The first day of MLB's regular season is in the books, but we still have so much baseball ahead of us. Friday's main slate of games presents us some very intriguing targets for our starting pitcher. As always, FanDuel covers all of your DFS desires with a plethora of cash and GPP contests to choose from with a wide selection of what kind of slate you want to pick.

Whether you work the night shift and want to enjoy baseball with FanDuel's early slate or you set your lineups in the morning and come home in the afternoon for the featured slate of contests, FanDuel offers it all to fit your preferences.

Today, we'll look at the hitters on the slate and highlight some bats who we want to target and build our lineups around. For these players, we'll factor in cost, potential production, matchup and positional value. Of course, we'll also mention one stack play we are targeting, which DFS players competing in GPP contests will especially want to focus on.

Catcher/First Base

Gary Sanchez, NYY @ TOR, ($3,900)

The nice thing about FanDuel combining catcher/first base into one position is the added boost it gives to someone like Sanchez. Typically, to spend up on Sanchez at the catcher position would be a slightly heavier burden given his price relative to other catchers at the position. On FanDuel though, Sanchez's price tag rates well behind the likes of Anthony Rizzo, Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman. Sanchez boasts as much power as those three, but FanDuel lets us have him for up to $700 cheaper. While Aaron Sanchez is a ground ball/line drive pitcher, his 17.1 percent HR/FB rate last season showed what happens when a hitter got a hold of one. 

Marwin Gonzalez, HOU @ TEX, ($2,800)

If there is one thing we know about Texas Rangers starting pitcher Doug Fister, it is how poorly he gets along with left-handed hitters. Last season, batters hitting from the left side crushed Fister to the tune of a .293/.386/.476 slash line, .365 wOBA and six home runs in just 42 innings pitched. Now bring in Gonzalez, who finds himself hitting fifth in Houston's lineup. It's an excellent spot for a player to produce runs and given the depth of the Astros' lineup, there are batters behind him to drive him in as well. Gonzalez is a cheap bat who you can plug in with other left-handed or switch hitters in Houston's lineup for a mini-stack against Fister.

Second Base:

D.J. LeMahieu, COL @ ARZ, ($2,800)

The selection of second basemen isn't particularly attractive for Friday's featured slate. Jose Altuve is an MVP winner but with the splits working against him some and his price, we look to spend elsewhere. Meanwhile, Ian Kinsler is injured and Javier Baez hits far too low in Chicago's lineup for us to trust him. So, our eyes turn towards LeMahieu at a very favorable price. While Robbie Ray emerged as a breakout star last season, consistent command remains an issue for him and that could prove problematic against a Colorado Rockies lineup that handled southpaws quite well. Amongst the team's best hitters versus lefties, LeMahieu posted a .421 OBP, .961 OPS and 136 wRC+ last season in 173 plate appearances against them. He comes at a very reasonable cost and should be part of many cash-game lineups.

Shortstop:

Xander Bogaerts, BOS @ TB, ($3,400)

While Carlos Correa is always an elite play, we're going to shave off $700 to invest in other positions given the lack of quality pitching in the featured slate. Even with the drop in shortstop tiers, we still land on one who could deliver an excellent performance. Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell is a pitcher on the rise and one we'll highlight many times this season as a value target, but an early season matchup against the Boston Red Sox just isn't ideal. Bogaerts boasts a career .312/.384/.449 slash line and 127 wRC+ against southpaws in his career, numbers that are significantly better than his stats versus righties. A two or three-hit day with two runs scored could be a major difference maker at the shortstop position and the numbers are easily in Bogaerts favor to have a good day at the plate.
 

Elvis Andrus, TEX vs. HOU, ($3,200)

At shortstop, Andrus will only cost you roughly nine percent of your allotted cap room and he raises your average salary remaining per player by nearly $100. His matchup against Dallas Keuchel, one of the upper echelon left-handed pitchers in the game will provide challenges, but matchups like these are where Andrus stands out the most. Last season, he led the Rangers' qualified hitters in wRC+ (119), wOBA (.357) and ISO (.210) against southpaws. He'll be hitting in the top third of Texas' batting order and on a slate of contests where the back end of shortstops is thin, Andrus fits right in the middle as a potential value play who can net you a solid return on your investment.

Third Base:

Nolan Arenado, COL @ ARZ, ($4,300)

We mentioned with LeMahieu how the Rockies' lineup experienced plenty of success versus left-handed pitchers. It's true, many of them fared very well against southpaws and it showed in their numbers. Yet none of them belonged in the same stratosphere as Arenado. In 165 plate appearances, he crushed them to the tune of a .420 ISO, 1.313 OPS, .534 wOBA and 224 wRC+. Sure, it isn't beneficial that Chase Field added a humidor for the baseballs, but frankly it doesn't matter. Ray throws his fastball 55-plus percent of the time and paired with his slider, while it can be lethal to opposing batters, Arenado is more than capable of crushing any pitch Ray throws.

Zack Cozart, LAA @ OAK, ($3,000)

Cozart's move to Los Angeles meant many things. Even beyond the pay day, playing for the Angels meant a transition to a new position and the opportunity to play on a team with a very good lineup and compete for a playoff spot. From a DFS perspective, the move to Los Angeles should also be beneficial for Cozart. On Friday, Cozart faces a southpaw and will hit near the top of the Angels' lineup. That means a player who slashed .337/.426/.633 with a 1.059 OPS last season versus lefties, getting several trips to the plate against Sean Manaea. If you want to save money at third base, Cozart is a quality play.