The following Spotlight Hitters were selected by Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. For more analysis on the slate, check out Awesemo’s Rankings and Ownership Projections.
Manny Machado ($5,000 DK/$4,200 FD)
Machado has been the one consistently good player his team this year in an otherwise lost season for the Orioles, and he has a great matchup tonight against Wade LeBlanc. As noted in the Spotlight Stacks article, the weather is favorable to hitting if it stays somewhat dry in Baltimore. It’s fair to say LeBlanc will have a tough time striking out Machado, and when he makes contact, great things happen, as he’s posted a .244 ISO, and he loves to pull the ball, while LeBlanc allows over 45% pulled balls since the start of 2017.
Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,900 DK/$3,300 FD)
Cabrera makes for an excellent one-off at a thin 2nd base position tonight versus Ivan Nova, who is only striking out 12.7% of lefties on the season. Cabrera has a 125 wRC+, .221 ISO, and 44.9% hard-hit rate on the year against righties, and gets to hit in the top of the order against a pitcher who has huge splits. On DraftKings, he seems clearly underpriced based on some of these numbers, so it’s a good time to take advantage at under $4K.
Brian Anderson ($3,600 DK/$3,000 FD)
Anderson has quietly been one a very good hitter against lefty pitching, yet rarely sees ownership when he faces them. On the year, he has a .376 OBP, 136 wRC+, 49.3% hard-hit rate, and under 15% hard-contact rate versus lefties. Opposing starter Robbie Ray is making his first start in a couple months, and we know that he has all the strikeout upside in the world, but when he gets hit, he gets hit hard. Dating back to last season, Ray has allowed just under 50% hard-contact with a 25.3% line drive rating, so if Anderson is able to put the ball in play, there’s a good chance it could result in extra bases, giving you leverage off of Ray owners.
