Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for ScoreStreak 6/11/14

DFSR has partnered with ScoreStreak: a new, innovative style of DFS play. Gone is the salary finagling, mixing and matching, and hair-pulling that goes into setting lineups. ScoreStreak simplifies the process in an easy-to-use interface. Employing a prop-pick style, ScoresStreak leagues are specific outcome dependent with three categories: Total Bases, Hits, and for pitchers, Strikeouts.

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Total Bases

Evan Gattis
Justin Upton would’ve been my clear #1 facing a rookie (and failed prospect) left-handed pitcher in Tyler Matzek, however Upton left yesterday’s game with a hamstring injury, so I’m going instead with fellow teammate and lefty-masher Evan Gattis who also in Coors facing the same gas can. I’d love to give you some MLB stats for Matzek over the past year or two, but ummm, he doesn’t have any, namely because he’s not a major-league pitcher. What I can tell you is that he has a 4.05 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP and has given up 1.09 HR’s/9 in AAA this year. I can also tell you that of the 8 hr’s he’s given up so far this year, 7 of them have come vs right-handed batters who assuredly aren’t as good of hitters as El Oso Blanco. From 2013 to present, Gattis has killed lefties to the tune of a .394 wOBA and .297 ISO vs lefties. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Matzek hang a pitch or two to Gattis which he’ll promptly deposit into the seats. Gattis is an easy pick and the clear #1 choice for total bases today with Upton out.

Chris Davis
It’s no secret that Davis has had a somewhat disappointing season thus far. It’s also no secret that he has tremendous raw power and can hit 2 hr’s on any given day and no one would be surprised. Today he faces off against Rubby De La Rosa, who has had all of two starts in the majors this season. He’s not a terrible pitcher by any means, but rookie pitchers are more prone to make mistake pitches and Davis is a guy who is ready to take full advantage if/when that happens. From 2013 to present, Davis has raked lefties to the tune of a .441 wOBA and .360 ISO. It simply doesn’t get any more elite than that. The only reason I’m ranking Davis behind Gattis today is due to park factor, recent performance and the fact that I think De La Rosa is a better pitcher than Matzek is.

Hits

Dustin Pedroia
As far as the hits category goes, there have been few better matchups you could ask for over the past few years than Pedroia versus a lefty. In fact, from 2013 to present, Pedroia has hit a very impressive .327 against them. This is in large part due to a .359 BABIP which is quite high, however, I believe it’s sustainable because it’s supported by an impressive 25.3% line drive rate and 9.8% strikeout rate, so simply put, he puts the ball in play extremely often and also makes solid contact regularly vs. lefties. Today he gets to face off against Wei-Yin Chen, which I’m pretty sure means “I can’t get right-handed batters out” in Taiwanese. From 2013 to present, Chen has allowed a .275 batting average and a .312 BABIP to right-handed batters, and he does strike them out at a slightly above average rate of 6.86/9 innings, however, given that he doesn’t really have strikeout stuff and how rarely Pedroia strikes out vs. LHP’s, it’s a pick I’m very comfortable rolling out.

Miguel Cabrera
Miggy is quite simply the best hitter in baseball, and I don’t even think there’s a question, and I can’t think of any other I’d rather bet on to get at least one hit, regardless of the handedness of the pitcher the player was facing, on any given day. From 2013 to present, Miggy has batted a Miggy-like .332 vs left-handed pitchers on a .336 BABIP, a stellar 28.4% line drive rate and a 14.8% strikeout rate. Today, Miggy gets to face lefty John Danks. Let me start by saying that though John Danks has had some recent success and used to be a decent prospect, he is not a good pitcher. Since 2013, Danks has been basically exactly average vs right-handed batters, allowing a.257 batting average on a .275 BABIP and a 6.54 K/9. The problem is that you have to be a helluva lot better than average to prevent Miggy from getting a hit in 4 or 5 at-bats. Needless to say, as with most days, I have every confidence that Miggy will be able to get at least one hit for us today.

Strikeouts

Yu Darvish
Darvish has the highest strikeout rate in baseball at 11.58/9 innings. He’s facing a team in the Marlins, who have the highest strikeout rate in all of baseball vs. right-handed pitchers at a whopping 23.8%. It doesn’t get much easier than that and there really shouldn’t be any more analysis needed to show you why Darvish is far and away the top choice for strikeouts today.

Cole Hamels
Our system actually has him ranked 4^th behind Darvish, Wacha and Tanaka however I believe that Hamels will strike out more hitters than both today, though Tanaka would be my fairly close #3. Hamels gets to face off against PAAAdres today (yes, that’s AAA in case you missed it, because that’s basically what the talent level on their team is). Hamels is striking hitters out at a rate of 8.95/9 innings this year and has been pitching really well lately. The Padres on the other hand, strike out 21.9% of the time vs. left-handed pitchers. I see Hamels going deep into this game and likely striking out 8-10 Padres hitters, which is more than sufficient for the #2 pick for strikeouts.