Bryce Harper is the top overall hitter tonight, but can you afford him?

There are 10 games on the slate tonight with a variety of hitting and pitching options. Corey Kluber, Felix Hernandez, Francisco Liriano and Jon Lester all cost $10,000 or more. It will be difficult to use one of those pitchers if you want to target the big-name hitters that are playing at Coors Field. This article won’t feature one of the high-priced pitchers or any hitters in the Coors game. There is nothing wrong with targeting hitters in that game, but everyone knows all the hitters are an option when playing in Colorado.

Chicago at Pittsburgh has scattered storms throughout the evening but could stay south of PNC Park. Seattle at Colorado also shows scattered storms in the evening. As of now it is too hard to know if they pose big enough threats to be postponed. Make sure to stay updated on the weather by following Kevin Roth on Twitter @KevinRothWx. He will have a full DFS forecast.

Remember to bookmark our FanDuel Cheat Sheet for updated DFS advice.

Enter FanDuel’s MLB Rally to win cash

Pitcher

• Tyson Ross – SD – $8,600

Ross is under priced tonight. Milwaukee is a hitter’s park and plays well to the long ball which is bringing down Ross’ price. The Brewers are a below-average offense vs. right-handed pitching with a .306 wOBA, 90 wRC+, .135 ISO and strikeout 20.5% of the time. Ross is a groundball pitcher that can minimize the home run threat that the park provides and gets to face a watered-down Brewers’ offense that shipped off Gerardo Parra and Carlos Gomez before the trade deadline. Brewers manager Craig Counsell is forced to start Khris Davis and Shane Peterson in their places. Ross owns a 2.89 FIP with a 25.3 K% and has an incredible 0.28 HR/9. His 0.28 HR/9 is due to him being able to strike hitters out or induce groundballs.

Other Notables

• Corey Kluber – CLE – $11,300
• Francisco Liriano – PIT – $10,500
• Jon Lester – CHI – $10,000
• Garrett Richards – LAA – $8,400
• Jose Quintana – CWS – $8,400
• Lance McCullers – HOU – $6,700

Catcher

• Jason Castro – HOU – $2,600

Castro is on FIRE! He has made for a great punt play at the catcher position of late. Castro checks off everything you want in a catcher right now. Hot streak (check), hitters park (check), powerful offense (check), high projected run total (check), and he gets to face a weak pitcher in Colby Lewis with the splits working in Castro’s favor (check). Take a look at his Game Log over his last 10 and you will see major production with a cheap cost. The run total is 9.0 with Houston being a -125 favorite on the road. Vegas expects the Astros to light up the scoreboard.

Other Notables

• Buster Posey – SF – $4,800
• Wellington Castillo – ARI – $3,300
• Evan Gattis – HOU – $3,300
• Mike Zunino – SEA – $3,000
• Derek Norris – SD – $2,700
• Wilson Ramos – WAS – $2,200
• Stephen Vogt – OAK – $2,200

First Base

• Ryan Zimmerman – WAS – $2,200

Zimmerman returned from the disabled list on 7/28. He comes into this game sitting at minimum salary ($2,200). The Nationals have been one of the lowest-scoring teams in all of baseball since the All-Star break. Take a look at the opposing pitchers they have faced since then and you will understand why they haven’t been able to get it going. The Nats make for one of my favorite stacks of the night with a high projected run total with their salaries being driven down due to injuries. The higher-priced 1B cost too much, don’t have ideal matchups or get a downgrade in ballpark factor. Zimmerman makes for a solid and somewhat safe play at 1B without having to pay up.

Other Notables

• Paul Goldschmidt – ARI – $4,400
• Jose Abreu – CWS – $4,200
• Lucas Duda – NYM – $4,100
• Chris Davis – BAL – $4,100
• Prince Fielder – TEX – $3,900
• Brandon Belt – SF – $3,700
• Freddie Freeman – ATL – $3,300
• Chris Carter – HOU – $3,000

Second Base

• Anthony Rendon – WAS – $2,900

Rendon, like his teammate Zimmerman, has been plagued with injuries this season. Rendon returned on 7/25 and looks like he is starting to mold into the hitter he was last season. He went deep last night vs. Noah Syndergaard and finished with three hits. Over the weekend he faced Harvey, deGrom and Syndergaard but finished with 5 hits, 1 HR and 9 FP on FanDuel. $2,900 is a very fair price to pay for somebody with elite talent at a position where it is tough to find.

Other Notables

• Robinson Cano – SEA – $4,300
• Rougned Odor – TEX – $3,600
• Dee Gordon – MIA – $3,200
• Jace Peterson – ATL – $2,700
• Jimmy Paredes – BAL – $2,500
• Aaron Hill – ARI – $2,200
• Wilmer Flores – NYM – $2,200

Third Base

• Luis Valbuena – HOU – $2,900

Valbuena is the ultimate boom or bust play and only makes for a tournament option. He can give you a bogey (-1 FP), or have a multi-HR game. Valbuena does have above-average advanced stats vs. right-handed pitching this year with a .320 wOBA, 104 wRC+, .228 ISO. Play at your own risk, but if he goes off tonight vs. Colby Lewis you will be one of the few that reap the benefits.

