It was a bit of an odd week with Brad and Stephen on vacation. Stephen made his return last Friday in a big way by topping the daily leaderboard on the pitcher and hitter side to end the week. No changes to speak of in our season-long standings. The experts should have rested up over the break and will get back at it this Friday. I will not be writing a recap next week as there will only be one day of grades. I’ll combine Friday’s picks with the next recap. 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. Be sure to check out the full MLB Expert Standings to see how your favorite experts check out.
Pitchers
#1) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 5.11) continued their surge bumping their score a slight .02. That was good enough to widen the gap over the competition.
#2) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 5.00) stayed fairly level for the week and still maintained the coveted 5.0 threshold. DFSR will look to make a move in the 2nd half and regain 1st place.
#3) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 4.85) holds steady at #3. They also saw a slight dip of .02 in their score but nothing to worry about.
Hitters
#1) RotoGrinders 6-Pack (Score: 3.13) took another step back last week but still has a comfortable lead atop the expert scoreboard.
#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 3.00) put together a solid week of picks to climb to the 3.0 threshold. They’ve close the gap but still have some major work to do in order to compete for the top spot.
#3) Daily Overlay – On the Hill (Score: 2.84) held steady this week…because Brad was on vacation. He’ll get back after it this Friday in hopes of making a 2nd half run.
Week in Review
Monday (July 3rd)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 4.11 (10th)
Hitters – 2.09 (13th)
A+ – Aaron Nola, Masahiro Tanaka, Carlos Rodon, Dustin Pedroia, Scooter Gennett, Miguel Sano, Charlie Blackmon, Raimel Tapia
F – Twenty-two of the 42 total selections finished in the failing category (all failing grades were hitters).
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 10.00) continued their scorching streak on Monday with two perfect scores.
#2) Scout Fantasy (Score: 8.25) nailed three “A+” grades with their four picks. The lone outlier was a solid “B” grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) Rotoballer (Score: 4.60) started off the week strong as two of their five plays scored an “A+” grade.
#2A) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 4.20) slid in the top-2 with two of their five selections scoring an “A+” grade.
#2B) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 4.20) scored an “A” or better with four of their ten plays on Monday evening.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Martin Maldonado (DailyRoto)
A+ – Joe Mauer (Rotowire)
Wednesday (July 5th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 4.17 (14th)
Hitters – 2.21 (13th)
A+ – Alex Wood, Gerrit Cole, Joey Votto, Jose Altuve, Rougned Odor, Francisco Lindor, Xander Bogaerts, George Springer, Keon Broxton, Nelson Cruz
F – Twenty-five of the 49 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (Score: 10.00) nailed down a perfect grade with their lone selection on Wednesday night.
#2) DK Playbook (Score: 6.50) scored an “A+” and a “B” with their two picks.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) Rotoballer (Score: 5.00) made it two days in a row on top of the hitter grades. They scored three “A+” grades and three failing ones
#2) Sportsline (Score: 4.13) put together a solid lineup on Wednesday. Three of their eight plays scored “A+” grades. Sportsline was the lone expert site to recommend Salvador Perez and his “A+” grade.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Mike Moustakas (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Ervin Santana (DK Playbook)
A+ – Matt Garza (FantasyPros)
A+ – Salvador Perez (Sportsline)
Thursday (July 6th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 3.88 (10th)
Hitters – 2.30 (8th)
A+ – Robbie Ray, Rich Hill, Bruce Maxwell, Russell Martin, Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Brian Goodwin
F – Twenty-three of the 45 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score 7.50) scored an “A+” and “A” with their two picks on Thursday.
#1B) DK Playbook (Score 7.50) also hauled in an “A+” and “A” for the 1st place tie.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 3.92) made it a clean sweep for the day. Five of their thirteen plays scored an “A” or better.
#2) Rotowire (Score: 3.14) brought home three grades of “A” or better with their seven selections.
Sleepers of the Day
There were no “A+” players selected by only one expert on Thursday.
Friday (July 7th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 4.50 (T-10th)
Hitters – 2.84 (15th)
A+ – James Paxton, Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke, DJ LeMahieu, Francisco Lindor, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado, Nelson Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton
F – Seventeen of the 42 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) Daily Overlay – Value Index (Score 10.00) made his only day making picks count last week with a perfect “A+” grade.
#2A) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (Score 7.50) nailed down an “A+” and “A” with their two plays.
