Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings, and DraftStreet for 6/28/14

Wilson Ramos FanDuel 3000 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 5336
Just warning you now - get ready for a theme. Dallas Beeler sounds more like a Friday Night Lights villain than a major league baseball pitcher, and his stats in the minors bear it out. I'll have plenty of opportunity to write about this as the picks go along, so let me focus on Ramos. It's tempting to think of him as a low upside guy due to the lack of power, but Ramos makes a ton of contact and can pile up multi-hit games. Against a guy like Beeler, Ramos could have a nice opportunity to gather some counting stats as well.

Russell Martin FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 5249
On FanDuel, Martin has averaged 2.7 Fantasy points per game, which is pretty much a ton for anyone, much less a $2,800 catcher. While Niese is a solid pitcher, Martin has flexed a 116 wRC+ against lefties for his career, and I think he'll fare well here.

Yasmani Grandal FanDuel 2500 DraftKings 3400 DraftStreet 4132
I'm going to be real with you for a second - I hate every catcher in the late games. I'm giving you Grandal because he's cheap and can hit pretty well against right handers, but mostly because he's facing Josh Collmenter, whose inability to strike anyone out really mitigates the disadvantages of being young and inexperienced like Grandal.

First Basemen

 
Freddie Freeman FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4700 DraftStreet 7878
No reason to bore you with stats here - Freeman has his way with right handed pitching - and he's facing a horrendous right handed pitcher in a great hitter's park.

Joey Votto FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4500 DraftStreet 6769
In a late game slate that features a lot of tough pitching, I'll be riding with Votto on a lot of my squads. Sure - the lack of power recently is concerning, and San Francisco is not exactly a hitter's park (especially for lefties), so why do I like Votto? It's simple - Cain has always relied on getting outs on balls in play, and Votto is one of the very best at converting balls in play into base hits. I think he sprays line drives all over, though whether they find the holes they need at the right time is anybody's guess.

Mark Reynolds FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 4996
I don't know what to tell you - Mark Reynolds is an underrated daily fantasy baseball player. He hits right handed pitching just fine, and the once prospect Chacin has been a total mess this year, with 38 Ks against 27 BBs in 58 IP.

There are a bunch of guys who are facing pitchers of their preferred handedness who are good pitchers - I don't mind any of the following: Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira

Second Basemen

 
Ian Kinsler FanDuel 4200 DraftKings 5200 DraftStreet 8325
If you've followed our projection system, you've likely been very pleased to ride the wave of Ian Kinsler's uber-hotness. The system (and I) is not a believer in Dallas Keuchel, and Kinsler certainly has as much or more upside than any second baseman on the board - it's just a question as to whether you want to pay for him.

Robinson Cano FanDuel 4000 DraftKings 4700 DraftStreet 8210
No joke - it's a rough day for second basemen, so while it's kinda tough to spend like this on a guy who doesn't really hit home runs at home, I'm still rolling the dice with Cano against Tomlin at home. I'm skeptical of Tomlin's ability to strike Cano out, and think Cano and the Ms could put up a reasonable counting-stats day against the right-hander.

The "best" of the rest.
For me? It's a day to spend on 2nd basemen. There's a lot of other choices you can take shots on - Danny Espinosa cheap against Dallas Beeler, or Utley at home against Big Erv, or you could middle out with Zobrist against Chen or Murphy against Hughes. But there's too much guesswork out there for me - I'm just going to pay and figure out where to save elsewhere.

Shortstops

 
Elvis Andrus FanDuel 2600 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 4905
What does Elvis Andrus care that Phil Hughes is having a renaissance season? Hughes' comfort level comes from pitching around the strike zone, which is just fine for the slap-hitting Andrus. I'm calling for a less than stellar Hughes performance here, and if Andrus gets on base, he could have a lot of nice run scoring opportunities.

Jimmy Rollins FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 4000 DraftStreet 6082
I guess people are just bored of him? But J-Roll can still put up a terrific fantasy game in the right setting. The switch hitter has been a little bit better against right handers for his career, and he's always been a beast at home. Wouldn't be at all surprised by a big performance.

Brad Miller FanDuel 2800 DraftKings 3000 DraftStreet 5851
Pimpin' ain't easy in the late games today, so I'll be all over the one team that is facing a mediocre pitcher of their preferred handedness. If you haven't been following things closely, you might not realize that Miller has been incredibly consistent recently, posting a number of multi-hit games. The season line is UGLY, but our projection system still believes in him - and I do too.

Also considered: Derek Jeter, Everth Cabrera, Jed Lowrie, Ian Desmond.

