The MLB season is underway and it’s a great time to get in on some DraftKings action. Monday features a seven-game main slate, starting at 7:10 p.m., to start the week off right.
Set your DraftKings lineups here: MLB $300K Gyro Ball [$100K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Trevor Bauer, CIN at MIL, $10,200 - Finding solid pitching this season has been a very difficult task. Between pitch counts and inconsistent performances, there are only a few pitchers that we can truly rely on this season. Bauer is one of the more dependable aces. He has scored at least 36 DKFP in each of his first four starts with 41 strikeouts in 26 1⁄3 innings. It’s hard to match this kind of upside and Bauer has only allowed a total of two runs to score against him this season. It appears he has fixed whatever caused his struggles last year.
Value
Jesús Luzardo, OAK at TEX, $7,400 - The Rangers’ new ballpark isn’t quite the hitters’ haven that the old stadium was. To this point, the new park actually rates as one of the 10 most pitcher-friendly parks in the league. That brings Luzardo, one of the league’s top pitching prospects, into play. The young lefty is starting to look really good in the big leagues and has scored at least 18 DKFP in three of his past four starts. Pitching against a struggling Rangers offense, I expect him to build on his recent success.
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CATCHER
Stud
Willson Contreras, CHC at DET, $4,800 - Casey Mize ($6,200) looked decent in his first big league start but I don’t think he’s quite ready to take on an offense like the Cubs. The odds seem to agree with this sentiment since the Cubs have an implied run total slightly over five tonight. Catcher is a bit of an odd position tonight since Contreras is the only player at the position priced over $4,500 but I still think he’s worth looking at.
Value
Curt Casali, CIN at MIL, $3,400 - Casali isn’t a player that gets talked about much, or at all really, but he’s having a nice season. The journeyman catcher is building one of the best seasons of his career and he has hit left-handed pitching extremely well. Against southpaws, he has a 146 wRC+ with a .353 ISO. This kind of power makes him a good play against a weak lefty in Brett Anderson ($6,000).
FIRST BASE
Stud
Anthony Rizzo, CHC at DET, $5,200 - Here is another high-end Cubs bat that I like going up against Mize. After a strong start to the season, Rizzo started slumping but I think he may have pulled out of it yesterday. After going four games without a hit, he finally broke out last night with a single. It’s also nice that Rizzo’s plate discipline has remained intact. So far, he has the highest walk rate of his career in 2020.
Value
Matt Davidson, CIN vs. MIL, $3,000 - Throughout his career, Davidson has always done one thing well and that is hit left-handed pitching. This is why I was shocked to see him as one of the cheapest first baseman on the slate in a matchup against Anderson. Davidson already has three homers off southpaws this season and is sporting a 246 wRC+ against them.
SECOND BASE
Stud
Jose Altuve, HOU vs. LAA, $5,100 - It was only a matter of time until Altuve stopped being terrible. After a slow start to the season, a cheating narrative popped up online about how Altuve would never be a good hitter again. Turns out, this isn’t the case. He has multiple hits in four of his past five games and it looks like Altuve is getting back on track.
Value
Jonathan Schoop, DET at CHC, $4,000 - I have targeted Schoop a whole bunch this season. With six homers and typically a cheap price at second base, Schoop provides upside at a position that we don’t get a ton of power from. He missed yesterday’s game with a sore hamstring but is expected back in the lineup today. Schoop has homers in two of his past five games.
THIRD BASE
Stud
Eugenio Suárez, CIN vs. MIL, $4,600 - Apparently, I like the Reds a lot today since I keep listing all of their hitters. Even though Suárez is off to a slow start, he has such a long history of hitting lefties well that I am willing to roster him today. Last year, he put up a 149 wRC+ against southpaws with a .301 ISO. I am hoping that the field will be off him today and it looks like he’s turning around his slow start. Suarez has homered in two of his past five games.
Value
Eduardo Escobar, ARI vs. COL, $4,100 - While it would be nice to be able to roster Escobar at this price at Coors Field, it’s a pretty good situation for him facing the Rockies at home. Escobar has a wRC+ 61 points higher in Arizona than he does on the road. He’s also facing a pitcher in Ryan Castellani ($5,200) who is heading toward regression. Despite a 3.77 ERA, he has a 5.37 FIP. His ERA is propped up by unsustainable good luck in his BABIP and LOB%.
SHORTSTOP
Stud
Carlos Correa, HOU vs. LAA, $4,700 - Nobody wants to roster players on the Astros this season and I get it. Most people don’t want to root for a player that they have negative bias toward because of what happened in the Astros’ cheating scandal that came to light in the offseason. This bias is creating scenarios where we can roster elite hitters at low ownership. Correa has a 128 wRC+ at shortstop this season and rarely garners much ownership.
Value
Adalberto Mondesi, KC at STL, $2,800 - What a terrible start to the season for a man many of us had pegged as a potential fantasy superstar this season. Due to his speed, Mondesi seemed like a surefire bet to be among the league leaders in stolen bases. Here’s the problem — he rarely gets on base, which kills his chances to steal bags. The good news is that his speed and stolen base upside are still there, it’s just less likely that he hits his ceiling than we thought it would be entering the season. Now that Mondesi is priced way down, he’s worth taking a shot on in tournaments.
OUTFIELD
Stud
Nelson Cruz, MIN at CLE, $5,700 - Cruz is going overlooked on recent slates. When DFS players are looking at the pricing and seeing him around the same salary as Mike Trout ($6,000) and Christian Yelich ($5,400), it isn’t hard to see how Cruz isn’t the name getting selected. However, this should be the case due to Cruz’s power upside. In his last nine games, he has blasted six homers.
Value
Ian Happ, CHC at DET, $3,900 - It’s been an interesting path for Happ. Once a top prospect, Happ floundered last year and ended up getting sent down to the minor leagues. Now, he appears to have regained the form that made him such a promising rookie. Happ is once again leading off for the Cubs and doing damage. He has a career-best 167 wRC+ and looks locked into the Cubs’ lineup for a long time.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is gehrenberg) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.