Categories: Daily Fantasy Baseball Picksfeatured

Daily Fantasy MLB Pitcher Breakdown FanDuel and DraftKings- 6/5/16

Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other pitching targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article and our updates articles but here we will look at other dudes to consider.

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Pitching Targets

Note: We discussed Jose Fernandez, Gerrit Cole and Aaron Nola in the Main Article. We will be going over a few more options below.

Scott Kazmir FD 9100 DK 10700
Opponent - ATL (Wisler) Park - @LAD
FD - 37.24 DK - 20.7

Kazmir has put up 19 Ks against 3 walks in his last two starts, and one of those was against the other-worldly Cubs. The Cubs have the league's 2nd highest wOBA, and the Braves have the very worst in the league. They're miraculously even worse than their .278 average wOBA when facing lefties, posting an historically bad .254 figure. They've struck out at the ninth highest rate in the majors vs. southpaws as well. Yes, it was a rocky start to the season for Kazmir, but after 3 great starts in his last 4, I'm certainly prepared to deploy him against the league's worst offense.

Justin Verlander FD 9000 DK 11700
Opponent - CHW (Quintana) Park - @DET
FD - 33.83 DK - 18
Man is there a lot to like about grabbing Verlander on the relatively cheap on FanDuel today. Many still remember the Verlander who took two years off from striking people out and dismiss Verlander out of hand, but if you're looking for upside, he's certainly interesting. Look past the 4.11 ERA this season - the 3.54 FIP probably paints a little clearer picture of his baseline talent at the moment. Verlander has all the qualities you'd like in a high upside pitcher. He strikes out better than a guy per inning, and when things are breaking his way he has the ability to go very deep into games. He's pitched 7.1 or more innings in each of his last 4 starts. Yes, he's facing an ace here, and yes, that makes him unappealing for cash games. But don't be surprised if you look up and see him at the top of GPP leaderboards.

Jose Fernandez FD 11300 DK 13400
Opponent - NYM (Harvey) Park - @MIA
FD - 44.52 DK - 25.66

Fernandez is always a great option at home as he has been one of the best pitchers at home in the league. Dating back to his debut, Fernandez has maintained a .225 wOBA, 2.66 xFIP and a cool 3.02 SIERA. While the New York Mets are surely a very good team, they have a ton of strikeouts in the lineup. Cespedes, Neil Walker, Granderson and Wilmer Flores all strikeout a ton. There are certainly some other good options on this slate, however, I do not think any of them have the same upside as Fernandez. On the other side of the ball, the Marlins will be taking on Matt Harvey. While Matt Harvey is a stud, he has struggled and I expect the Marlins to put up at least a few runs. Fernandez gives you some solid safety and a HUGE upside. I see no reason to believe Fernandez will have problems racking up strikeouts.

Tyler Duffey FD 5900 DK 7900
Opponent - TB (Smyly) Park - @MIN
FD - 27.18 DK - 13.61

Clearly the puntiest of punts for about a zillion reasons, but given how damn cheap he is, I think it's at least worth bringing up. If we're looking on a strictly points per dollar basis, Duffey has put up 5x-8x in 4 of his last 6 starts. And he's gotten blasted in the other two. But with what you have to pay for a guy like this, he's at least worth looking at in the 2nd slot of a DraftKings tournament so you can save up for huge bats. As for the match-up, the Rays provide a considerable amount of upside for opposing pitchers. Their 25.8% K rate against right handed pitching this season is the 2nd worst in the majors, and they rank in the bottom third of the league in terms of wOBA. Smyly is a good pitcher, but if we're just going for home-run upside that shouldn't really matter much. Obviously not a cash game play, but he'll be a low % start for sure.

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