Daily Fantasy Baseball Notes: FanDuel, DraftKings hitter sleepers for May 16 – Sporting News

It’s a light Monday with only nine games on the MLB schedule, but that’s not going to stop us from picking through the stats and splits to help you put together your daily fantasy baseball strategy.

Based on the numbers, you can find plenty of good sleepers and value picks, including a killer Rays stack in the early games and cheap Rangers and A’s stacks in the late games. We’ve also identified several stayaways so you can hopefully avoid those dreaded “zeroes” in your FanDuel and DraftKings’ lineups.

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Let’s check out today’s splits-driven recommendations, keeping in mind that simply playing any hitters against guys like Chad Green (at ARI), Jose Berrios (at DET), and Cody Anderson (vs. CIN) could be just as effective.

Daily fantasy baseball picks

EARLY EVENING GAMES

Red = 1B; Orange = 2B; Yellow = 3B; Green = SS; Blue = OF; Purple = C

The Indians feature a bunch of players who normally hit lefties well (OF Marlon Byrd, 3B Juan Uribe, 1B Mike Napoli, OF Rajai Davis, 1B Carlos Santana, SS Francisco Lindor), but Lindor (.922 OPS) is the only one who’s actually doing it this year. In addition to Lindor, we still like Napoli (.912 career OPS vs. LHPs) against John Lamb, but the rest don’t excite us as much.

In 137 major league innings, Williams Perez has served up a .292/.379/.481 line to lefthanded batters. Give a little extra consideration to 1B John Jaso and OF Gregory Polanco today.

Since the start of last season, 3B Maikel Franco has an .854 OPS vs. LHPs. Along with OF Odubel Herrera (.293/.367/.376 career line vs. LHPs), Franco makes for a nice play against Adam Conley. You could also sneak catcher Carlos Ruiz (1.285 OPS vs. LHPs this year; .820 for his career) into your lineup if he starts.

It’s no surprise that 3B Josh Donaldson has had success against Drew Smyly in his career (7-for-14, five extra-base hits), as Donaldson is Toronto’s best hitter against lefties. The Jays feature several other guys who have historically hit well against lefthanders (SS Troy Tulowitzki, OF Jose Bautista, catcher Russell Martin, 1B Edwin Encarnacion), but Encarnacion (.960 OPS) is the only one who’s hitting well against southpaws this year.

The Rays are loaded with lefty-killers, including 3B Evan Longoria (.919 career OPS vs. LHPs), OF Steve Pearce (1.263 OPS vs. LHPs this year; .850 for his career), OF Steven Souza Jr. (1.008; .857), and OF Brandon Guyer (.970; .818). All make for good plays against J.A. Happ. Tampa doesn’t usually start OF Corey Dickerson against lefties anymore, but SS Brad Miller (.533 OPS vs. LHPs this year) and OF Kevin Kiermaier (.599) would be major contrarian plays.

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LATE GAMES

Red = 1B; Orange = 2B; Yellow = 3B; Green = SS; Blue = OF; Purple = C

In 191.2 major league innings, Robbie Ray has allowed a .302/.376/.508 line at home, and he hasn’t been all that much better against lefties (.275/.323/.425) compared to righties (.272/.364/.450). The Yankees don’t have many players who hit noticeably better against lefties (2B Starlin Castro, SS Didi Gregorious), but virtually all of their starters are options today.

The Rangers have several under-the-players who are killing lefties this year, including OF Ian Desmond (1.090 OPS) and OF Ryan Rua (.980). Of course, 3B Adrian Beltre and SS Elvis Andrus are always threats against southpaws, so you could put together a nice Texas stack against struggling rookie Sean Manaea. If you’re digging deep, you can try OF Drew Stubbs, who also has a history of hitting well against lefties. Don’t overpay for 1B Prince Fielder, who’s really struggling against lefthanders this year (.504 OPS).

Whenever the A’s face a lefty like Derek Holland, SS Marcus Semien and 3B Danny Valencia are prime options. You can also use OF Billy Burns, who’s a career .308 hitters against southpaws. Catcher Stephen Vogt and OF Josh Reddick typically struggle against lefthanders, so don’t overpay.

Matt Shoemaker has allowed six homers in just 24.2 innings this year. It’s a good day to load up on heavy-hitting Dodgers like OF Yasiel Puig and 1B Adrian Gonzalez.

* Stats as of 5/15