Welcome to the 5-18-15 Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks. The Los Angeles Angels and Toronto Blue Jays have already played, so those players will be ignored in this article. Keep an eye on lineups and weather as the day progresses, there may be some guys on this list who are out today. The values used below are based off of FanDuel.
Pitcher
Matt Harvey, SP, New York Mets, $10,600 – Chris Sale ($10,000) and Corey Kluber ($9,800) are both in play tonight, but they face each other making it a tough call on who will get the Win. Matt Harvey on the other hand gets a good matchup against a St. Louis team that is struggling against right handed pitching and recording a lot of strikeouts in the process. The opposing pitcher, John Lackey, has been pretty solid and the Mets have been pretty bad against right handed pitching as well, but between the three big pitching options, I am taking the one that faces a National League lineup.
Catcher
Stephen Vogt, C, Oakland Athletics, $3,900 – Vogt is a monster against right handed pitching, and he draws a matchup tonight against a RHP in his Major League debut in a hitters park – that seems to me to be a nice recipe for a big game.
First Base
Ryan Howard, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies, $3,400 – Coors Field. Check. Right Handed Pitcher. Check. Howard is coming off a nice stretch four game stretch where he recorded seven hits in 14 AB, including a HR and three RBI. You can spend for a bigger first baseman tonight, but it will come with a comprise of going with a cheaper starting pitcher, so choose wisely.
Second Base
Aaron Hill, 2B, Arizona Diamondbacks, $3,000 – Aaron Hill is quietly having a solid bounce back season at the 1/6 mark of the 2015 schedule; batting .291 with 13 runs, three HR, 12 RBI and a stolen base, you could be doing much worse than someone like Hill in your full season leagues. This is a daily format obviously, but a matchup against struggling starter Dan Haren should provide Hill with some decent opportunities to score some fantasy points at a position with very few solid options tonight.
Third Base
Maikel Franco, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies, $2,200 – It is a righty versus righty matchup, but a young stud power hitter in Coors for $2,200 looks very nice to me at a tough position. After recording his first home run of his career Sunday, you can lock him in for his first games in Coors at this price.
Shortstop
Marcus Semien, SS, Oakland Athletics, $3,400 – Lance McCullers Jr. is making his Major League debut Monday night, and this looks like a good spot for some Oakland Athletics hitting choices. With limited options at Shortstop tonight, Semien looks to be a good bet with his ability to score points in a multitude of ways.
Outfield
Ben Revere & Odubel Herrera, OF, Philadelphia Phillies, $3,000 – Similar players, same team, same salary – so why choose one when we can just play both in Coors Field. Neither are likely to hit a home run tonight, but doubles and triples add up nicely, and stolen bases score well when terrible defensive catchers like Nick Hundley are behind the plate.
Billy Burns, OF, Oakland Athletics, $2,500 – Burns has been racking up hits like a young Ichiro Suzuki and draws the strong aforementioned matchup against Lance McCullers, Jr. and the Houston Astros. Burns is in a good spot to get some hits, runs and a possible stolen base for a bargain basement price that will allow you to get a big starting pitcher in the lineup.
