Daily Fantasy Baseball 2015: 2nd-Half Sleepers, Bargain Pitchers to Watch

It's July 15th, which is way better than April 15th, and, if your name is Julius Caesar, March 15th.

Depending on whom you root for, we're about 90 games into the 2015 MLB season. Mike Trout just won his second straight All-Star Game MVP, and in 90 days he'll probably win his second straight MVP. 

But for baseball fans, this time of year is always a bit nerve-wracking. There's not that much baseball left. By early November, only one fanbase will be wholly satisfied. 

Luckily, our friends over at draftkings.com have helped calm the nerves of those fans who get anxious about long, baseball-less winters by providing hundreds of tournaments and 50/50's every day of the season (and most of the postseason). 

Here's a guide to some potential underrated starters for the last 70-some-odd games of the year.

The Studs

Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber, Jose Fernandez

Believe it or not, none of these pitchers made the All-Star Game!

Bolstered by a monster 13-strikeout shutout of the anemic Phillies in his last outing, Kershaw has jumped to the top of the league in most advanced pitching statistics. However, though his Dodgers are 12 games over .500, he is just 6-6. If Kershaw continues to pitch this well, he's more likely to win 80 percent of his remaining starts than 50 percent.

Kluber is the top-ranked pitcher on numberFire.com's player rankings. But he's just 4-10. Indians fans, I swear the wins are coming for the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.

Jose Fernandez will definitely rise above the $10,000 mark before his next start on draftkings.com, but he should be worth it. Per baseball-reference.com, in one-and-a-quarter seasons before undergoing Tommy John surgery, Fernandez posted an ERA under 2.3 and a sub-1.0 WHIP. 

According to baseball-reference.com, if Fernandez finished his career with his current rate of 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, he would rank third of all time, behind only Randy Johnson and Kerry Wood.

Neutralizing the Elements

Mike Leake, Brett Anderson, Chris Heston, Tyson Ross

We're headed into the hottest months of the year, and according to theweatherprediction.com, warmer weather and higher humidity cause air to be less dense. Typically, baseballs will travel farther in warmer weather.

These minor advantages that batters gain can be neutralized by several factors. Six clubs play their home games in parks with retractable roofs, and the Rays play in a permanent dome.

Also, temperate climates like those along the west coast don't vary much between spring and summer.

Over the summer, hard line drives and fly balls are more apt to land in a spectator's glove than in an outfielder's. That puts a premium on strikeouts and ground balls. Now, pitchers with high strikeout rates tend to be really pricey on sites like draftkings.com, but those with high ground-ball rates can slip through the cracks.

Fangraphs.com, bless them, has just the stat to satisfy this summertime craving: Ground-ball rate. It divides the number of balls hit on the ground out by the total number of balls put in play. These four—Leake, Anderson, Heston and Ross—all rank in the top 16 in the league in ground-ball rate. 

Per baseball-reference.com, Mike Leake has dominated opposing hitters on the road this season. His ERA at home is more than double his road ERA. I'd continue to avoid using him in home starts, but jump on the Leake train anytime he's throwing away from the Ohio-Kentucky border. 

Trust the Advanced Stats

Collin McHugh

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Per fangraphs.com, the Astros starter sits 55th in strikeout percentage but 30th in swinging strike percentage. Those two stats should be reliant on one another. McHugh will likely strike out opposing hitters at a higher rate after the All-Star break.

Jesse Chavez

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Chavez has had some poor luck for a ballclub that is vastly underperforming. The Oakland A's are a very solid team masquerading as a terrible one. According to espn.com, they've outscored opponents by 44 runs this season. That's the seventh-best run differential in the league.

Per baseball-reference.com, Chavez is 4-9 with a dependable 3.40 ERA. According to fangraphs.com, "Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) measures what a player’s ERA would look like over a given period of time if the pitcher were to have experienced league-average results on balls in play and league-average timing." Chavez's FIP is 3.25, which is better than his ERA.