Avoid of the day: Justin Morneau, CWS
He is 7-for-40 (.175) with 10 strikeouts against Felix Hernandez.
Stack of the day: Toronto Blue Jays
With an over/under of 10 and a strong Vegas line, the Blue Jays have the highest projected run total. Stack the big bats (Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion) along with one or two cheaper bats (Russell Martin or Troy Tulowitzki) and get ready to rake in the cash.
Starting pitchers:
Chris Sale, CWS – He’s struck out at least seven batters in four consecutive starts. After a rough outing in Miami (6.2 IP, 5 ER), Sale settled down and shut out the A’s (8 IP, 0 ER). He already faced the Mariners this season, too (July 18: 8 IP, 0 ER, and 6 Ks).
Mike Fiers, HOU – He’s struck out seven batters in three of the past four performances. Fiers is also 6-3 with a 3.36 ERA at home this season.
David Phelps, MIA – He’s struck out at least eight batters in back-to-back starts and has allowed a total of three earned runs in his past three outings.
Gio Gonzalez, WAS – For your SP2 on DraftKings, Gonzalez has a cheap price tag. He’s struck out at least five batters in three of the past four outings and has a 3.23 ERA since the All-Star break.
Catchers:
Russell Martin, TOR – He has a .313 wOBA against lefties this year.
Welington Castillo, ARI – He has a .308 ISO against lefties this season.
Evan Gattis, HOU – He has a .286 ISO against lefties in 2016.
First basemen:
Paul Goldschmidt, ARI – He has a .263 ISO and a .459 wOBA against lefties this year.
Edwin Encarnacion, TOR – He has a .297 ISO against lefties in 2016.
Joey Votto, CIN – He has a .241 ISO against righties this season.
Second basemen:
Daniel Murphy, WAS – He has a .275 ISO and a .425 wOBA against righties this season.
Jean Segura, ARI – He has a .342 wOBA against lefties this year.
Third basemen:
Josh Donaldson, TOR – He has a .234 ISO and a .419 wOBA against lefties this season.
Alex Bregman, HOU – He has a .214 ISO against lefties this year.
Shortstops:
Troy Tulowitzki, TOR – He has a .340 wOBA against southpaws in 2016.
Eugenio Suarez, CIN – He has a .297 wOBA against righties this season.
Trea Turner, WAS – He has a .250 ISO and a .412 wOBA against righties this year.
Outfielders:
Michael Saunders, TOR – He leads the Blue Jays with a .317 ISO against southpaws this season.
George Springer, HOU – “Must-start of the day.”
Melvin Upton Jr., TOR – He has a .295 ISO against lefties this year.
Yasmany Tomas, ARI – He has a .347 ISO against lefties in 2016.
Rickie Weeks, ARI – He has a .322 ISO against lefties this season.
