Baseball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice
Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks for ScoreStreak 8/16/14
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Total Bases
Jose Bautista
Bautista obliterates lefty pitching. Just destroys it and John Danks is the kind of lefty who's often happy to oblige. Against lefties this season Joey Bats has a ridiculous 1.140 OPS and .483 wOBA. Those numbers are out of this world and while luck has a little do with it, his career numbers tell a similar tale. Bautista is playing in U.S. Cellular, one of the best hitter's parks in baseball and facing Danks who owns a 4.74 xFIP. This is a great spot to take care of your three total bases slot in one swing.
Justin Morneau
What Morneau does to righties in Coors Field makes me think he's enjoyed his first season in the new digs. He has a .408 wOBA in that split at home to go along with a .939 OPS. And today he gets a chance to improve it against Dylan Axelrod who owns a career 4.77 xFIP. Axelrod is bad against everyone, but particularly righties to whom he allows an .850 OPS. It should be a good time in Coors tonight with everyone getting a chance to pad their stats.
Hits
Kole Calhoun
Erick Aybar
I went with both of these guys yesterday against Nick Martinez and I'm looking to roll it back again today. Calhoun did me solid, Aybar not so much though he did have the ball in play every time which was the main reason I had him going in the hits spot. Today's a little different in that Colby Lewis doesn't allow as much contact as Nick Martinez, but Lewis is still below average with a high 4's xFIP. Lewis walks and strikes out a few more guys than I would like to see in a pitcher I'm targeting for hits, but I'll take Calhoun and Aybar on volume as I think the Angels will put up some runs today.
Strikeouts
Clayton Kershaw
Nothing terribly difficult about this pick. The only thing that's a little helpful today in terms of your competition on ScoreStreak is that King Felix and David Price are also going. That will make the decision for some folks a little tougher. It shouldn't be for you though. I'd put Kershaw in the top K slot without hesitation. He's mowing batters down this season at close to 11 batters per 9. That's an insane rate buoyed by the Brewers who go down on strikes more than 22% of the time against lefties. This one, in my mind, is rather easy.
David Price
I'll have Price up there as well considering his numbers this season are almost (but not quite) as ridiculous. He's striking out more than a batter an inning and like Kershaw never issues walks. That alone keeps him around longer in games to produce higher strikeout totals. The Mariners rank at the bottom of the league against lefties and K more than 21% of the time. These two guys in the top slots mean you can play it "safe" with King Felix for six K's.