Daily Fantasy MLB picks for Friday, 6/2/17

Pitcher to Target- Michael Fulmer vs. Chicago White Sox ($9600)

Fulmer has been a shining star for a struggling Detroit team the past two years. There are many reasons I am picking Michael over pitchers like Kershaw and Keuchel other than price tomorrow. First off, he is going up against a White Sox team that has a .678 OPS against right-handers in 2017. The only team with a worst OPS in the AL this season are the Kansas City Royals. Second. he has been a master at minimizing hard contact. So far this season opposing batters only have produced hard contact on batted balls against Fulmer 23.5% of the time. Add that to the the fact he has a 1.56 GB/FB, and you can see why he is only averaging 0.53 HR/9. Third, the White Sox are averaging a strikeout every 4.2 plate appearances against right-handers in 2017. With Fulmer’s career 10.2 SwStr, we could see a lot of White Sox going back to the dugout without even making contact. There are a lot of stud pitchers on tomorrow’s main slate, but none of them have a more favorable match-up than Fulmer.

Pitcher to Stack Against- Clayton Richard vs. Colorado Rockies Right-Handed Bats

Tomorrow the Rockies will be playing away from Coors Field, but they will be going up against a pitcher who is known to give up a lot of base hits. Richard is actually pretty good at limiting the long ball, as we can see from his career 0.99 HR/9. The only problem is the .273 AVG opposing batters have against him over his career. In 2017, it is even worse as opposing batters are hitting an astonishing .294 against the Padres’ left-hander. I would also like to point out that the fact that opposing batters have a 90.7 Z-Contact% against Richard over his career.

The Rockies have a lot of good right handed bats in their lineup, and they will be cheaper than normal as they are playing away from their home park in Colorado. Now with that being said, let us take a look at my lineup for tomorrow’s main slate games (subject to change).

P) Michael Fulmer ($9800)- see above

C) Jett Bandy ($1500)- Usually do not spend a lot of money on my catcher, very cheap due to his match-up against Kershaw, lets me play around and get some other quality bats in my lineup

1B) Miguel Cabrera ($4200)- hitting .364/.533/.909 against Holland over his career, hitting .360/.500/.400 against left-handers in 2017, hitting .314/.400/.525 against the White Sox pitching staff over his career

2B) DJ LeMahieu ($3000)- pretty cheap for a reigning NL batting champ, hitting .377/.424/.475 against left-handers in 2017, going up against hitter friendly Clayton Richard

3B) Nolan Arenado ($3900)- cheapest I think I have seen Arenado this season, has hit 6 HR over 107 PA against Padres pitching, batting an extraordinary .393/.433/.875 against left-handers in 2017

SS) Ronald Torreyes ($2200)- usually do not spend a lot of money at shortstop like catcher, has a .500 AVG against left-handers in 2017, also like Pat Valiaka ($2300) as a cheap shortstop option if he gets the start tomorrow

OF) J.D. Martinez ($4100)- hitting .320/.389/.456 against White Sox pitching over his career, hitting .333/.600/1.333 against left-handers in 2017, hit .306/.348/.512 against left-handers last year, has been an absolute beast since coming off the DL

OF) Ian Desmond ($3100)- hitting .333/.333/.733 against Richard over his career, hit .289/.342/.462 against left-handers from 2014-2016, hitting .316/.388/.500 against the Padres pitching staff over his career

OF) Andrew Benintendi ($3100)- hitting .338/.400/.584 against right-handers over his career, going up against an unproven Alec Asher who he is 1/3 against, great base-runner

This lineup gives me $300 to play around with just in case I need to make a last minute decision.