Nolan Arenado Having Another Great Year, But Doing it in a Slightly Different Way

Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado is one of baseball’s best all-around players. Despite that, he doesn’t get nearly as much airtime as some other superstars.

Why is that? Well, Denver isn’t exactly a huge media market when compared to New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Playing for a team that can’t get over .500 doesn’t help, either (Mike Trout has been able to buck that trend a little bit, but he’s a special case).

Arenado’s fielding ability has always been there – he’s won a Gold Glove each year since debuting for Colorado in 2013 – and he’s had a good bat, but he went into another stratosphere during the 2015 season. As a 24-year-old, he slashed .287/.323/.575 while leading the National League in both home runs (42) and RBI (130) over 616 at-bats.

With about a month left in 2016, his numbers are sitting just about where they were a year ago. Through 506 at-bats, he’s slashing a healthy .294/.365/.583 while leading the National League in homers (36) and RBI (115).

More or less, 2016 looks a heck of a lot like 2015 did. He went to the All-Star game for the second consecutive year; he’ll also be in the running for another Gold Glove as well as a Silver Slugger. What’s interesting is digging a little deeper into his numbers and seeing that he arrived at very similar results in a slightly different way.

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Daily Fantasy MLB DFS Picks For Draft Kings 5/5/16

If you have any questions or comments about this article or fantasy baseball, please Tweet me @dynasty_digest. I post daily DFS lineups for Draft Kings everyday, so please make sure to follow my blog (dynastydigest.sportsblog.com) and my Twitter for updates.

P- Kevin Gausman (vs. New York Yankees): $6,900. Gausman was impressive in his first 2 starts in 2016. He will be facing a mediocre, New York Yankees, offense on Thursday. Due to lack of games on the slate, Gausman’s price is what made him so attractive. His strikeout potential makes him a decent play on Thursday. This is a bit of a risky pick, but he has showed a lot of promise over his first few starts. He is averaging 16.1 points per game on Draft Kings this season.

P- Jacob deGrom (vs. San Diego Padres): $11,400. deGrom will be facing the worst offensive team in Major League Baseball on Thursday, the San Diego Padres. He will also be pitching in San Diego’s park, which is known as a pitcher’s park. For those two reasons, he is a must play on Thursday. He is averaging 21.5 points per game on Draft Kings this season.

 

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Daily Fantasy MLB DFS Picks For Draft Kings 5/2/16

P- Jon Gray (vs. San Diego Padres): $7,900. This is a pretty risky play on Monday, but many factors point towards Gray having a big game. Gray struggled in his first two starts this season, but they have been against two very tough teams, the Pirates and Dodgers, and they were played at Coors Field. Coors Field has not been kind to Gray in his 7 career starts at home. In those starts, he has thrown 29.1 innings, with a 9.20 ERA, 52 hits against, 9 walks, and 29 strikeouts. In 4 career starts on the road, he has thrown 20 innings, with a 2.70 ERA, 16 hits, 8 walks, and 25 strikeouts. Luckily, Gray will be on the road on Monday. Not only will he be on the road, but he is pitching at a pitcher’s park in San Diego against a mediocre offense. In his only career start versus the Padres, he threw 5 innings, giving up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. Gray’s impressive career strikeout rate (9.5 strikeouts per 9 innings), success on the road, and favorable matchup all point to a great performance on Monday.

P- Johnny Cueto (vs. Cincinnati Reds): $10,800. This start is going to be an emotional one for Cueto. He will be returning to Cincinnati for the first time since he was traded. He played 8 years in Cincinnati, so the fans will be behind him and I’m sure he wants to put on a show. Not only will his emotions play a factor, but he is facing one of the worst offenses in Major League Baseball. The Reds are ranked as the 28th overall offense, which is clearly a huge advantage for Cueto. In Cueto’s first 5 starts in 2016, he is 4-1, with a 2.65 ERA, 33 strikeouts, and only 5 walks. In his 98 career starts at Cincinnati’s home stadium, he has a 48-22 record, and a 2.91 ERA. All signs point to a huge day for Cueto on Monday. He is averaging 25 points per game on Draft Kings this season.

