Joey Votto- 1B- CIN- Idea- In 2019 Votto hit 14 of his 15 homers against RH pitching and posted a .268/.361/.453 slash line against them. He has 2 homers in the 2020 season already (although only 1 is against a RH.) Spencer Turnbull had problems facing LH batters last year, with a slash line of .298/.370/.444 against them. The matchup gives Votto a good chance of continuing his hot start. His DFS price hasn't caught up to the small sample size results compared with other 1B. DFS Value play- Draft Kings cost $3800
Yu Darvish- P- CHC- Stats- Darvish had major control issues at the beginning of 2019. Through June he walked 49 batters in 90.1 IP. That contributed in large part to Darvish having a 4.98 ERA and 5.27 FIP When July started. From July 1 through the end of the season he walked only 7 batters in 88.1 IP. Darvish's ERA plummeted to 2.95 and his FIP improved to 3.06. His K/9 was an outstanding 12.63 and improvement over a still solid 10.46 before then. So how was Darvish's control in his 2020 debut? He threw 50 of his 73 pitches for strikes and didn't walk any in his 4 IP of work. He was charged with 3 runs but that came about due to the distribution of his 6 hits allowed. Darvish's FIP for the game was just 1.29. He registered 5 Ks in the outing. All in all it looks more like Darvish picked up where he left off at the end of 2020 instead of being a repeat of the start of last season.
Wade Davis- RP- COL- Caution- Davis had been named the Rockies' closer to start 2020 and he appeared when they had their first save opportunity. Davis converted it but it wasn't pretty. He gave away half of the 2-run lead he inherited at the top of the 9th, allowing a hit and a walk. Only 15 of Davis' 28 pitches were strikes, including the final one, a borderline called strike 3. He faced 5 batters. Three of them saw at least 3 balls and another had a 2-0 count before popping up the next pitch. This was definitely not an appearance to show that Davis has shaken the form he had last year when he posted the 2nd highest ERA (8.65) in MLB history for relievers with at least 50 appearances. (Vic Darensbourg's 8.83 in 1999 for the Marlins is the highest in case that would have eaten at you.)
Kolten Wong- 2B- STL- Hot- Over his career Wong has definitely exhibited streakiness. Glancing through his month-by-month numbers over the years you will see frequent times where he will have an average well above .300 and many months where he is looking up at the Mendoza line. This year it will be imperative to catch Wong on the hot streaks to get value out of him. He has started off the first two games going 3-for-8 with a walk so he is on a tear out of the gate. Wong increased his fantasy value last season by stealing a career-high 24 bases. He hasn't tried to swipe a bag yet, but if he does keep that part of the game that could help mitigate the cold streaks.
Dansby Swanson- SS- ATL- Cold- Swanson is 2-for-7 for the season but what is concerning is that he has struck out 3 times in the young season. It's only 2 games, so not time to panic, but that will be a factor to keep an eye on. When Swanson struggled mightily at the end of 2019 he was swinging and missing a lot. His K% for August and September was 33.3% and 31.3% respectively. That had a large impact in Swanson's .204 2nd half average as he came back from injury. In the first half he hit .270 and had a K% of 19.7%. Swanson discovered power in the first half of last season, slugging 17 homers in 341 ABs. It evaporated after that with no homers in his final 142 ABs. For Swanson to increase his value he has to actually hit balls when he swings and hit them far when he does.
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