DraftKings contributor Nick Friar and Rotowire’s Erik Halterman join The Sweat to give their favorite DraftKings value plays for today’s MLB slate.
Watch today’s entire episode of The Sweat below!
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Video Transcript
Nick Friar:
Jonathan Schoop—and I know when you look at his average, as much as we don’t put too much stock in average, it’s like sub two. So yeah, it’s not exactly appealing, but at $3.4K, he’s going up against the guy who he has smoked throughout the course of his career, and he’s gotten 40 plate appearances against Chris Archer. 15 for 40, six home runs and three doubles against Archer, and I know he’s struggled against righties throughout the course of season, he hasn’t really done great against lefties either, but Schoop does have a 51.2 percent hard hit rate or hard contact rate against righties this month with a couple of home runs and a double.
Erik Halterman:
I’m going to turn to a guy that I’ve turned to often for this question, but there’s good reason for it, and that’s Darin Ruf at $3600. The guy is just an absolute lefty masher. For his career, he’s got a .937 OPS against lefties compared to a .688 OPS against righties, so I want no part of him against same-sided pitching. But he performs like one of the best hitters in the league when he gets the platoon advantage. And he’s very inexpensive at $3600 at positions in first base and outfield where you’re often looking to go for your most expensive bats. You can get a guy who has that kind of talent when he’s facing a lefty like David Peterson, who has a 1.89 ERA, but that comes in just 19 innings with mediocre peripherals. For his career, 4.26 ERA, pretty unspectacular underlying numbers. He’s a competent enough pitcher, but Ruf crushes pretty much every lefty and I like him basically every time he faces anybody but the top lefties.
Nick’s Pick: Jonathan Schoop ($3,400)
Erik’s Pick: Darin Ruf ($3,600)
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