The Pulse: MLB Friday, April 10

By: Scott Malewig, Updated April 15, 2015

MLB Mobile Sports Betting Toolkit

The MLB Pulse is constructed to give daily fantasy enthusiasts insight to the most popular picks in a game slate, assessing their viability along the way. In other words, this column is designed to gauge the daily fantasy world's opinion as a whole. We will then take it a step further, telling you when to “join the herd" and when to pivot elsewhere.

Buzz is calculated on a 1-10 scale by considering numerous daily fantasy media outlets picks and general conversation on forums/twitter.

Pitchers:

-Gio Gonzalez is the most buzzworthy guy on the late slate by far, so he's likely to be the heaviest owned pitcher on every site. He's really the only thing remotely close to an “ace" taking the mound tonight, which is going to make him nearly impossible to fade comfortably in cash games.

-John Lackey seems to be the secondary cash game option that no one really wants to take, but keeps recommending. I don't see a reason to pay for him with some cheaper options out there.

-Tim Lincecum is the sexy, lightning in a bottle play that everyone wants to make today. I'd love to see him recapture his old form as well and I therefore love the play in a pitcher's ballpark with a lot of room for error.

-Drew Pomerantz is just in a solid situation for his price in one of the tonight's lowest over/unders, while facing a Seattle team that doesn't have much in the way of big bats outside of Robinson Cano. He seems like the value cash game option people will flock to tonight.

-Jon Niese has a nice matchup with the weak Braves lineup, but the buzz around the industry doesn't have too many excited about his price.

-Mike Fiers is the only guy remotely close to Gonzalez in strikeout rate tonight. He's a boom/bust type GPP play who will be low-owned.

Player	Buzz
Gio Gonzalez	10
John Lackey	7
Tim Lincecum	6
Drew Pomeranz	5
Jon Niese	4
Mike Fiers	4

Infielders:

-Everyone is excited for David Ortiz to get out of the playing field and worry only about his hitting. He's going to be less owned because of his position than the buzz would suggest, with many top options at first base.

-The main guy holding back Ortiz's ownership percentage will be Adrian Gonzalez, as he already has a ridiculous five home runs on the season, after uncorking three a couple days ago. I prefer Ortiz.

-David Wright is probably the most buzzed about third basemen tonight, followed up only somewhat closely by Evan Longoria and Matt Carpenter. Wright is the more highly touted for a reason, as he's always crushed left-handed pitching. Carpenter is being supported as a solid third base play by basically everyone and I agree, but the upside with the aforementioned guys seems worth the upgrade.

-It definitely feels Ben Zobrist may have a bit more upside than most other second basemen this evening, so the buzz is worthy at his price.

-I included Billy Hamilton among infielders because I think a lot of the buzz is about his shortstop eligibility on DraftKings, I think he's much less appealing as an outfielder on Fanduel, where stolen bases aren't weighted nearly as heavily.

-Mark Teixeira and his buzz seem to be more about that $3300 price tag on FanDuel than anything, but it's a pretty good matchup for righties against Wade Miley.

Player	Buzz
Adrian Gonzalez	9
David Ortiz	8
David Wright	7
Matt Carpenter	6
Billy Hamilton	5
Ben Zobrist	4
Mark Teixeira	3
Evan Longoria	3

Outfielders:

-There are really three headliners today who everyone is touting, and they are all great plays; Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton and Bryce Harper. Trout is the cream of the crop for me against a weak lefty, so I'll be rolling him out, while taking the small price discount on Harper if I can fit a second. I expect many to take this same approach, making Stanton a very intriguing GPP play despite the hype.

-The buzz is always there on Khris Davis against lefties, but the splits haven't given us a lot to stand on with that assumption. However, the .276 ISO he sports against them is drastically higher than the barely above .200 one he offers against righties.

-Speaking of Brewers with good matchups, everyone loves the Carlos Gomez power/speed combination once again today and I can't argue with it in a matchup with lefty Jeff Locke.

-On the other side of that game is Andrew McCutchen, who hasn't gotten off to a torrid start, but the insane flyball rate Mike Fiers allows makes me dream of home runs for him as well.

-Eric Young is simply buzzing because he's very cheap and is likely going to hit leadoff again. Stolen bases will come for the outfielder.

-Lorenzo Cain is flying under the radar a bit in a perfect storm. He had a .362 wOBA against lefties last season and gets Hector Santiago tonight, who offered up a .326 wOBA to righties. He'll be under owned compared to his production tonight despite starting the season 5-for-12.