 

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Daily Fantasy MLB DFS Picks For Draft Kings 4/25/16… Take Two

The match-ups for April 25th are exciting, so I decided to do a second version of my picks. You can see my original picks at the following link: CLICK HERE.

P- Noah Syndergaard (vs. Cincinnati Reds): $11,400. Syndergaard has been an absolute beast this year. In 3 starts in 2016, he has thrown 20 innings, with a 0.90 ERA, 29 strikeouts, and only 4 walks. He is currently averaging a massive, 31.9 points per game on Draft Kings. He will be facing the 23rd best offense in Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds, on Monday. Syndergaard will also be pitching in his home stadium, which is always a plus to have your hometown crowd behind a pitcher. Considering what Syndergaard has done this season, it is near impossible not to start him on Monday.

P- Marcus Stroman (vs. Chicago White Sox): $8,700. Stroman’s price seems a little low for Monday, but it is probably due to the fact that multiple elite pitchers are throwing on Monday. Regardless, this is good news for daily fantasy players. Stroman has faced some incredibly tough offenses this season. His four starts consist of the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, and the Orioles…. yikes. His stats are inflated because of his tough match-ups in my opinion. In 28.1 innings pitched, he has a 4.13 ERA, 15 strikeouts, and 7 walks. He isn’t going to rack up a bunch of strikeouts, but he should go deep into Mondays game. He is facing the White Sox, who have the 24th best offense in baseball. Stroman will be pitching on his home turf, against a sub-par offensive team…. this could be a great match-up for this low price.

 

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MLB Power Rankings 2016: Week 2 – April

Hunter Stokes (BBBA Featured Writer) Follow @stokes_Hunter21

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

Disclaimer:  We based these rankings on best strength to win the World Series.  Therefore some teams that have an easier division to play in, with the least path of resistance to the postseason overall may be ranked a lot higher than a club who is equally talented, yet may play in a juggernaut of a division.

The Cubs will top our list for a second straight week despite losing 2 out of 3 games to the Rockies at Wrigley Field this weekend.  The biggest reason is the pitching.

Jake Arrieta is 3 – 0, and has picked up right where we he left off in 2015, and Jon Lester has thrown awesome too.  The Bullpen has also been good.

The bats are too solid not to come around and gel as the season moves along.  They are playing .750 baseball after a 4 – 2 week still.

Bryce Harper is the best player on the planet, and has homered in 6 straight contests at Citizens Bank Ball Park (4 overall in a row for the MLB this year.)

Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg. Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy are their top players – and all performing like it, the rest of the club is following through in their secondary roles.  This team is scary.

I have the Royals as the top American League club.  This squad is 8 – 1 in games that are not started by back end of the rotation man Chris Young.

The reigning 2 time pennant winners have company on the top of the Division to make it interesting, however this team has the better pedigree the last few years.

Some may say with a weekend series win – that the Dodgers should be put in front of the Giants, yet they are still only one game ahead of San Francisco.

With the Giants – there is no real weakness, while with the Los Angeles team, the Bullpen is not giving everyone confidence in the back half of games.

The Dodger Blue is still in the top 5, so I am high on them. Kenta Maeda could be the steal of the winter with how this guy is throwing so far.  Reinforcements are starting to come back.

DFS Picks For FanDuel – 4/15/16

Josh Robbins (Featured Fantasy  BBBA Writer/60ft6in.com) Follow @Qualcomm98

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

Hi, my name is Josh Robbins.  I would like to share my Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) strategy with you throughout the MLB season during weekdays.  Fanduel is my preferred game of skill.

Welcome to the 2nd week of the 2016 MLB season.

3-Strikes: Here’s what you expect from my daily articles:

My Top 3 Starting Pitchers (aces, mid-level, bargain)

My Top 3 Stacking Options (multiple players from the same team)

My Top 3 BVP (Batter vs. Pitcher) Options

Odds To Win The 2016 NL MVP In The MLB: Best And Worst Bets

Yasiel Puig looked like he could be an all world player when he first started his career, however his lackluster attitude over the last few years has people wondering whether or not he will ever make good on his talent.  His OPS has gone from .925 to .863 to .758 in the last 3 years respectively.  At his optimum output in 2013, that would at least put him consideration for votes toward the award. 

