Well, we’ve put another week in the books in this long MLB season. As the NBA and NHL seasons wind down, it’s going to be all baseball until the pigskin starts getting tossed in a few months. As a lover of all things baseball, this gets me a little tingly inside. We had some big weeks from a few experts on the pitcher selections so be sure to check out the top-3 leaderboard below. The pitcher side of things seem to be changing on a weekly basis. As always, check out our MLB Expert Standings to make sure that you’re up to speed on who is making the grade. Enjoy!
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In this article, I will give a brief recap of each day we gathered and graded the experts, including how the Industry Consensus picks did, highlighting which experts were at the top for the day and which players were only called out by one expert, but produced an “A+” grade. We will also review the overall standings and highlight the top experts so far this season.
As a reminder, we are currently gathering selections and publishing the MLB Industry Consensus article each weekday during the season, so be sure to check back about an hour or so before the first pitch of the first game to get a look at the consensus picks and sample lineups for the day. As an added bonus in 2017, we will publish the Consensus on weekends when we have a writer available. To begin the 2017 season, we will grade 20 experts that provide pitcher selections and 21 that provide hitter selections daily.
Leaderboard
The top-3 for both pitchers and hitters are below. We had some big time moving on the pitcher side of the coin. Massive weeks by DailyFantasyNerd and the RotoGrinders Consensus have created an extremely tight race for the last top-3 spot. The hitter side of things pretty much stays the same. We’ll keep a close eye on the pitcher picks from the experts as that seems to be where the majority of the big shake-ups take place weekly. Be sure to check out the full MLB Expert Standings to see how your favorite experts check out.
Pitchers
#1) FantasyCPR (Score: 4.81) made a splash in their debut week with their pitcher picks. Too bad they weren’t able to replicate things on the hitting side. Worth keeping an eye on FantasyCPR to see if they can keep it up or if it was just beginner’s luck.
#2) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 4.79) basically stayed flat for the week only dropping .02; however, that minimal loss cost them the top spot. DFSR has been a consistent performer for two years now so I have no doubt they’ll be back up top soon.
#3) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 4.58) was one of those big movers we talked about up top. They used a large week to vault into the top-3 standings for the season. They have several experts chomping at their heels though so another good week will be in order to stay in this position.
Hitters
#1) RotoGrinders 6-Pack (Score: 3.31) still holds the top spot and has created some additional space between himself and #2 even while dropping .10 for the week.
#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 3.16) had a bit of a down week but still maintains the 2nd position. FTA continues to perform well on both the pitcher and hitter side.
#3) Daily Overlay – On the Hill (Score: 3.09) also dropped .10 for the week. However, Brad still holds a comfortable lead over RotoGrinders Lineup Builder for the final top-3 slot.
Week in Review
Monday (May 22nd)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 4.20 (13th)
Hitters – 2.26 (11th)
A+ – Zack Greinke, Brad Peacock, Jeff Hoffman, Paul Goldschmidt, Jason Kipnis, Joe Panik, Miguel Sano, Charlie Blackmon, Max Kepler
F – Twenty-two of the 48 total selections finished in the failing category.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A-C) Daily Overlay – Value Index, DK Playbook, Sportsline (Score: 10.00) all scored a perfect 10 on Monday.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyLabs (Score: 3.91) scored an “A” or better with five of their eleven picks to start the week.
#2) Rotowire (Score: 3.75) scored an “A” or better with three of their eight selections on Monday. Rotowire was the lone expert to play Javier Baez and his “A+” grade.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Jorge Polanco (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Didi Gregorius (FantasyPros)
A+ – Javier Baez (Rotowire)
Tuesday (May 23rd)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 5.14 (13th)
Hitters – 3.76 (10th)
A+ – Clayton Kershaw, German Marquez, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Abreu, Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Villar, Francisco Lindor, Todd Frazier, Andrew Benintendi, Charlie Blackmon, Matt Adams, Michael Conforto
F – Thirteen of the 45 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A-C) DK Playbook, Rotowire, DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 10.00) scored two perfect grades each for a 1st place tie.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 6.91) had a large day on Tuesday. Nine of their 11 plays scored an “A” or better including six “A+” grades.
