The Pulse: MLB Friday, April 17

The Pulse: Getting Social with Ownership Percentage

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:

Name	Pulse
Clayton Kershaw	9
Corey Kluber	8
Max Scherzer	7
Michael Wacha	6
Johnny Cueto	5
Bartolo Colon	4

-Any time Clayton Kershaw takes the mound, the buzz around the slate centers on him as the pitcher. He's the highest upside pitcher on any slate as he's a threat in every start to go the distance and strike out double-digit batters. He's a huge favorite in a game with an already low run total, making him the prime pitching option on today's slate as usual.

-Corey Kluber is probably my favorite pitching option tonight in GPPs. He's one of the better pitchers in all of baseball, so why is he priced so much more favorably than Kershaw and Scherzer? Kluber has a massive 28.3% strikeout rate that gives him massive upside, while he faces a Twins team ranked at the very bottom of the league in wOBA against right handed pitchers.

-Max Scherzer, as mentioned above is getting a ton of buzz based on name value, but I just can't see him being a comparable play to Kershaw and Kluber tonight at these prices, I'd prefer to spend less if I'm looking for a high-upside GPP option that will be lower owned. He feels more like a cash game play to me as the night's heaviest pitching favorite.

-Both Michael Wacha and Johnny Cueto have been tossed around as solid plays today. While I agree with that sentiment, that doesn't make them overly attractive plays on this slate. With this game being essentially a pick'em, it's really hard to differentiate between the two, so I'm liking the lower price on Wacha as a slight favorite.

-Bartolo Colon is the only value pitcher being touted much around the industry tonight. He had mostly pedestrian numbers last season and he was up and down as much as anyone, but up and down offers upside much more than consistently average anyway, so he's a guy to look at for GPPs. He's a pretty heavy favorite against a bottom-five team in wOBA versus right handers thus far on the season in the Marlins.

Infielders:

Name	Pulse
Adrian Gonzalez	9
Jimmy Rollins	7
Jason Kipnis	6
Lucas Duda	6
Ike Davis	4
Kyle Seager	5
Luis Valbuena	3

-Adrian Gonzalez has remained a staple atop this list in the season's early going, he's red-hot and hitting right in the middle of a potent lineup. The combination of his .384 wOBA against righties and Kyle Kendrick's .360 wOBA allowed to lefties is a dream matchup.

-Jimmy Rollins is another guy that fits right into that same scenario, while adding a speed element at one of the night's weakest positions. He could end up being one of the higher owned players tonight overall due to Troy Tulowitzki's matchup with Clayton Kershaw and the lack of other viable options.

-Jason Kipnis draws the favorable matchup of borderline MLB starter Mike Pelfrey and his 6.55 xFIP last season, while offering up a wOBA of .344 to left-handed hitters. He's just $3400 on Fanduel and will be a heavily owned player there at another weak position.

-Lucas Duda has been red-hot, but his price has come up with him. The Mets stack could be a popular tonight with David Phelps starting as an injury fill-in. The rest of the Mets lineup has come alive around Duda and his seven hits in the last three games. Duda sports a .270 ISO against righties that gives him some fantastic upside in this matchup.

-Whenever Jeremy Guthrie is taking the mound, the industry loves to target left-handed bats against him. The big one tonight will be the very cheap Ike Davis. Guthrie allowed a .364 wOBA against lefties last season and Davis is more than cheap enough on every site to take advantage of the situation.

-Kyle Seager is a heavily hyped player nearly every time he plays against a right-handed pitcher at home, because his splits in that scenario are insane. It's hard to fall in love with him tonight though with some cheaper third base options in better ballpark settings.

-Luis Valbuena is one of those third-basemen I'm talking about, playing at friendly Minute Maid Park this evening. Jeff Weaver has really fallen off and allowed a .321 wOBA to left-handed hitters last season.

Outfielders:

Name	Pulse
Mike Trout	10
Adam Jones	8
Bryce Harper	7
Lorenzo Cain	6
Jacoby Ellsbury	5
Michael Cuddyer	4

-Mike Trout is topping the list for most people tonight in the outfield and I'm not the guy who is going to disagree. He's been crushing pitchers of all types and has massive power against right handers in the hitter friendly Minute Maid Park tonight.

-Jacoby Ellsbury has an above average hitting matchup, but his speed is what has him buzzing tonight. Nate Karns has nice strikeout upside, but is below average in speed to home plate, which Ellsbury will be taking full advantage of if he can get on base here.

-Adam Jones is in the midst of a massive hot streak. He's become an auto-play for me against left handers, but even against a righty like Joe Kelly tonight, I'm going to be working to get him in the lineup while he's seeing the ball as well as he is. He has 12 hits in his last six games, including four that have left the yard.

-Bryce Harper is another outfielder that's garnering a lot of attention today, most likely due to the ridiculous .443 wOBA that Sean O'Sullivan allowed to left handed hitters last season. He's come up empty quite a few times in spots like this so far this year, but this should be his breakout game.

-Lorenzo Cain is yet another fast-starter this year, sitting at 12-for-31 on the young season with eight RBI. He has a little less upside, due to a lower ISO against righties, but for his very affordable prices, he remains a strong play.

-As we talked about with Lucas Duda above, the Mets bats have really come alive lately. With Duda and Michael Cuddyer hitting in the meat of the Mets order at suddenly hitter friendly Citi Field, the Mets aren't looking so flimsy. He's racked up 7 hits over the past five games and David Phelps surprisingly is much better against lefties than righties.

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