Hunter Stokes (BBBA Featured Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

Much like the ‘Senior Circuit’ itself, the contenders for the 2016 NL MVP is very top heavy.  Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton are the top 4 favorites to win the Award.

Harper at +200 is not a foregone conclusion, and as just 2/1 odds, the number is not great to wager.  I do think the man will win 5 of the next 10 MVP Awards, so I am not placing that mark in the bad value either.

Giancarlo Stanton would have a great chance to win the honor if he could stay healthy – with the Marlins being over .500 for the first time since 2008.  It is possible the big slugger could bash out 10 more Home Runs to the next day.

Andrew McCutchen is a perennial contender who should also be in the mix this season.  If the Pirates win 90 games again, which I project them to, then Cutch should have another top 5 finish.

Paul Goldschmidt at +550, with a chance for the D’Backs to be in the fight all year could finally be the defining moment for the guy who has finished 2nd in the voting for the last 2 years he has played a full year.

MLB Reports Placed Bets: Gambling 101 In 2016

I take my betting style from a philosophy used from a few decades of research. This book was one of the templates followed for success.

Hunter Stokes (BBBA Featured Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

So I have let my profits ride on this winter heading into futures betting in 2016 MLB.  I thought I would take you into a little look on what I have thrown down so far.

In 2014, I made 3 over/under selections (Washington over 91.5 wins, Kansas City over 81.5 Wins, and the Padres under 79.5 wins).  Made a nice profit of a few hundred dollars for that.

For my initial World Series picks I wagered the Rangers, Rays but I was smart enough to take a +2500 preseason SF Giants selection.

Halfway through the season I plunked down some money on the Royals when they were near .500, talking of firing Ned Yost, and running at an +8000 odd to win the World Series.

I also was able to win money on the Orioles for the AL East Division, and at +5000 to win the World Series, I was able to hedge bet both KC and BAL in the 1st round of the postseason, and also the World Series.

Odds To Win The Overall Homer Crown In 2016 MLB Baseball: Battle Of The Big Fly’s

Stanton has light tower power – and should lead the NL and Majors in Homers if he can remain healthy for a whole year.   In just 74 Games Played last campaign, the big slugger belted 27 HRs.  The problem is always staying on the field.  There is no reason to think he can’t crack 50+ HRs if he played a full season.  To aid his efforts as the biggest favorite to win this years MLB Homer crown – is that Marlins Park is bringing in the fences and also lowering them.

Hunter Stokes (BBBA Featured Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21

Follow The BBBA On Twitter Follow @baseballblogs

I am flat-out wondering why these guys failed to include Chris Carter on this list?  For a prolific Home Run Hitter over the last 3 years (90 bombs), this guy is getting no respect.

I mean they have Corey Seager, Matt Adams and Freddie Freeman at the +20000 clip, but no word for a guy who finished 2nd in 2014 MLB Homers?

Carter is headed to the best home run park in the Major Leagues in Milwaukee, and will not be on a competitive club, where his AB may be in question.  Sure the guy might fan 250 times in 600 AB this season, but he may crack 40 taters for all we know.

I have requested this gambling website send me the odd for Carter (you can request a player that wasn’t listed), and I will get back to you shortly.

Let me start by saying that if Giancarlo Stanton remains healthy for a full year that he should definitely lead the Majors in longballs.  Despite us predicting him to do this, his odd only is listed as our #5 value best bet on the board.

The Top 5 Home Run Hitters In MLB For 2015 + Homer Stats

Giancarlo Stanton should contend for the NL HR championship crown in 2016. He is capable of cracking 40 – 50 HRs if he can play a year completely healthy. The Marlins are lucky to have one of the best young hitters in the game.  In 2015, he clubbed 27 HRs in just 279 AB for the season.  That is about a HR every 10 AB. If he could play 150 games in a year, he may easily crack the 50+HR mark.

Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part-Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21

Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports

There were 9 guys who tallied 40+ HRs in the Major Leagues and 6 of them came from the AL and just 3 came from the NL. Furthermore, out of 20 players that cracked 30+ HRs, only 6 came from the Senior Circuit.

The National League has also seen that Todd Frazier joined the White Sox in the offseason.