#2) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 6.20) found the “A+” category with six of their 10 plays. Unfortunately, the other four were all “D’s” and failing grades.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Xander Bogaerts (DailyFantasySportsRankings)
A+ – Josh Bell (RotoGrinders 6-Pack)
A+ – Whit Merrifield (Scout Fantasy)
A+ – Joey Gallo (Rotowire)
A+ – Mike Moustakas (DailyFantasyNerd)
A+ – JT Realmuto (Sportsline)
A+ – Justin Bour (FantasyGuruElite)
Wednesday (May 24th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 3.29 (10th)
Hitters – 1.68 (14th)
A+ – Luis Severino, Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon, Carlos Gonzalez
F – Twenty-three of the 45 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) Rotowire (Score: 7.50) scored an “A+” and “A” with their pitcher picks on Wednesday.
#2A) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (Score: 6.50) nailed down an “A+” and “B” in finding the top-2.
#2B) Sportsline (Score: 6.50) also scored an “A+” and “B” for the 2nd place tie.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) DK Playbook (Score: 4.25) had a solid Wednesday as half of their eight plays scored a “B” or better including three perfect scores. They were the lone expert to play Yadier Molina and Wilmer Flores and their “A+” grades.
#2A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 2.67) scored two “A+” grades and three “B’s” on their way to a top-2 slot. DFSR is lone expert to recommend Alex Bregman.
#2B) Sportsline (Score: 2.67) capped off a nice day all around with a top-2 hitter finish. Half of their six plays scored a “B” or better.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Alex Bregman (DailyFantasySportsRankings)
A+ – Didi Gregorius (Scout Fantasy)
A+ – Yadier Molina (DK Playbook)
A+ – Wilmer Flores (DK Playbook)
Thursday (May 25th – Early)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 7.00 (T-3rd)
Hitters – 3.09 (6th)
A+ – Matt Andriese, Tyler Anderson, Francisco Cervelli, Tommy Joseph, Adam Frazier, Anthony Rendon, Nelson Cruz
F – Eight of the 26 selections finished with a failing grade (all failing grades were hitter selections).
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (Score: 10.00) nailed two “A+” grades in the early slate on Thursday afternoon.
#2) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 8.33) rounded out the top-2 with two “A+” grades and an “A”.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 5.00) hauled in three “A+” grades and three failing grades to top the leaderboard.
#2) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (Score: 4.75) scored an “A+” with three of their eight plays for a top-2 finish.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Trevor Story (DK Playbook)
Thursday (May 25th – Main)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 7.33 (T-7th)
Hitters – 2.58 (13th)
A+ – Robbie Ray, Drew Pomeranz, Paul Goldschmidt, Xander Bogaerts, Jose Iglesias, JD Martinez, Andrew Benintendi, Justin Upton
F – Sixteen of the 29 selections finished with a failing grade (all failing grades were hitter selections).
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A-F) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder, Scout Fantasy, DK Playbook, DailyFantasyNerd, Sportsline, FantasyCPR (Score: 10.00) all nailed perfect scores in Thursday’s evening slate. Scout Fantasy was the lone expert site to play Dinelson Lamet.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1A) Rotowire (Score: 5.00) scored one “A+” and one failing grade for a 5.0 on Thursday evening.
#1B) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 5.00) nailed three “A+” grades but paired those with three failing grades.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Marwin Gonzalez (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Dinelson Lamet (Scout Fantasy)
A+ – Chase Utley (DK Playbook)
A+ – Lucas Duda (FantasyGuruElite)
Friday (May 26th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 4.67 (13th)
Hitters – 2.25 (11th)
A+ – Max Scherzer, Chris Archer, Jacob deGrom, Kendrys Morales, Lucas Duda, Rougned Odor, Elvis Andrus, Trea Turner, Jake Lamb, Bryce Harper
F – Twenty-six of the 49 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score 10.00) brought home two perfect scores to finish the week on a high note.
#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score 8.75) had a marvelous night with three “A+” grades and one “A”.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) Daily Overlay – Value Index (Score: 4.25) found the top-2 for the first time for the week on Friday. Stephen scored an “A+” with three of his eight plays.
