The Pulse: MLB Friday, May 1

MLB Daily Fantasy Pulse

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:

-Max Scherzer is the top option on today's slate and he's being hyped as such by just about everyone and their mother. His strikeout rate is a solid 25.7%, but down a bit from last year, so there's some room for improvement, while he's struggled keeping the ball on the ground once again this year, hovering around his usual 35% ground ball rate thus far. That shouldn't be a major problem against a Mets team that's struggled with right-handed pitching at times and play in the fairly spacious Citi Field.

-Matt Harvey is unfortunately the underdog in this game and makes for a great swerve from the likely heavily owned Scherzer. He's being talked about a lot today, but as a very secondary option to Scherzer, when I think they are much closer in reality and Harvey costs a lot less. His strikeout rate is at 29% and the Nationals are ranked in the bottom five in strikeouts against righties thus far. He has massive upside.

-Scott Kazmir is flying under the radar a bit due to only being in play on DraftKings. He'll likely be under owned because he isn't being touted across the board and his 28.3% strikeout rate on the season gives him some immense upside, along with the 10 Ks he hung on the Rangers in the first meeting.

-Carlos Carrasco isn't being overly hyped today, but he has been this season quite a bit. He's sporting one of the highest strikeout rates in all of baseball right now at 34.3% along with other nice peripheral stats such as a low 4.5% walk rate and a 59% ground ball rate. The Blue Jays are in the bottom ten of strikeout rate against right handers despite being a quality hitting team, so the upside is there as a GPP play.

-Chris Heston has a low strikeout rate, but a pretty impressive 56.3% ground ball rate on the young season, especially for his price. He's been great in every start this year that wasn't at Coors Field, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt here in most cases that he's a solid pitching option for his price.

Name	Buzz
Max Scherzer	10
Matt Harvey	8
Scott Kazmir	8
Carlos Carrasco	6
Chris Heston	4

Infielders:

-Adrian Gonzalez has been scorching hot in the middle of the Dodgers lineup and faces another weak right-hander again tonight. Rubby De La Rosa gave up a .364 wOBA to lefties last season and Gonzalez's wOBA against righties is a staggering .541 on the young season.

-Jose Altuve is a guy that you can pay up for because of his position. Second base is a wasteland in terms of upside and he's been red hot. Add in the fact that he's facing a lefty who he's thrown up a scorching .563 ISO against so far this season and you can see exactly why the Pulse has a bead on him.

-Matt Carpenter is locked in as the third-base cash game play until further notice against righties, who he has a .446 wOBA and surprising .295 ISO against this season. There's not much else that needs to be said here other than that he's likely a must-fade in tournaments to get an edge.

-Buster Posey, much like the guy below him here, is going to be overhyped because of the lack of upside with other options at his position. The good news is he's facing a lefty tonight and he's sported a .220 ISO against lefties over the past two season, but has struggled to get it going against them this year.

-Troy Tulowitzki is going to be in nearly every write-up today for FanDuel because of the lack of depth at the shortstop position and the abundance of cap room you can have. He's not an elite play in the spacious PetCo Park, but he's the top shortstop option.

-Kole Calhoun has slid into the cleanup spot for the injured Albert Pujols. He's going to be heavily talked about tonight after driving in three RBI in his first game there. He has some pretty impressive power against righties, but will need to get the ball in the air against Heston tonight.

Name	Buzz
Adrian Gonzalez	10
Jose Altuve	9
Buster Posey	8
Troy Tulowitzki	7
Matt Carpenter	6

Outfielders:

-Giancarlo Stanton is looking like the top outfield play of the night, even at his escalated price tag. He's sporting a .407 wOBA and .310 ISO against righties on the season and will be seeing offerings from Jerome Williams, who is one of the most home run happy pitchers in the league.

-I've seen Ryan Raburn mentioned in almost every value picks column today. He's been hitting 5th or 6th against lefties for an Indians team that loves to attack lefties with right-handed hitters and he's priced below $3000 on both DraftKings and FanDuel. He currently sports a massive .452 wOBA and .333 ISO against lefties in a small sample.

-Lorenzo Cain has been hot against everyone, but he's been absolutely mashing lefties to the tune of a .472 wOBA and a .229 ISO. Couple that with the fact the Royals are as hot as any team in baseball and facing not just a lefty, but one of the weakest on the slate in Kyle Lobstein and his 13.2% strikeout rate.

-Seth Smith is starting to gain some major buzz hitting leadoff for the Mariners against righties. He'll face off against Samuel Deduno, making his first start of the season tonight and his ability to make good contact should with his .370 wOBA and .231 ISO against righties should serve him well.

-Kole Calhoun has slid into the cleanup spot for the injured Albert Pujols. He's going to be heavily talked about tonight after driving in three RBI in his first game there. He has some pretty impressive power against righties, but will need to get the ball in the air against Heston tonight.

Name	Buzz
Giancarlo Stanton	9
Ryan Raburn	8
Lorenzo Cain	8
Lorenzo Cain	7
Cole Calhoun	6

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