Daily Fantasy MLB Baseball Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 6/21/16

A packed Tuesday in Major League Baseball today with a bunch of stud pitchers going. As a quick digression, I have to admit I'm still riding high on just how great the NBA finals were and a little sad to see them go. I know that's a non-sequitur, but man were they great. Anyway, baseball. Here we go with a full Tuesday.

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PITCHER

Jose Fernandez FD 12000 DK 13700
Opponent - ATL (Norris) Park - @MIA
FD - 47.76 DK - 31.16
Oh baby, what a season. Jose is mowing down opponents at a crazy rate. He's striking out 13 batters per nine. That's the best in the league and it isn't particularly close. Strasburg is in second at about 10% less per nine. Jose's been a beast with a 2.33 xFIP and is at least in the discussion for the Cy Young award, crazy considering the amount of talent on that side of MLB. Today he gets the benefit of facing the Atlanta Braves who rank third to last in the league against righty pitching this season. They don't strike out among the highest in the league, but this is Fernandez here so I'm willing to overlook it.

Noah Syndergaard FD 10900 DK 12900
Opponent - KC (Kennedy) Park - @NYM
FD - 41.65 DK - 27.44
It's a tough day to make decisions on pitching mostly because you have two of the top talents in the league both in solid matchups. Thor is also in the Cy Young dialogue thanks to a 2.16 xFIP (2nd in the league) and 11.22 K/9 (4th). One of his best gifts is living in the strike zone and is walking only 1.27 batters per nine (3rd). Dude's just mowed down hitters over the short term. The Royals are a middle of the pack team against righties but the -181 ML is well within Thor's favor. It's going to be a tough choice between these two guys tonight.

Corey Kluber FD 9700 DK 11600
Opponent - TB (Snell) Park - @CLE
FD - 40.02 DK - 22.29
The FanDuel price in particular has come down a bunch in the short term thanks to a rocky previous outing against the Royals. He got lit up. But Kluber is still a top flight arm and you are getting him at a major discount on FD. He's still striking out more than a batter an inning and the ERA about a run higher than the xFIP. The Rays strike out the second most in the league against righties and Kluber opens at a solid -170 favorite. I wish he was getting the same kind of discount on DK where I'd love to roster him as a SP2. He's cheaper there, but it's closer.

CATCHER

Victor Martinez FD 2900 DK 4100
Opponent - SEA (Paxton) Park - @DET
FD - 11.52 DK - 8.87
Another day, another V-Mart recommendation on FanDuel where the site is daring us to play him on about every slate of games. He has a tough matchup with Paxton who's showing the elite prospect stuff we waited for. But this is Martinez's much better split as a switch hitter and has torched lefties over the last couple of seasons with a .910 OPS and .391 wOBA. It's a closer call than usual because of the tougher matchup, but I'd be willing to roster him at a discount for sure.

Willson Contreras FD 2500 DK 2000
Opponent - STL (Wainwright) Park - @CHC
FD - 8.55 DK - 6.91
Here's to hoping he sticks in the Cubs' lineup. It's hard to know if they are going to play him everyday since getting called up, but that these prices I'd lock and load just about everywhere if he was just on the field. Contreras along with fellow recent call up Albert Almora represent just a couple more reasons Cubs' fans are over the moon about their team. Contreras raked in Triple-A and he's coming basically free across the industry.

FIRST BASE

Chris Davis FD 4200 DK 5400
Opponent - SD (Perdomo) Park - @BAL
FD - 14.44 DK - 10.75
Won't be the easiest guy to roster because of the pitching situation, but projects for the most raw points tonight at first base. Crush's primary weakness is the K which he's done aplenty over the last couple of seasons, namely 32.6% of the time in that span against righties. But Luis Perdomo isn't anywhere close to an elite K dude (much, much less in fact) and what you also get in the Crush righty split is a .943 OPS and 151 wRC+. The ballpark plays to lefty power and I love the upside here.

Prince Fielder FD 2300 DK 3000
Opponent - CIN (DeSclafani) Park - @TEX
FD - 12.36 DK - 9.37
Who doesn't love when Anthony DeSclafani pitches (except for DeSclafani himself, and the rest of the Reds)? He's been rocked so far this season in his two starts where he's struggled with command (walking 6 per nine) and failing to K more than five batters per nine. He isn't as bad as this, but it isn't like he has an excellent track record to fall back on. Fielder's struggled this season especially in the BABIP department with the shift killing him. But he's coming at punt prices now and still hitting in the middle of the lineup. Has a decent ceiling, but the floor is low as well because he's basically all or nothing at this point in his career.

