Daily Fantasy Baseball Notes: FanDuel, DraftKings hitter sleepers for May 27 – Sporting News

You want splits to incorporate into your daily fantasy baseball strategy for Friday? We have splits. We have a lot of splits. There are 13 — yes, 13 — lefthanded pitchers scheduled to start, plus several righties with pronounced differences against lefthanded and righthanded batters. That means there are sleepers, values, and fades galore for today’s FanDuel and DraftKings contests.

Obviously, with that many lefties — none of which are Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale or David Price, by the way, so it’s not like we’re talking about a bunch of aces — there are a lot of stacking opportunities based on the numbers. There are also plenty of lefthanded batters who are riskier than normal and could help differentiate your lineups if you’re willing to take the risk.

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Today is going to be crazy, whether you’re playing in tournaments or cash games, so best of luck.

Daily fantasy baseball picks

AFTERNOON GAME

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

Most of the Cubs’ usual lefty-crushers aren’t having a good year against southpaws (aside from 2B Ben Zobrist), but you still have to like OF Dexter Fowler (.826 career OPS vs. LHPs) and 1B Anthony Rizzo (.868 OPS vs. LHPs since 2014) against Adam Morgan. Be careful with SS Addison Russell, who has just a .565 career OPS vs. lefties.

The Phillies are really struggling against lefties this year, so they don’t have many DFS options against Jon Lester. If you’re digging deep, you can try catcher Carlos Ruiz (.943 OPS vs. LHPs this year; .816 career OPS vs. LHPs). If you’re looking for a reverse-platoon play, go with OF Odubel Herrera, who has a career .284 average and .354 OBP vs. lefties.

EARLY EVENING GAMES

The Nats lefty-killing crew (1B Ryan Zimmerman, OF Jayson Werth, catcher Wilson Ramos) was quieted by Steven Matz on Wednesday, so perhaps they’re due today against Jaime Garcia. Either way, the numbers say they’re worthwhile plays, and based on this year’s stats, 2B Daniel Murphy (.919 OPS vs. LHPs) is also a sneaky reverse-platoon play.

In 184.1 major league innings, Aaron Sanchez has allowed a .170/.241/.215 line to righthanded batters. It’s tough to bet against SS Xander Bogaerts, OF Mookie Betts or 1B Hanley Ramirez with the way they’re hitting right now, but this might be a good night to fade them.

He’s only pitched 86.1 innings in the majors, but Mike Wright has been crushed by lefthanded batters (.338/.404/.557). Give 2B Jason Kipnis, 1B Carlos Santana, SS Francisco Lindor, and even OF Lonnie Chisenhall bumps in value.

Julio Urias has been dominating Triple-A, but the 19-year-old lefty could have a tough time in his major league debut against OF Yoenis Cespedes (1.508 OPS vs. LHPs this year; .823 for his career).

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

BvP stats can be misleading because of the small sample size, but we’re willing to trust OF Jacoby Ellsbury’s 16-for-24 mark against Chris Archer.

If you’re trying to differentiate your lineup, you can use OF Jeff Francoeur, who normally hits cleanup against lefties and has an .835 OPS against them this year. You could also use 1B Freddie Freeman against Adam Conley, who’s struggled against lefties in his 114.2-inning major league career (.333/.437/.458).

Lefties have hit .286/.368/.458 against Williams Perez in his 149.1-inning major league career, giving 1B Justin Bour and 2B Derek Dietrich more value today.

Rangers’ OFs Ian Desmond and Ryan Rua continue to rake lefties, sporting OPS’s over 1.000 against them this year, and 3B Adrian Beltre and SS Elvis Andrus are also hitting well against LHPs like they have their whole careers. It could be a short night for Jonathon Niese, but don’t count on much from 1B Prince Fielder, who’s sporting a .486 OPS vs. LHPs this year.

Even against someone like Cole Hamels, we like OF Starling Marte, OF Andre McCutchen, catcher Francisco Cervelli, and SS Jordy Mercer, all of whom sport career OPS’s above .800 vs. LHPs.

It’s always smart to play OF Ryan Braun against a lefty (1.032 career OPS), and SS Jonathan Villar (.955 OPS vs. LHPs this year) is becoming a must-play, too. Both are great options against John Lamb, but don’t overpay for catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who has just a .576 OPS vs. southpaws since the start of last year.

It’s a very small sample, but in 24 plate appearances this year, SS Jimmy Rollins has a 1.433 OPS vs. lefties. Danny Duffy might only last a few innings, so don’t overpay for Rollins, but he’s certainly a legit option. We also like 2B Brett Lawrie (.842 OPS vs. LHPs since the start of last year), 3B Todd Frazier (.896 OPS vs. LHPs since the start of last year), and, if you’re really digging deep, 1B Jerry Sands (.826 career OPS vs. LHPs). If you want to try a reverse-platoon play, OF Adam Eaton is killing southpaws this year (.929 OPS) and has a career .296 average vs. lefties.

LATE GAMES

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

Matt Cain has been pitching better lately, but he still has the 11th-worst HR/9 ratio over the past two seasons (min. 100 IP). That’s not going to play well in Colorado. Load up on Rockies tonight, especially lefties.

Padres OF Matt Kemp has crushed lefties throughout this career, and he’s been solid against them this year (.845 OPS). Along with catcher Derek Norris (.838 career OPS vs. LHPs), get Kemp in your lineup against Robbie Ray in Arizona.

Perhaps surprisingly, OF Yasmany Tomas and catcher Welington Castillo aren’t hitting that well at home this year, but both are crushing lefties. We’ll trust that split over the home split tonight against Christian Friedrich. Both 1B Paul Goldschmidt and 3B Brandon Drury are killing the ball in Arizona, and both hit well against lefties, so we like them tonight, too.

Even in Oakland, Detroit’s lefty-killers (1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Nick Castellanos, SS Jose Iglesias, catcher James McCann, OF J.D. Martinez, red-hot OF Cameron Maybin) are worth stacking against Sean Manaea.

How long is Pat Dean going to stay in the game against the Mariners? Long enough for OF Nelson Cruz (.925 career OPS vs. LHPs), OF Franklin Gutierrez (.836), and catcher Chris Iannetta (.863; .911 this year) to have more value than usual. You can also take a shot with 1B Dae-Ho Lee, who has a .450 SLG against lefties in limited at-bats this year.

Twins 1B Joe Mauer has a .341/.400/.585 line against Felix Hernandez in 45 career plate appearances.

* Stats as of 5/26