The following Spotlight Hitters were selected be Awesemo.com writer Jake Hari. Please check back later for notes/additional picks from Awesemo himself.
Jorge Soler ($3,300 DK/$2,800 FD)
Soler has been one of the best hitters in the MLB against left-handed pitching this year, posting the league’s 2nd-best hard-hit% (70.6%) and the 8th-highest Average Exit Velocity (97.3 MPH). Going up against Hector Santiago, Soler should get at least a couple chances to put one over the fence as Santiago is a notorious flyball pitcher that gave up 1.92 HR/9 last year starting with the Twins. Soler is one of my favorite plays on this slate assuming he can make his way into the 2nd game of the White Sox-Royals double-header tonight.
Manny Machado ($5,100 DK/$4,600 FD)
Machado against a wild lefty in Francisco Lirano has to be one of the best spots of the day, and the pricing algorithms seem to know that, as he’s one of the most expensive hitters on both sites. Liriano is doing his usual thing, allowing a ton of hard-contact to righties (44.4%) and walking 5.7 per 9 innings. Machado has a 51% hard-contact rate against lefty pitching this year with a .478 wOBA, so if he can avoid striking out against Liriano (19% K-rate against righties), he should hit the ball hard which is, of course, great for his DFS outlook.
Miguel Cabrera ($4,500 DK/$3,800 FD)
Cabrera is another guy that likely will be making hard-contact tonight against the opposing starter, as he’ll bat 4th against Andrew Cashner in a great hitters’ park. Dating back the the start of last season, Cashner is striking out righties at a 12.6% rate with a 4.77 xFIP. This year, he’s getting hit very hard against righties, allowing a 91.1 MPH Exit Velocity against right-handed hitting. Someone like Miguel Cabrera, who has squared-up righties all season (94.8 MPH Average Exit Velocity) has a good chance to take Cashner yard.
Awesemo’s Notes
I like Machado a lot as a spend up at shortstop to take advantage of value plays tonight. Cabrera I’m not as optimistic about, because it’s a RHB vs RHP matchup, which isn’t that bad, but the team total for Detroit isn’t that high either. Soler I like as a great value option given his spot in the lineup.
