Fantasy Baseball Hitters to Target Thursday 5/25
As usual Thursday is a light day, with several teams idle, but that could give rise to opportunity also. Below is a look at some hitters to plug into your All-Day or Main Slate lineups.
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Nolan Arenado ***12:35 EST start time*** – 5-for-10 with 2 HR, and perhaps more importantly, zero strikeouts in those 10 at-bats. That backs up the fact that Arenado sees Luke Weaver‘s pitchers well. Not to mention Arenado was having a superb month of May, going 25-for-74 (.338) with 7 HR before an 0-for-10 stretch in the first three games of the Cincinnati series over the weekend.
Luis Robert – hitting .360 in May (27-for-75) including 7 doubles and 8 HR, Robert has been hot. He’s up against Alex Faedo who, well, is not hot. Faedo has a 4.60 ERA despite a low 0.83 WHIP and 12:1 strikeout to walk ratio. That’s because he’s given up 5 HR in the three games that he’s pitched, and that’s exactly what we’re looking for from Robert in this spot. Robert has seen Faedo a couple times before, going 1-for-2, so long as he’s playing (hip tightness that held him out Wednesday) you can fire him up.
Austin Riley – despite what my colleague says about the Phillies and Aaron Nola here, Riley should see continued success against the righty. He’s 18-for-45 (.400) lifetime against him, and that includes 5 doubles and 3 HR. Riley’s batting average was down to .239 on 5/16, uncharacteristic for someone who was an All-Star and received 6th-most MVP votes last year, however, it seems he’s starting to heat up. He’s been hitting the ball hard and has gone 10-for-25 (.400) during a current 7-game hit streak.
DFS Stack for Thursday
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Riley/Acuna/Ozuna
Whether you consider Nola the Phils’ ace or not, he’s a good pitcher. However, after seeing the Braves frequently over the last several seasons, with frequency comes familiarity. In addition to Riley, the NL MVP frontrunner Ronald Acuna Jr.has seen success against Nola, going 13-for-36 (.361) against him in his career, including 4 doubles and 4 HR. He’s also leading the NL in stolen bases, so he’ll contribute across categories. After that, it’s Marcell Ozuna who has 3 career HR off Nola, and is batting .328 with 7 HR in May.
Looking elsewhere in that game, Sean Murphy is 1-for-3 against Nola, and is riding a 6-game hit streak (7-for-23, .304). Matt Olson does NOT have good numbers off Nola, but he leads the Braves with 14 HR and just hit one last night 456 feet, over the Chop House; if the Braves can chase Nola early, he could do damage against the ‘pen. Michael Harris does not have good numbers against Nola either, but per Mark Bowman Chipper Jones has been working with him, trying to get him to hit the ball the other way. Guess where his last hit went yesterday – line drive over the shortstop’s head, so perhaps the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year is on the precipice of a hot streak.
Value Catcher for DFS
Francisco Alvarez ($2700 on FanDuel)- Alvarez has a hit in five of his last six games, going 7-for-18 (.389) over that stretch, which also includes 3 HR in his last four games. He’s got a an absurd, albeit unsustainable, .545 batting average against 4-seam fastballs put in play this year (13 plate appearances), which Kyle Hendricks goes to almost a third of the time. This is also Kyle Hendricks’ first start of the season, so he could be a little rusty as well.
Value Pitcher for DFS
J.P. Sears ($8200 on FanDuel) – Good showings three of his last four, so could at least get you a quality start if not a win, and can contribute via K’s: 51 K in 48.2 IP so far this season.
Betting Angle
PHI @ ATL over (alt) 8.5 runs (-158 on FanDuel): While the Phillies are riding high after a walk-off win yesterday, so too are the Braves after a walk-off of their own. The Braves are also at home and looking like they are due for a big offensive breakout after some uncharacteristic lack of run production during the Dodgers series. Dylan Dodd starting for the Braves gives the Phils hope on the money line, but we’re looking for offense here.
Luis Robert/Austin Riley to get a hit parlay (-104 on FanDuel): see above for reasoning on these two!
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