Almost a full slate of the games on the ledge for this Friday evening! You cannot beat that! There are quite a few pitchers that I’m actively looking to target bats against, as well as two pitchers that I have my eyes on to anchor my pitcher(s) this evening! As for the bats, of course there is value, and whether they are affordable parts of team/game stacks, or one-off plays, they have merit for your lineup.

Without further ado, let’s jump in and take a look at my favorite value bats and arms for tonight’s main slate!

All Sites

Nestor Cortes Jr., SP NYY ($7,300 FD/$6,900 DK/$37 Yahoo) - Baltimore’s offense has been pretty good over the past two weeks, and they have a few bats who handle southpaws quite well. However, the strikeouts are still a plenty and Cortes knows how to miss bats. Cortes has a 1.75 ERA at home this year, and 29 strikeouts over 25 innings of work, all while allowing opponents to hit just .172 at Yankee Stadium.

Brandon Marsh, OF LAA ($2,600 FD/$2,100 DK/$13 Yahoo) - Left-handed hitters have had some success against Glenn Otto this year and Marsh has really turned things around. He’s hitting .281 with an .804 OPS versus right-handers this season, and the young outfielder has posted a cool .381 average with a 1.017 OPS over his last 42 at-bats. Marsh has hit safely in five of his last eight games, with three of those games being three-hit outings!

Yahoo!

Andrew McCutchen, OF PHI ($10) - McCutchen has hit lefties at a .309 clip this year with a well above average .450 wOBA! He’s posted back-to-back multi-hit games, and has a whopping seven RBI and three runs scored over his last two contests. Despite hitting just .224 on the year, he’s posted a 1.078 OPS against left-handers, and he’s hitting .278 over the past week with zero strikeouts over his last 18 at-bats.

Joey Wendle, 3B/SS TB ($14) - Wendle has a .302 batting average and .349 wOBA against right-handed pitching this year, and Minnesota’s Randy Dobnak has allowed left-handers to post a .342 batting average and OPS over 1.000! Wendle is hitting .318 over the last week, posting a 1.057 OPS during that span. I love the price point here for Wendle today, and whenever he’s at home facing a right-hander, he’s as good a play as any.

FanDuel

Brandon Nimmo, OF NYM ($2,900) - Nimmo is 2-for-5 with a home run against Washington’s Sean Nolin, and the Washington southpaw has really struggled this year. Lefties have posted a .450 batting average and .568 wOBA against him, and overall, he’s posted a 6.57 ERA and 1.86 WHIP. I love New York lefties today, especially those that hit southpaws well. Actually, any New York Met that hits southpaws well is in play today.

Daulton Varsho, OF ARI ($3,000) - Varsho is 3-for-4 in his career against Tyler Anderson, and Varsho finds himself in a great spot today. Anderson has reverse splits, so lefties (.346 BA) have had more success against him than righties (.248), and Varsho has posted an .850 OPS versus southpaws this year. He’s also been far better at home than on the road, so all of the stars are aligning for a big day from Varsho, and perhaps a couple other Arizona left-handed hitters as well… UPDATE: Varsho isn’t starting. I would pivot to Andrew McCutchen.

DraftKings

Kyle Gibson, SP PHI ($8,100) - Gibson gets himself a nice draw this Friday against the Marlins. Over the past two weeks, the Marlins have the eighth-highest strikeout rate and tied for the third-lowest wOBA. They are struggling of late, and Gibson has allowed three or fewer earned runs in all but one of his starts with the Phillies. Through six starts with the Phillies, he’s posted a 4-2 record with a 3.16 ERA, and while his strikeout numbers have been slightly underwhelming, the struggles of the Miami offense of late could help play that number up. At the very least, he’s a high-floor SP2 on DraftKings today.

Luis Arraez, 2B MIN ($2,800) - Not only is Arraez 2-for-3 with a home run in his career against Michael Wacha, but he’s hit righties at a .324 clip this year and has a .297 batting average on the road. He’s been a bit cold of late, but there’s a lot of bats I like behind Arraez today, so if he can get on base, I like the potential of a couple base knocks and runs scored for Arraez this evening.