Thursday was International Left-Handers Day, but from the looks of the starting pitchers scheduled to take the mound on Friday, the holiday should have been celebrated a day later.
There are a whopping 11 left-handed starters on tap in the 15 games on the day’s ledger. With so many lefties on the bump, there’s a good chance success in DraftKings contests will ride on the strength or weakness of a southpaw’s arm.
Which pitchers and hitters should you take and avoid? Take a look at the breakdown below.
Players to Target
David Price, SP, Toronto Blue Jays ($12,300) vs. New York Yankees
It’ll cost a pretty virtual penny to draft David Price, but it’ll be worth it. Since joining the Toronto Blue Jays, Price is 2-0. In two starts, he has allowed just one earned run in 15 innings. Price has struck out 18 and walked five. That’s good for an average of 34.6 DK fantasy points per game.
He’ll be facing the New York Yankees on Friday. This will be the second time in a row that Price has pitched against the Bronx Bombers. On August 8, he shut down the Yanks by allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out seven over as many innings.
Normally, the advantage would go to the offense in a rematch such as this—especially when the pitcher dominated the first round—but that’s not the case this time.
In the three-game set against Toronto, the Yankees scored a grand total of one run. Since then, the Yankees bats have come alive a bit against the Cleveland Indians, but they have still only mustered 17 runs in their last eight games.
Can Price and the Jays expect to shut out the Yankees again on Friday? Maybe not, but Price will dominate again en route to a big day for fantasy owners.
Nelson Cruz, OF, Seattle Mariners ($5,600) at Boston Red Sox
No one in the major leagues is on a tear like Nelson Cruz. Not only is he in the midst of a 21-game hitting streak, Cruz has seven home runs already this month—and we’re less than halfway through. ESPN Stats & Info added further perspective to Cruz’s torrid streak:
Those statistics are enough to make him a no-brainer draft choice. However, you might be a little gun-shy because of his hefty DK salary.
Perhaps this last bit of intel will convince you to tab him: In 11 at-bats against the Boston Red Sox starter on Friday, Joe Kelly, Cruz is hitting .455. If that doesn’t convince you, nothing will.
Kendrys Morales, 1B, Kansas City Royals ($4,000) vs. Los Angeles Angels
Whenever the Los Angeles Angels’ Jered Weaver is pitching these days, it’s a good idea to consider the opposition candidates for a fantasy explosion. Weaver hasn’t had a game with 20 or more DK fantasy points since May 25. Four of his last five starts have rendered single-digit fantasy production.
Kendrys Morales jumps out as a player in position to have a big day at the dish against Weaver.
Morales has pounded the veteran right-hander in his career. In 12 at-bats, Morales is hitting .667 against Weaver. The batting average will get your attention, but when you also consider Morales has yet to strike out against Weaver, the Royals slugger becomes an even more attractive draft option.
If Morales is consistently putting the ball in play, something good is going to happen for him.
Robbie Ray, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks ($7,500) at Atlanta Braves
If you’re looking for the biggest potential bargain of the day, it’s Robbie Ray. He’s another of the 11 lefties on the mound, and he has a favorable matchup against the Atlanta Braves.
Atlanta is 27th in the majors in hitting versus lefties. The team has struggled to score runs overall of late. It has scored seven runs in its last three games—six of those came in its most recent game.
This will be the first time the Braves have seen Ray. That should favor the 23-year-old in his second year in the majors. Despite a modest 3-7 record, Ray has been fairly consistent.
He has lasted at least five innings in all but one of his starts. Friday could be his best start of the season.
Players to Avoid
Max Scherzer, SP, Washington Nationals ($14,600) at San Francisco Giants
There is no way to justify drafting Max Scherzer for near $15,000 in DK salary. If you’re drafting a pitcher with a salary as high as Scherzer‘s, he has to produce at least 35 fantasy points to get a suitable return on investment.
Rarely will you see any player who offers that level of assurance. There was a stretch during this season when Scherzer was dominating opposing lineups. However, his latest work disqualifies him from sensible consideration.