#2B) Rotowire (Score 7.50) also finished the week out nicely with an “A+” and “A” grades.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) Daily Overlay – Value Index (Score: 5.25) must have studied up on his vacation as he made it a clean sweep on Friday. Stephen scored an “A+” grade with half of his four picks.
#2) FantasyPros (Score: 5.11) scored an “A” or better with six of their nine plays to end the week. FP was the lone expert to play Bradley Zimmer and his “A+” grade.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Carlos Carrasco (DailyRoto)
A+ – Dustin Pedroia (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Carlos Correa (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Hanley Ramiez (Scout Fantasy)
A+ – Bradley Zimmer (FantasyPros)
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 | 79.70% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 66.40% | N/A | 75.27% |
| 15 | 65.73% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 65.73% |
| 14 | 62.78% | 63.10% | N/A | N/A | 48.50% | 61.60% | 79.25% | 64.05% |
| 13 | 70.24% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 72.90% | N/A | 65.10% | 70.11% |
| 12 | 51.41% | N/A | 65.50% | 37.00% | 27.10% | 70.43% | 46.90% | 52.58% |
| 11 | 52.26% | N/A | 43.55% | 30.40% | 33.00% | 47.46% | 47.09% | 47.29% |
| 10 | 49.31% | 48.00% | 39.98% | 42.88% | 47.50% | 33.77% | 50.88% | 47.27% |
| 9 | 37.97% | 23.62% | 41.52% | 42.17% | 27.04% | 34.26% | 33.89% | 34.13% |
| 8 | 35.29% | 25.13% | 29.33% | 29.48% | 24.98% | 39.06% | 33.34% | 32.00% |
| 7 | 22.70% | 27.27% | 27.69% | 22.83% | 24.81% | 25.27% | 25.98% | 24.94% |
| 6 | 22.77% | 21.99% | 20.20% | 18.78% | 17.64% | 18.69% | 23.33% | 21.11% |
| 5 | 16.79% | 17.71% | 15.45% | 14.38% | 16.42% | 13.08% | 20.89% | 17.01% |
| 4 | 12.22% | 11.20% | 9.67% | 10.02% | 11.22% | 8.68% | 13.85% | 11.29% |
| 3 | 7.54% | 8.67% | 6.95% | 8.12% | 6.92% | 7.09% | 8.93% | 7.86% |
| 2 | 4.83% | 5.89% | 4.32% | 5.18% | 5.08% | 4.29% | 5.71% | 5.12% |
| 1 | 2.22% | 3.26% | 2.25% | 2.52% | 3.18% | 1.83% | 2.89% | 2.64% |
GPP by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 16 | 52.65% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 46.50% | N/A | 50.60% |
| 15 | 38.13% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 38.13% |
| 14 | 39.47% | 40.40% | N/A | N/A | 27.30% | 42.30% | 50.90% | 40.50% |
| 13 | 45.21% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 36.40% | N/A | 27.30% | 43.80% |
| 12 | 36.28% | N/A | 30.20% | 20.30% | 27.10% | 36.03% | 31.00% | 34.15% |
| 11 | 33.34% | N/A | 21.05% | 21.47% | 25.20% | 24.14% | 25.94% | 28.03% |
| 10 | 31.51% | 24.20% | 22.26% | 32.18% | 29.33% | 18.93% | 26.48% | 28.21% |
| 9 | 30.02% | 19.14% | 21.48% | 20.68% | 17.92% | 16.78% | 23.47% | 23.83% |
| 8 | 28.53% | 18.61% | 20.05% | 18.16% | 19.09% | 20.78% | 21.13% | 21.40% |
| 7 | 21.11% | 20.37% | 17.26% | 15.21% | 19.11% | 16.55% | 17.09% | 18.16% |
| 6 | 22.29% | 15.84% | 13.20% | 13.68% | 14.09% | 13.99% | 15.55% | 16.11% |
| 5 | 16.75% | 13.27% | 11.47% | 11.66% | 11.52% | 11.69% | 14.77% | 13.36% |
| 4 | 13.55% | 9.94% | 8.58% | 8.44% | 10.77% | 8.17% | 11.29% | 10.24% |
| 3 | 9.77% | 8.26% | 7.14% | 7.68% | 7.34% | 7.29% | 8.74% | 8.11% |
| 2 | 7.47% | 6.26% | 5.22% | 5.53% | 6.00% | 5.36% | 6.25% | 6.05% |
| 1 | 4.37% | 3.85% | 3.23% | 3.67% | 3.75% | 3.25% | 3.91% | 3.73% |