Other Notables

• Nolan Arenado – COL – $4,800
• Manny Machado – BAL – $4,400
• Kyle Seager – SEA – $4,200
• Matt Duffy – SF – $3,400
• Evan Longoria – TB – $2,900
• Jake Lamb – ARI – $2,500
• Yunel Escobar – WAS – $2,300
• Martin Prado – MIA – $2,200

Shortstop

• Carlos Correa – HOU – $4,500

The benefit of not paying a ridiculous high price for pitcher is that it allows you to use an elite talent at a weak position. Correa is the cream of the crop at the SS position and finds himself in a great matchup vs. Colby Lewis. The ball has been flying out of Arlington, Texas due to the weather heating up. Correa has been racking up points in bunches and can do it many different ways with multi-hit games, HR, SB or extra-base hits. With a game being played in Coors and there being four high-priced pitchers available, the expectation is Correa will be low-owned. If he goes off and doesn’t come in with a high ownership, you’re going to differentiate yourself and move up with very few others.

Other Notables

• Jose Reyes – COL – $4,000
• Ketel Marte – SEA – $3,400
• Brandon Crawford – SF – $3,300
• Jed Lowrie – HOU – $3,100
• Brad Miller – SEA – $3,000
• Ian Desmond – WAS – $2,900
• Nick Ahmed – ARI – $2,200

Outfield

• Bryce Harper – WAS – $4,600
• Carlos Gomez – HOU – $3,700
• Justin Upton – SD – $2,900

Harper comes in as the top overall hitting option tonight vs. Zack Godley. Godley has gotten off to an unexpected start to his MLB career. If you take a look at his numbers in the minors, you will notice that his early success is unsustainable. Harper should have no problem crushing the ball vs. Godley. The NL MVP candidate comes into this game with a .495 wOBA, 224 wRC+, .402 ISO at home vs. right-handed pitching this season.

Gomez went 0-for-5 in his Astros debut and looked like he was pressing at the plate, wanting to get off to a flashy start with his new club. Since then he has 4 hits, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R and 1 SB. He hits between Jose Altuve and Correa, giving him plenty of RBI and R opportunities. This is a great matchup for him vs. Colby Lewis in the hot and humid Texas atmosphere.

Upton is one of the best hitters in all of baseball and continues to go overlooked and low-owned on a nightly basis. I’m not sure if it’s due to him playing on the West Coast or the ballpark that he plays his home games in. JUp gets to face Wily Peralta in Milwaukee, a hitter’s haven. Upton has reverse-splits this season, hitting right-handed pitching much better than left-handed pitching. The talented young star has a .357 wOBA, 134 wRC+, .215 ISO vs. righties this season.

Other Notables

• Nelson Cruz – SEA – $5,400
• Charlie Blackmon – COL – $4,800
• Carlos Gonzalez – COL – $4,600
• A.J. Pollock – ARI – $3,800
• Hunter Pence – SF – $3,700
• David Peralta – ARI – $3,700
• Yoenis Cespedes – NYM – $3,700
• Mitch Moreland – TEX – $3,500
• Shin-Soo Choo – TEX – $3,500
• Matt Kemp – SD – $3,400
• Preston Tucker – HOU – $3,100
• Austin Jackson – SEA – $3,000
• Seth Smith – SEA – $3,000
• Billy Burns – OAK – $2,900
• Josh Hamilton – TEX – $2,800
• Ender Inciarte – ARI – $2,800
• Christian Yelich – MIA – $2,700
• Colby Rasmus – HOU – $2,600
• Norichika Aoki – SF – $2,600
• Mark Trumbo – SEA – $2,300
• Brandon Guyer – TB – $2,200
• Avisail Garcia – CWS – $2,200
• Angel Pagan – SF – $2,200

FanDuel is offering a variety of tournaments tonight with a range of low to high dollar entry fees. Browse through the lobby and reserve your entries before they fill. Always be sure to check lineups when they come out. You can find sneaky value plays when someone moves up in the lineup especially if they’re playing in a favorable ballpark or facing a below average pitcher.

Take a look at the Vegas lines and run totals when targeting teams to stack or pitchers you want to use. The money line along with the run total can be a good indicator for you. For example; if a team comes in as a -160 favorite and the run total is 9.5, Vegas expects the -160 team to put up 4.5-5 runs and will most likely have a run prop set around that number. You might want to target hitters from that team and avoid the pitcher.

My Lineup

• P: Tyson Ross – SD – $8,600
• C: Jason Castro – HOU – $2,600
• 1B: Ryan Zimmerman – WAS – $2,200
• 2B: Anthony Rendon – WAS – $2,900
• 3B: Luis Valbuena – HOU – $2,900
• SS: Carlos Correa – HOU – $4,500
• OF: Bryce Harper – WAS – $4,600
• OF: Carlos Gomez – HOU – $3,700
• OF: Justin Upton – SD – $2,900

Remember to enter FanDuel’s MLB Rally to win cash

Matthew Davis is a correspondent for FantasyPros. You can find more from Matthew by viewing his archive or following him @_mattywood_.