This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
We've got a light slate Thursday, with just six games -- only one of them during the day. With so little action, it's a good day to hedge your bets in FanDuel contests that permit multiple entries. Here are our daily value plays for Thursday, September 3.
Pitcher:
Jordan Zimmermann, $9,300: With a selection of hurlers that can only be called gross Thursday, I'm going with the second-priciest pitcher on the board in Zimmermann. While this has been a down season for Zim, he's actually been far sharper lately, with a 32:4 K:BB, 2.06 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over his last five starts -- and he had to deal with Coors Field in one of those. His opponent, the Braves, own the worst OPS and have scored the fewest runs in Major League Baseball this year,and Zimmermann has had an easy time with his division rivals so far this season -- he's gone 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts against the Braves, including back-to-back scoreless performances at the end of June. He's also been far better at home (2.58 ERA) than on the road (4.67) this year. All in all, Thursday presents the perfect situation to use Zimmermann despite his uneven campaign.
Catcher:
Francisco Cervelli, $2,500: How often can you pick up a .300 hitter with an OPS hovering around .800 at a premium position... far cheaper than luminaries like Martin Maldonado and A.J. Ellis? Counting stats have been a weakness for Cervelli, but he's coming off a .316 average and .871 OPS in the month of August, and catcher is a wasteland Thursday unless you want to lay down the big bucks for Buster Posey ($4,400, which I can also endorse if that's a fit for your lineup).
First Base:
Ben Paulsen, $3,400: If you want to go for value at first base, it's just sitting there for you in Paulsen, who gets a glorious lefty-righty matchup against Ryan Vogelsong in Coors Field on Thursday. Vogelsong's giving up an .881 OPS to left-handed batters, while Paulsen's hit righties to the tune of an .848. He's also been hitting the ball particularly well when in the lineup recently, collecting nine hits in his last 24 at-bats (.375) along with seven RBI despite the Rockies playing five of those eight games on the road.
Second Base:
DJ LeMahieu, $4,100: Let's stick with the theme of the Coors Field shootout. Unsurprisingly, LeMahieu has done his best work at Coors Field this year (.335 average, .843 OPS), and he gets the same nice matchup against Vogelsong. Although LeMahieu has a stronger OPS against lefties, he's been no slouch versus righties, either -- and he's expressed his power (such as it is) more against them, hitting five of his six homers. Of course, he's been rolling lately too, with a five-game hitting streak going.
Third Base:
Matt Duffy, $3,100: Most Giants hitters are expensive Thursday in Coors, but bizarrely not Duffy -- this despite the fact that he's been one of the most reliable hitters around all year, posting a batting average over .300 in four straight months (May, June, July, August). While the right-handed-hitting Duffy has actually hit righties (.827 OPS) significantly better than lefties (.651) this year, it's still hard to pass him up against unimpressive southpaw Chris Rusin (.840 OPS against right-handed hitters) in Coors' uber-friendly environment.
Shortstop:
Ian Desmond, $3,400: The second half has been kind to Desmond, who entered Wednesday's action with a .282/.345/.519 line, 10 homers and seven steals since the All-Star break. He doesn't have the lefty-righty situation working in his favor, but shortstop is awfully thin Thursday, and he gets to face Braves rookie Matt Wisler, a pitch-to-contact type whose approach should yield friendly results for the typically whiff-prone Desmond.
Outfield:
Ben Zobrist, $3,600: Detroit lefty Matt Boyd presents a tasty opportunity for all the Royals' hitters Thursday, but Zobrist is particularly intriguing -- he's obliterated lefties to the tune of a .911 OPS this season. He's been white-hot since coming to the Royals, with a .319 average and five homers in 31 games, and he's got a good chance to build on that against Boyd, who's been blown up in nearly every one of his starts this year.
Matt Kemp, $4,400: Kemp's quietly lifted himself into the company of the league leaders in RBI, largely on the strength of a ridiculous last 10 games -- as of this writing, he's hit three homers and knocked in a ridiculous 15 runs over that span, and he's scored another eight. He gets the benefit in this one of a good matchup against struggling starter Mat Latos (who hasn't finished five innings in any of his last three outings) in a revenge situation against his old Dodgers mates.Over his first 12 career games against his former organization, Kemp's hit .333 with three stolen bases, so he's certainly shown some extra motivation there.
J.D. Martinez, $3,400: Martinez has been more than credible against lefties this year, but he's delivered the majority of his power -- 26 of 34 homers -- against righties. He gets a mediocre one in the Royals' Edinson Volquez, who's struggled mightily against Detroit this year (although not against Martinez specifically), and the breakout slugger has gone five games without knocking one out, so he's about due again. With his power upside at that price, JD-Mart is a no-brainer.