SECOND BASE

Rougned Odor FD 3600 DK 4500
Opponent - CIN (DeSclafani) Park - @TEX
FD - 11.46 DK - 9.26
I pine for the pre-punch days of yore when Rougned (don't call me Rougned J, that's my brother) was hitting leadoff for the Rangers. Those days are gone, but Odor's still in a great spot today for the Rangers who do project for one of the higher run totals on the day. Global Life Park plays up power for lefties and Odor's shone flashes with 21 home runs over the last two seasons in that split. He's run a little bad in BABIP over that time which drags his overall production some.

Neil Walker FD 3200 DK 3400
Opponent - KC (Kennedy) Park - @NYM
FD - 10.14 DK - 7.83
With the Mets banged up around the middle of their lineup, Walker's been a guy they've moved up in the order. He's been hitting cleanup, giving that slot some flexibility with his switch-hitting abilities. He's been around platoon neutral over the last couple of seasons and this isn't exactly an easy matchup with Ian Kennedy. But the latter's struggling some this season with a 4.76 xFIP thanks to a decrease in K's and and increase in walks. As long as Walker's hitting in the four slot he's fine at these prices. The bigger issue is how much the Mets have struggled with their recent injuries and the offense as a whole is below average right now.

Consider Cesar Hernandez on the cheap if he's hitting leadoff.

SHORTSTOP

Troy Tulowitzki FD 3000 DK 3600
Opponent - ARI (Corbin) Park - @TOR
FD - 10.96 DK - 8.34
After sitting for about a month with the quad injury, Tulo is back and sitting in the middle of the Jays' order. Before going on the DL dude had massive struggles at the plate where he was OPS'ing less than .700 on the season. He came back and homered in his first game back which is too small a sample to be relevant but at least points in the right directions. Crushing lefties has been his career hallmark and he'll get Corbin today in the Rogers Centre which plays up power all around.

Carlos Correa FD 3900 DK 3800
Opponent - LAA (Santiago) Park - @HOU
FD - 11.28 DK - 9.16
More of a DRaftKings play for me today where's less than on FanDuel. Correa's struggled this year on the OPS side of things though it's hard to pinpoint the exact issue. The ISO is way down, but just about everything else about his profile looks ok. He's striking out more, but also taking more walks. The batted ball profile is intact from last year and he may just end up being a low .800's OPS guy going forward. That's all fine considering the price dip. He still has a solid park and hits around the middle of the order. You'll take that for these prices.

THIRD BASE

Pedro Alvarez FD 2900 DK 4100
Opponent - SD (Perdomo) Park - @BAL
FD - 12.68 DK - 9.63
Third base's been my least favorite to roster and write about almost all season. There are just very few offensive options at the hot corner, tonight being no exception. Hence the Pedro Alvarez plug. He's a three-true outcome kind of guy who doesn't do two of the outcomes (HR and BB) enough to be a great hitter. But he's serviceable at his FD price (a little steep on DK) and will almost definitely show up in lineups on the former because of the upside against Perdomo.

Danny Worth FD 2200 DK 2900
Opponent - LAA (Santiago) Park - @HOU
FD - 8.39 DK - 7.35
I'm speculating some on whether he'll be in the lineup today, but he's started four of the six Astros games since being brought up on the 14th. The righty-lefty matchup likely helps his chances of seeing the field against Santiago. Worth is simply a guy, nothing special to see here. But he's essentially free on both sites and third base strikes me as a position to punt and move on.

Consider Maikel Franco if he's back in the lineup

OUTFIELD

Shin-Soo Choo FD 2900 DK 3400
Opponent - CIN (DeSclafani) Park - @TEX
FD - 13.3 DK - 10.36
Nomar Mazara FD 3000 DK 3200
Opponent - CIN (DeSclafani) Park - @TEX
FD - 10.27 DK - 7.96
I know I've gone heavy on the Rangers here today but it makes sense. They opened with one of the highest expected run totals for the evening and are all coming rather cheap. Mazara's come up to the majors in his rookie season and shown serious flashes of the upside. He already has 11 home runs with an OPS right around .800. Meanhwile Shi-Soo Choo's been walking more than K'ing in his brief, injury-shortened season and that's the perfect kind of number for your leadoff hitter. Both are in fantastic spots and allow you to spend up for pitching without sacrificing much in the way of offensive production.

Strongly consider Hyun-Soo Kim and Adam Jones

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