You have to love Sunday slates! Early afternoon baseball and working on lineups with your morning drink of choice. You can’t beat it! Regardless, a nice slate of games in the early afternoon, and while there’s a bevy of high-priced pitchers, I found my favorite arm that I’ll be playing everywhere today, and plenty of value bats to help round out your lineup.

Well, grab your coffee or whatever you prefer in the morning, kick back and take a look at the best value plays of the day for today’s main slate!

All Sites

J.D. Davis, 3B/OF NYM ($3,100 FD/$3,400 DK/$7 Yahoo) - Davis is pretty cheap today, especially on FanDuel, which is quite surprising with a right-hander on the mound. Davis is hitting .325 with a .929 OPS against right-handers this year, and he’s actually been better away from his home park in 2021, hitting .321 with a .955 OPS on the road this season. Additionally, if there’s one team Davis likes to square off against, at least this year, it’s the Nationals. Davis is hitting .370 with a 1.044 OPS against Washington pitching this season. UPDATE: Davis isn’t starting for the Mets.

Luis Patiño, SP TB ($7,900 FD/$8,200 DK/$34 Yahoo) - Over the last two weeks, the Minnesota offense ranks in the bottom-third in the league in terms of team OPS and they have the sixth-highest strikeout rate in that span! The Tampa Bay right-hander has allowed three or fewer earned runs in five of his last six starts, and in that span, he’s struck out 35 batters across 31.2 innings of work! Lastly, good luck to the Twins, because this game is in Tampa Bay, and Patino has been lights out at home, posting a sparkling 2.01 ERA and allowing a measly .195 batting average.

Yahoo!

Nicky Lopez, 2B/SS KC ($10) - Dylan Cease has a 5.37 ERA in 13 road starts this season and while he’s dominated the Kansas City lineup in four earlier starts against the team, I’m not shying away from Lopez. The speedy infiedler is hitting .289 against right-handed pitching this year, and he’s sporting a .295 batting average in his home park. Also, as you likely know from recent Value Vaults, but Lopez is still too cheap for his production. Yes, I know his upside is capped, but the guy is hitting .375 over the past two weeks, and over the past eight games, he has four multi-hit efforts!

Victor Reyes, OF DET ($10) - Don’t look now, but over the last week, Reyes is hitting .471 with a 1.176 OPS. Over the last two weeks, he’s hitting an even .500 with a 1.318 OPS! Reyes hasn’t been the greatest against right-handers this year, so keep an eye if Detroit trusts his season splits over his recent hot streak. If he’s in the lineup, I love throwing him in as a value outfielder to be able to afford one of the top-tier arms.

FanDuel

Odúbel Herrera, OF PHI ($2,900) - Herrera has hit righties at a .263 clip with a .458 slugging percentage in 2021, and he’s seeing a beach ball at the moment. After hitting .341 in August, his success has continued into September, as the veteran outfielder is hitting .438 over the past week of games. Also, for what it’s worth, Hererra is hitting .355 in day games to go along with a .516 slugging percentage. 

Jonathan Villar, 2B/3B/SS NYM ($2,800) - Another Met!? Yes! Yes, Gray has posted a solid 0.94 WHIP this year and he’s missed some bats, but his ERA stits at 4.22 on the year, and in four home starts for the Nationals, he’s allowed 12 earned runs across 21 innings, good for a 5.14 ERA. Villar has an .823 OPS against right-handers this year and he’s hitting .455 with a 1.215 OPS over the last two weeks. He’s sporting a .380 batting average against Washington pitching in 2021, he’s good against righties and he’s white hot at the moment. Fire him up today, especially at a sub-3k price tag.

DraftKings 

Frank Schwindel, ($3,300) - Schwindel has hit right-handers at a .305 clip this year and has a .568 slugging percentage, and today he gets Pittsburgh’s Wil Crowe who struggles to get right-handers out. Schwindel has a 1.083 OPS at home this season, and he’s posted an insane .962 slugging percentage over the past week, thanks to five home runs in just 26 at-bats! He’s 7-for-14 against Pittsburgh pitching this year, and he could go nuclear today. He’s an easy play today.

Tyler Naquin, OF CIN ($3,000) - It’s not like Casey Mize has been horrible against lefties, allowing a .258 batting average and .365 wOBA this season. It’s more so that Naquin has crushed right-handed pitching this year, to the tune of a .284 batting average and .867 OPS. Furthermore, over the last two weeks, he’s hitting .389 with a 1.283 OPS, and that even includes a recent 1-for-11 skid. If you remove the last week of action, he was 13-for-25 in the week prior to this one. Sheesh! Fire him up today and reap the rewards, as he shouldn’t be this cheap.