#2) RotoGrinders – Lucror Model (Score: 3.54) scored an “A” or better with five of his 13 plays including four “A+” grades.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Masahiro Tanaka (DailyRoto)
A+ – Jett Bandy (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Justin Smoak (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Christian Yelich (FantasyTeamAdvice)
Ownership Percentage Tracking
Below is the current table showing the data we have tracked so far this season. Results are using DraftKings Double-Up or 50/50s for Cash and large field multi-entry tournaments for GPP. The Count column shows the number of times a player was selected by the experts for a given day. The Cash % chart shows the average ownership percentage of those players in a Cash game. The GPP % chart shows the average ownership percentage of those players in a GPP tournament.
Cash by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 16 | 91.30% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 66.40% | N/A | 78.85% |
| 15 | 68.35% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 68.35% |
| 14 | 68.97% | 63.10% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 61.60% | 79.25% | 70.01% |
| 13 | 71.39% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 72.90% | N/A | N/A | 71.52% |
| 12 | 62.68% | N/A | 65.50% | 37.00% | 27.10% | 70.43% | 46.90% | 57.55% |
| 11 | 50.95% | N/A | 39.50% | 30.40% | 40.20% | 43.73% | 43.85% | 45.30% |
| 10 | 43.43% | 33.60% | 35.35% | 40.13% | 50.94% | 34.95% | 54.60% | 45.35% |
| 9 | 41.04% | 22.59% | 46.94% | 38.46% | 27.59% | 40.93% | 35.13% | 35.59% |
| 8 | 33.94% | 27.76% | 32.82% | 25.28% | 33.07% | 39.34% | 33.36% | 32.96% |
| 7 | 24.31% | 34.91% | 26.85% | 22.07% | 22.08% | 30.39% | 28.18% | 26.26% |
| 6 | 26.57% | 15.96% | 20.63% | 17.87% | 19.60% | 19.97% | 23.81% | 21.78% |
| 5 | 17.73% | 18.24% | 14.85% | 14.46% | 12.73% | 13.80% | 20.31% | 16.65% |
| 4 | 12.46% | 11.89% | 9.27% | 10.49% | 10.62% | 7.76% | 14.10% | 11.24% |
| 3 | 6.79% | 9.34% | 7.17% | 9.17% | 7.52% | 7.79% | 9.15% | 8.21% |
| 2 | 4.99% | 6.68% | 4.23% | 6.21% | 5.33% | 4.22% | 5.90% | 5.43% |
| 1 | 2.50% | 3.29% | 2.02% | 2.53% | 3.18% | 1.90% | 3.09% | 2.70% |
GPP by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 16 | 67.00% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 46.50% | N/A | 56.75% |
| 15 | 44.80% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 44.80% |
| 14 | 44.70% | 40.40% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 42.30% | 50.90% | 45.51% |
| 13 | 47.09% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 36.40% | N/A | N/A | 46.20% |
| 12 | 45.46% | N/A | 30.20% | 20.30% | 27.10% | 36.03% | 31.00% | 36.54% |
| 11 | 34.50% | N/A | 24.65% | 21.47% | 30.10% | 25.28% | 29.20% | 30.01% |
| 10 | 31.28% | 24.90% | 22.25% | 36.33% | 33.16% | 21.75% | 29.90% | 29.91% |
| 9 | 32.84% | 19.24% | 23.70% | 20.06% | 19.13% | 18.53% | 21.75% | 24.19% |
| 8 | 27.90% | 21.04% | 21.88% | 18.23% | 26.03% | 22.32% | 21.50% | 22.90% |
| 7 | 22.10% | 23.70% | 19.51% | 15.72% | 19.15% | 20.28% | 20.61% | 20.34% |
| 6 | 25.05% | 14.13% | 14.37% | 14.08% | 15.37% | 14.64% | 16.63% | 17.18% |
| 5 | 17.34% | 14.00% | 11.61% | 12.88% | 11.01% | 12.08% | 15.28% | 13.86% |
| 4 | 14.11% | 10.80% | 8.33% | 9.03% | 10.49% | 8.60% | 11.59% | 10.50% |
| 3 | 9.25% | 8.41% | 7.49% | 7.93% | 7.43% | 8.11% | 9.01% | 8.32% |
| 2 | 7.56% | 6.90% | 5.22% | 5.99% | 6.04% | 5.51% | 6.39% | 6.24% |
| 1 | 4.60% | 4.00% | 3.20% | 3.62% | 3.94% | 3.33% | 4.06% | 3.83% |
