FanDuel MLB Thoughts and Tips for September 4th

I will be updating this throughout the day with more thoughts and tips.

Last night Carlos Gonzalez had two homers but was 1 for 17 lifetime against Ryan Vogelsong. This shows you that the whole batter vs. pitcher angle doesn't mean that much sometimes.

It's good information to have but you have to use it wisely. Don't pick a player just because a hitter did well in small sample sizes.

Batter vs. Pitcher

Brian McCann is 10 for 16 vs. Jake Odirizzi with two homers. How many of you will roster McCann because of these stats?

Bryce Harper is 9-21 against Julio Teheran with two homers and Jose Lobaton is 7-13 with two homers.

Jose Bautista is 2 for 29 against Ubaldo Jimenez. Does this mean you shouldn't roster Jose tonight?

Josh Donaldson is 2 for 15, Edwin Encarnacion is 6 for 30, and Justin Smoak is 2 for 20. Russell Martin is no better and is 9 for 37 against Ubaldo.

Jay Bruce is 11 for 30 with 3 homers off Matt Garza and Todd Frazier is 6 for 19 with 3 homers.

Skip Schumaker is 8 for 19 off of Garza but Schumaker is such a bad hitter right now.

Brandon Moss is 6 for 8 lifetime vs. JA Happ and Mark Reynolds is 0-16.

Gregory Polanco is 8 for 11 against Carlos Martinez.

Charlie Blackmon is 5 for 9 vs. Chris Heston with two homers and DJ LeMathieu is 6 for 9.

Best stacks:

Which game will be the highest-scoring game tonight? I'm looking at hitters' ballparks and I see a lot of runs being scored in Cincy when Garza of the Brewers takes on Sampson of the Reds.

You can make a case always in Coors where Heston of the Giants goes up against De la Rosa.

Heston relies on a sinker though and he could be effective in that ballpark with his pitches. De la Rosa pitches well at home too.

Orioles at Toronto sounds like a duel between great home run hitters on both teams.

Which pitchers do you want to stack against?

I am looking at Pelfrey of the Twins, Hutchison of the Blue Jays, and Sampson of the Reds.


As vs. Mariners:

I would target Valencia, Phegley, and Lawrie since they all hit lefties very well. Marcus Semien is also a good batter vs. lefties.

None of the Mariners have ever hit against Aaron Brooks.

Indians vs. Tigers

Michael Brantley, Francisco Lindor, Jerry Sands, Giovanny Urshula, and Jason Kipnis are good hitters to roster against average lefties like Lobstein.

Ryan Raburn and Carlos Santana might be good hitters to have tonight as well.

Alex Avila has two homers off of Tomlin, Miggy Cabrera is 4 for 9 with a homer, and Ian Kinsler is 5 for 10.

Pirates vs. Cardinals

Randall Grichuk, Mark Reynolds, Brandon Moss, and Johnny Peralta are your targets here against Happ. Peralta has 9 homers against lefties already this season.

Phillies vs. Red Sox

Rusney Castillo, Xander Bogarts,  and Mookie Betts are the best bets against a lefty like Morgan.


Giants vs. Rockies

You can't go wrong with Buster Posey, Andrew Susac, and Marlon Byrd when they take on lefties. Matt Duffy hasn't hit well against lefties but he's getting better at it. Angel Pagan is back from his injury and he has a proven track record vs. lefties as well.

Heston doesn't pitch as well against  left-handed hitters so target the Rockies who bat from the left side here. 

White Sox vs. Royals

Lorenzo Cain smashes lefties so he is in play tonight as one of your three outfielders.Kendrys Morales, Eric Hosmer, and Cain are the top three in hits against lefties in 2015.




Rangers vs. Angels

Mike Trout is a good target here at $4300. CJ Cron is also a good hitter against lefties this season.
Aybar has 38 hits vs. lefties. Shane Victorino is 3 for 3 against Perez.

Hottest hitters:

DJ Lemathiu   14 for 30

Didi Gregorious  14 for 24

Ryan Zimmerman 13 for 28 with 5 homers

Nolan Arenado 13 for 34 with 4 homers

Buster Posey 12 for last 25

Kyle Seager 12 for last 26

Joey Votto 11 for last 20

Charlie Blackmon 12 for last 34

Stephen Piscotty 12 for last 27

The pitchers I am starting tonight are Jacob degrom, Josh Tomlin, Aaron Brooks, Colin McHugh, and Mike  Bolsinger. I also have some rosters with Luis Severino.