Scherzer hasn’t had a plus-30 fantasy game since July 12. He’s also allowed three or more earned runs in three of his last four starts. That’s not production worthy of 29 percent of your available salary.
Nolan Arenado, 3B, Colorado Rockies ($5,300) vs. San Diego Padres
The competition for best young third baseman in the major leagues is between the Baltimore Orioles’ Manny Machado, Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant and Nolan Arenado. The latter is having a great season with 28 home runs and 82 RBI, but Friday isn’t a good day to draft him.
Usually, a stud like Arenado playing at home at Coors Field would call for an automatic spot in any DK lineup. But Arenado hasn’t had much success against the opposing pitcher.
The San Diego Padres’ Tyson Ross has limited Arenado to just three hits in 17 at-bats. No matter who’s on the mound, the rare air in Colorado can be great for hitters. Ross throws a ton of ground balls, and that’s the best way to maintain control of the game at Coors Field.
In Ross’ last 10 games, two-thirds of the outs he’s recorded have come via the ground ball. He’ll keep Arenado swinging at air or hitting the ball on the ground. The result will be a less-than-stellar fantasy performance from the Rockies star.
Corey Kluber, SP, Cleveland Indians ($10,600) at Minnesota Twins
To put it plain, Corey Kluber is far too inconsistent. He nearly no-hit the Minnesota Twins in his last start, but I wouldn’t draft him on Friday. Kluber has alternated good and bad starts since the middle of July.
When he’s on, he’s a tremendous strikeout pitcher with great fantasy potential. When he’s not, he’s average. With a second look at Kluber in the same week, the Twins will make sure he isn’t even worth his somewhat reasonable DK salary.
Kluber will stick to his recent trend and produce an underwhelming outing on Friday.
Jeff Samardzija, SP, Chicago White Sox ($7,100) vs. Chicago Cubs
After a strong run in July, Jeff Samardzija has seen the wheels fall off in August. In two starts, his ERA is 15.43, and a red-hot Chicago Cubs lineup is coming to U.S. Cellular Field to make matters worse for the team’s former ace.
The Cubs have won seven in a row and are scoring 5.7 runs per game during the streak. That includes a nine-run onslaught on Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
At times, the Cubs have struggled with strikeouts, but Samardzija hasn’t been missing many bats of late. He’s managed just three strikeouts in each of his last two starts. All signs point to the Cubs doing a number on Samardzija in the first of three against their crosstown rivals.
Jaime Garcia, SP, St. Louis Cardinals ($9,800) vs. Miami Marlins
While Jaime Garcia has been good this season with an ERA of 1.77 and WHIP of 0.91, the left-hander will be facing a Marlins team that is hitting .283 against lefties.
Garcia did hold the Fish down back on June 24 when he went seven innings and allowed a run on five hits, but the second time around, the law of averages imply that the Marlins will get the best of him.
Even if Garcia can continue his success against the Marlins, his 46 strikeouts in 66 innings limit his fantasy potential.
Mark Teixeira, 1B, New York Yankees ($4,200) at Toronto Blue Jays
We mentioned earlier that Price has been nasty of late. Above and beyond his recent excellence, the lefty has always given the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira fits. New York’s first baseman is hitting just .200 against Price in 60 career at-bats.
That’s a large sample size accurately conveying who’s the boss in this matchup.
As if there was a need for more evidence that you should pass on Teixeira, here goes: Teixeira is hitting just .175 in August. Stay far away.
Team to Stack
Pittsburgh Pirates
Bartolo Colon gives up a lot of home runs.
To be exact, the hefty right-hander has given up 18 dingers in 134.1 innings. The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming to Citi Field, and they are hitting the ball well. The Bucs have averaged 6.14 runs per game in their last seven games.
Andrew McCutchen, Aramis Ramirez, Chris Stewart, Sean Rodriguez and Pedro Alvarez have hit Colon well in the past. That group is hitting a combined .384 against the 42-year-old veteran. Pittsburgh is the team to lean on if you’re stacking.
All prices courtesy of DraftKings. Unless otherwise noted, all stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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