Third Basemen

 
Manny Machado FanDuel 2200 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 4236
At least on FanDuel, you're getting a bit of mistake-price on Machado. The young Orioles third baseman is simply skilled, and he'll be facing what's left of Erik Bedard. If you take my advice and spend on a second basemen, I love saving at 3b and going with the new Manny.

Kyle Seager FanDuel 4100 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 6922
Yikes - the price is climbing out of comfort territory for Seager, but he just keeps raking, so what are the sites supposed to do? He gets one of his ideal match-ups in Tomlin - a guy who can surrender the long ball, and pitches around the plate. In a slate of late games that feature a lot of really tough pitchers, Seager might be the safest play on the board at his position.

Adrian Beltre FanDuel 4300 DraftKings 4900 DraftStreet 7385
It's a great story for Phil Hughes this year and everything, but by now you're probably aware that he's pitching in what amounts to the exact perfect situation for him. Minnesota's pitcher-friendly climate allows Hughes' fly-ball generating style to thrive - turning a lot of hard hit balls into outs. In Texas? Yeah, something tells me that might not be the case. Hughes' incredible (incredible!) control make a blow-up not especially likely, but Beltre is just an animal in Texas against right handed pitching, and I personally think he puts up numbers here.

Also considered: Ryan Zimmermann, Chase Headley, Evan Longoria

Outfielders

 
Desmond Jennings FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 5325
I won't lie - it feels weird to highlight a guy who, at the time of this writing, is 0/9 with 4 Ks today. But fortune favors the bold, or something. The reasons I love Jennings today are simple - while he never realized his superstar upside, he still owns a more than ample 126 wRC+ against left handers for his career, and he'll be escaping his own pitcher's paradise of a park to head out to Baltimore and face the pitch-to-contact Wei-Yin Chen.

Billy Hamilton FanDuel 4300 DraftKings 4300 DraftStreet 6999
If it seems insane to spend like this on a guy with a .305 OBP, you aren't alone. But ball don't lie - Hamilton's historic speed makes him a weird combination of safety and upside. If he gets on base, he's just getting the steal, and while he doesn't get on base often, he's just so damned explosive when he does. I think he'll thrive in wide open San Francisco, and don't think what's left of Cain's stuff will cause him too many headaches.

Ryan Braun FanDuel 4500 DraftKings 5700 DraftStreet 8597
The days of Ryan Braun flirting with 40 home run seasons might be gone, but that doesn't mean that Braun still can't crush bad pitching. It might be anecdotal, but Braun always felt like of the serious "mismatch" guys in fantasy - i.e., when he was facing pathetic pitchers like Chacin, he tended to pile on the 4/4 with 5 RBI games.

Torii Hunter FanDuel 2900 DraftKings 3800 DraftStreet 6066

Austin Jackson FanDuel 2600 DraftKings 3900 DraftStreet 4028
The price remains low on Jackson, whose high BABIP approach can actually lead to more big fantasy games than he's flexed recently. The Tigers have a lot of guys who can handle left handed pitching, and I think Jackson and Hunter will get a lot of RBI opportunities in this game.

Starling Marte FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4100 DraftStreet 6298
Marte is one of those platoon split guys like you read about. While he has a very league-average-ish .314 wOBA against right handers for his career, he has an earth-shattering .413 wOBA against lefties. Squaring off against Jon Niese is just the type of match-up that helps Marte float his better than average line - I'll be a heavy buyer in this one.

Andre Ethier FanDuel 2300 DraftKings 3300 DraftStreet 3394

Matt Kemp FanDuel 3400 DraftKings 4200 DraftStreet 4662
I'll be honest - I'm sort of scrambling to find suitable plays in the OF in the night games, so it's with modest reservation that I present to you the Dodgers' outfielders. Ethier has incredibly limited upside, but he's been nearly league average this year against right handed pitching. Kemp prefers lefties, but he appears to be seeing the ball a bit better recently and making solid contact.

Why OF is such a mess tonight
With a beast of a lefty facing the left handed Yankees, and Masahiro the MAGICIAN facing the Sox, our options get limited fast. Then we have Greinke and Lynn dueling in a pitcher's park. This leaves us with Cleveland against a lefty (they prefer righties), the Mariners (of whom we recommended every single one), the Giants against a righty (they like lefties), the Reds (who just kinda suck), and then the Arizona-SD game which barely features a single major league outfielder. So it ain't for lack of trying, but today is a total disaster in the OF. If you're targeting night games only, it might be a day to just choose some bargain basement guys and spend elsewhere.

Also considered: Dustin Ackley, Jayson Werth, Domonic Brown, Will Venable

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