This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Baseball series.
STARTING PITCHER
Walker Buehler, LAD vs. SDP ($44): Buehler, who was considered a top prospect before the season, has a 2.38 ERA and 2.49 FIP this season. At home he's been truly stellar, admittedly in only 16.0 innings, with a 1.50 ERA and 0.78 WHIP. The Padres are one of the worst teams in terms of runs scored per game, and last year they finished with the fewest runs scored in the league.
Nick Pivetta, PHI vs. TOR ($40): Pivetta struggled a bit last year, but he struck out 9.47 batters per nine innings as a rookie. This season, though, he has a 3.23 ERA and 2.95 FIP, and he's fanned 10.19 batters per nine innings. At home, he's been even more impressive with a 2.00 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. The Blue Jays have been good offensively, but on the road their offense has been middling.
CATCHER
Tucker Barnhart, CIN at COL ($16): Barnhart made a big jump at the plate last season, posting a .270/.347/.403 slash line. His numbers are slightly better than that to start this year. German Marquez has a career 4.51 ERA, but this year his numbers have been truly awful at home (10.34 EA, 2.43 WHIP). Barnhart doesn't have a ton of power, but at Coors Field in late May you don't necessarily need a lot of power to put one over the fence.
FIRST BASE
C.J. Cron, TAM vs. BAL ($19): The move to Tampa has given Cron a bigger role, and he's making the most of it so far. He has a .270/.326/.485 slash line with 11 home runs in 49 games. He will almost assuredly surpass the 16 home runs he has hit in each of the last three seasons. Meanwhile, Baltimore's Kevin Gausman has allowed 1.27 home runs per nine innings in his career, and that includes a season in 2014 that is a major outlier. In every other season he has given up at least 1.36 homers per nine innings.
SECOND BASE
Jonathan Villar, MIL vs. NYM ($12): Villar has a .277 batting average and has stolen eight basses. The 27-year-old stole 23 bags last year after swiping 62 in 2016. Zach Wheeler's ERA last season was 5.21, and this year it's 5.32. These are the two seasons he's pitched since missing a full two years after Tommy John surgery, so this may be the pitcher who he is now.
THIRD BASE
Jeimer Candelario, DET vs. CWS ($15): Candelario has hit well since returning from the DL, especially Saturday when he notched two homers against these very same White Sox. He now has a .277/.364/.529 slash line, and the 24-year-old has been quite impressive since being traded to the Tigers. As for the White Sox, they will be starting James Shields, who has been, frankly, terrible for a while. In fact, over his last three seasons he's averaged a 4.90 ERA and 5.25 FIP.
SHORTSTOP
Trea Turner, WAS at MIA ($21): Turner has yet to play more than 98 games in a season, but when he's played he's made noise with his bat. The 24-year-old has a career slash line of .297/.352/.477. He's also hit right-handed pitchers considerably better than lefties. We don't know much about Elieser Hernandez, as he's only pitched 13.0 innings in the majors, but he wasn't considered a prospect heading into the year, and he is a righty.
OUTFIELD
Nomar Mazara, TEX vs. KAN ($19): Mazara hit 20 homers in each of his first two seasons in the league, but he's on pace to best that this year. He already has 12 dingers in 53 games, and his .502 slugging percentage is a significant increase for him. The 23-year-old is still early in his career, so improvement is to be expected. In his first season with the Royals, Jason Hammel has a 5.29 ERA, and this year his ERA has risen to 5.70.
Nick Castellanos, DET vs. CWS ($19): Castellanos numbers have risen every season, and last year he hit 26 homers and plated 101 RBI. This year, he has a .325/.371/.508 slash line as a 26-year-old. As previously noted, James Shields has a 5.25 FIP over the last three seasons, and he's allowed 1.78 home runs per nine innings over that time as well.
Rhys Hoskins, PHI vs. TOR ($14): Hoskins is off to a somewhat slow start, at least compared to last season. Still, it was only a year ago that he had an 1.014 OPS and hit 18 homers in 50 games. The power, and the potential, are still there, but his slow start has made his price drop considerably. Toronto's J.A. Happ is 35 now, and he has a 3.97 ERA and has allowed 1.37 homers per nine innings. He hasn't been bad, but he doesn't pose a great threat to Hoskins.
