Welcome to a new series of articles called “Swing for the Fences” where I will try to project and predict a player at each position that is in the best situation to hit a home run that day. I will also give a “longshot” option with a cheap player that has a shot to go deep.
Home runs are a big factor in the success of DFS baseball lineups, with a single swing of the bat your DFS lineup can go from out of the money to cashing or from a modest payout to a big GPP win. Predicting home runs isn’t easy, of course, even if I predicted Chris Davis to hit a home run every day he played last year, I would still only have been right less than 30% of the time. I will also track my success (or failure) along the way.
So with that here is who will be swinging for the fences today…
C – Yasmani Grandal (LAD) – Facing Reds’ rookie pitcher, Daniel Wright, making his first big league start and a Reds’ bullpen that has allowed the most home runs (36) in the majors this season.
1B – Chris Davis (BAL) – Has two home runs in 13 at-bats against opposing pitcher Doug Fister in his career. Fister has allowed 1.67 HR/9 to lefties this season.
2B – Rougned Odor (TEX) – Will look to take out some frustration on the baseball before his suspension kicks in. Odor has a .224 ISO against righties this season and has hit six of his seven home run against righties. He will be facing Jhoulys Chacin who as a 17.2% HR/FB rate this year.
SS – Manny Machado (BAL) – Has hit 11 of his 12 home runs this season against right-handed pitching and will face righty Doug Fister tonight in a game with a home run friendly park in Houston.
3B – Josh Donaldson (TOR) – Has been heating up recently with home runs in two of his last three games. Faces Nathan Eovaldi tonight who he has hit two home runs in 10 at-bats against in his career.
OF – JD Martinez (DET) – Has hit five home runs in his last eight games and will face Jeremy Hellickson tonight who has given up 1.72 HR/9 to righties this season.
OF – Nelson Cruz (SEA) – Faces Kendall Graveman who has given up 3.12 HR/9 to righties this season while Cruz maintains a career .231 ISO against righties.
OF – Joc Pederson (LAD) – See Yasmani Grandal
Longshot – Dustin Ackley (NYY) – Has two home runs in 13 at-bats against R.A. Dickey in his career. Dickey has allowed 2.11 HR/9 to lefties this season.
Love our content? Check out the GoingFor2 Live Podcast Network!
If you have any suggestions or feedback for the article, follow me and hit me up on Twitter @Rotopilot
[wysija_form id=”1″]ATTN Dynasty Commissioners: Do you want to do something cool for your league? How about a 1-hour live show dedicated to YOUR league? Team-by-team breakdowns, rankings, and more. For details and to book a show, visit: GoingFor2.com/plp.
