Daily Fantasy Baseball 2016 Monthly Recap: May
Two months into the baseball season and we can now start to formulate whether players are going to have a good or bad year, in terms of fantasy production. It's time for the May DFS recap!
DFS All-Stars
C - Jonathan Lucroy, MIL
1B - David Ortiz, BOS
2B - Ben Zobrist, CHC
3B - Matt Carpenter, STL
SS - Xander Bogaerts, BOS
OF - Mookie Betts, BOS
OF - Mike Trout, LAA
OF - Gregory Polanco, PIT
SP - Clayton Kershaw, LAD
SP - Jose Fernandez, MIA
Three Red Sox make the list this month, and I didn't even mention Jackie Bradley Jr. with his 20+ game hitting streak. In May, Boston scored 182 total runs, 26 more than the second-highest team (Seattle). Big Papi hit nine homers in his final May of his playing career and he led all of baseball with 28 RBI during that span. He also led the MLB with 18.5 FanDuel points and 13.8 DraftKings points in the past 30 days.
DFS Busts
C - Yasmani Grandal, LAD
1B - Prince Fielder, TEX
2B - Starlin Castro, NYY
3B - Justin Turner, LAD
SS - Asdrubal Cabrera, NYM
OF - Justin Upton, DET
OF - Yasiel Puig, LAD
OF - Michael Conforto, NYM
SP - Taijuan Walker, SEA
SP - Carlos Martinez, STL
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, three Dodgers make this list. While they were in the middle of the pack in runs scored for May (17th-ranked with 124 runs), the popular DFS selections struggled mightily. Grandal was 8-70 (.114). Yikes. Turner and Puig (not a buddy-cop film with Tom Hanks) both tallied three home runs in 27 games.
DFS Pitching Surprises
1. Alex Wood, LAD (13.02 K/9, 3.18 ERA)
2. Scott Kazmir, LAD (10.71 K/9, 3.49 ERA)
3. Drew Pomeranz, SD (9.50 K/9, 2.25 ERA)
4. Aaron Nola, PHI (9.00 K/9, 2.31 ERA)
5. Rich Hill, OAK (8.76 K/9, 2.13 ERA)
On a positive note for Dodgers' fans, the pitching is phenomenal. Wood and Kazmir each K'd over 40 batters in their May totals. That's not even including Clayton Kershaw's league-best 65 strikeouts. What is somewhat surprising is that Kazmir's highest DFS price this year was on May 20th against the Padres: $9,500 on DK...when he had his worst outing of the season (6.15 DK points).
Splits Superstars
Editor's note: I'm unable to find a site that provides both the stats against lefties/righties while also keeping it within a specific month. So, these are the splits leaders for the season. If you find such a site to help me out, please put the link in the comment section below. Thanks!
vs. RHP
1. David Ortiz, BOS (.420 ISO)
2. Robinson Cano, SEA (.353)
3. Adam Duvall, CIN (.338)
4. Manny Machado, BAL (.317)
5. Jay Bruce, CIN (.312)
Wait, who is that guy listed third? Adam Duvall? He is crushing right-handed pitching this season. Here's why ISO is better than AVG for DFS: Duvall has a .257 AVG against righties this year and a .273 AVG against lefties. However, when you include ISO numbers, you see that Duvall has incredible power when a righty is on the hill (12 homers in 2016).
vs. LHP
1. Marcell Ozuna, MIA (.452 ISO)
2. Mark Trumbo, BAL (.432)
3. Steve Pearce, TB (.429)
4. Neil Walker, NYM (.415)
5. Yoenis Cespedes, NYM (.389)
A Marlin leading baseball in ISO against southpaws isn't surprising, but seeing that the name is "Ozuna" and not "Stanton" is. Ozuna crushes lefties both at home (.421 ISO) and on the road (.478 ISO). I think it's time Don Mattingly moved Ozuna up in the batting order. He's played 17 games in the six-hole and 21 total games in the top four of the Marlins' lineup.
Remember, we post daily fantasy baseball advice on a, well, daily basis. In each post, we'll provide must-starts, deals, avoids, stacks, and also position-by-position suggestions. Be sure to bookmark our DFS fantasy page and follow along. Hopefully, we increase your account balance in the process.
