DraftKings MLB Picks August 22: Save On Pitching And Stack Bats
By Mike Marteny
DraftKings MLB Picks For August 22
We have 14 games in the main DraftKings tournament tonight. As has become habit, DraftKings is leaving the doubleheaders out of their tournaments. With so many players sitting in one game, and the pitchers not always finalized the night before, it is easy to see why they do this. Unfortunately, it takes some bargains out of play tonight.
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The money line last night was just 97.7 points. My lineup with Alonso and Adam Jones made it in easily. The other was torpedoed by my ill-fated A’s stack.
The winning lineup was up some to 170.4. The value plays of Ozzie Albies and Kurt Suzuki came up big.
We will provide you with several options to build your lineup here. Want to spend all your money on pitchers and play bargain bats? We will highlight who is worth the money. Want to punt arms and pay up for the big boppers? We can help you with that as well, and everything in between!
For you first time players, if you would like a bonus of 25% of your first deposit, use this link for the referral bonus! Then continue reading for tips on how to turn those DraftKings dollars into more!
Next: DraftKings Pitcher Plays
Top Tier:
The money assigned to Chris Archer suggests that he is the top play of the night. The past stats also help defend this theory. Archer has 72 strikeouts in 259 at bats, though the Jays have hit 11 homers and scored 33 runs off of him. Archer is going at home though, where his ERA is nearly a run lower than it is on the road. Of all of the pitchers priced above $9,000, Archer is the safest bet.
Carlos Carrasco has the best chance at a win facing Doug Fister, but that is the only certain thing here. The Red Sox are a potent offense that have hit Carrasco at a .300 clip in his career. I am looking elsewhere.
Jimmy Nelson has a ton of upside facing the Giants in AT&T Park, but this is fool’s gold, especially for the amped up price. Nelson got blasted in his only career start there, and he has a career 5.61 ERA in August. And Tanaka against the Tigers? Even in Comerica, I don’t like it Tanaka is coming off of the DL and he has a 5.81 ERA on the road this year. If you are spending on a pitcher, it should be Archer.
Patrick Corbin will provide ample savings, and he is facing a Mets team that really has nothing left. Lefty killers Amed Rosario and Wilmer Flores are there, so there is a bit of risk here, but the upside far outweighs it. As does his $3,000 savings over Archer.
Middle Tier:
The favorite here is clearly Charlie Morton. The Nationals aren’t nearly as potent without Harper and with Anthony Rendon slumping. Morton has also held the Nats to a .197 average in 66 at bats. The nine runs allowed paints a cautionary tale though.
I still believe that Jeff Samardzija is better than he has pitched, and most of the advanced metrics support it. His ERA is more than half a run lower at home, but at 4.48, it is still nothing to write home about. The Brewers do a lot of their damage from the left side, but Shark racks up strikeouts anyway. This is a great strikeout play here, and the Brewers don’t figure to score enough to take a lot away from that.
For whatever reason, Jon Gray has a 6.34 road ERA compared to 3.00 at home. Yes, he still plays for the Rockies. The Royals don’t seem to pose much of a threat, but there is a lot of risk involved here.
I am not touching John Lackey, Ubaldo (if he starts), or Clayton Richard on the road. However, Danny Duffy could be an interesting play since most of the Rockies power comes from the left side. He does have his struggles against righties though that will be mitigated in Kauffman Stadium.
Jameson Taillon against the Dodgers? Pass. Way too much risk here. Lance Lynn has been outstanding lately, posting a 1.93 ERA over his last ten starts. He gets the Padres at home, so I am buying here.
Bargain Pitchers:
Most pitchers in this tier go into the avoid bin for obvious reasons, but a couple in this tier could be solid. Lucas Giolito, once one of the best pitching prospects in the minors, has seen a lot of that shine wear off due to lack of success in the majors and high minors. He honestly hasn’t earned the right to be called up until now. He boasts a 1.71 ERA in his last five starts at AAA. Now, he gets a Twins team without Miguel Sano, which saps a lot of their power. The Twins aren’t terrible and they do hit righties better than lefties, but if Giolito is half as good as the scouts thought, he can handle the Twins in his 2017 debut.
Chris Rowley seems way too low here. There is no way that there are only five pitchers worse than him as his DraftKings price suggests. The reason why he is low though is because this is his first road start, albeit in a great pitcher’s park. He also faced the Rays his last time out and walked five batters. Rowley has been solid thus far, but there is some risk involved here.
Top Tier:
Freddie Freeman is always a top play, even when he is facing a left hander. Especially when said left hander has a 8.44 ERA in four career starts.
Anthony Rizzo is 8-21(.381) with six walks, two doubles, two homers, five runs scored, and six RBI in his career against Homer Bailey. Bailey has been a disaster this year, so Kris Bryant is also a great play as a standalone or part of a Cubs stack in Great American Bandbox.
Paul Goldschmidt will be facing a lefty. At this point it doesn’t even matter if it is Steven Matz or Tom Milone. Both have struggled. All Arizona righties are in play tonight, but Goldschmidt should be at the top of the list.
Joey Votto has cooled down some, but at home against John Lackey is a great spot for him. He is 8-27(.296) with eight walks, a double, two homers, four runs scored, and six RBI off of Lackey in his career.
Manny Machado is always in play at Camden Yards this time of year. I don’t care if Kershaw is facing him, he is worth a look. So you know he is worth a look against Paul Blackburn.
Middle Tier:
Ricky Nolasco has allowed the most home runs (31) in the majors this season, so Joey Gallo and Adrian Beltre are enticing options. So is any other Ranger with a bat in their hands.
If Rafael Devers can hit a home run off of an Aroldis Chapman triple digit fastball, his matchup with Carlos Carrasco doesn’t scare me enough to not use him. I have a feeling that the Red Sox could cook up a half dozen runs in Cleveland tonight.
Mike Moustakas is facing a righty that has really struggled on the road. It could be a place to put Moose back in your lineup.
Jose Abreu has two doubles and a homer in 22 at bats against Kyle Gibson in his career. Gibson is another one of those tomato cans that keeps getting thrown out there. Stacking White Sox is a great idea once again!
Yonder Alonso racked up 23 DraftKings points last night. He faces another weak pitcher tonight, and is very reasonably priced.
Forget the lefty on lefty matchup, Matt Carpenter is 4-11 with a double, a homer, and four RBI in his career against Clayton Richard.
Bargain Shoppers:
Buster Posey has a homer and four RBI in his career against Jimmy Nelson in just eight at bats. Catcher is always a shallow position unless you want to break the bank on Sanchez. Tonight is not one of the nights to do that.
Kendrys Morales will cost you just $2,500, and he is 16-28(.571) with a walk, six doubles, three homers, six runs scored, and eight RBI in his career against Chris Archer. Of course, you have to ignore his .087 clip over the last ten games if you take this risk.
Alex Avila is my favorite catcher against Homer Bailey, but that should go without saying. Tucker Barnhart against Lackey isn’t a bad idea either.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it is simply a $3,500 Mitch Moreland, who is 5-11 with two walks, a double, three homers, five runs scored, and nine RBI against Carlos Carrasco already. Moreland has been one of those tough to roster in DFS lately, but with this kind of history and this kind of price, he may be worth it tonight.
Matt Olson has already homered off of Ubaldo Jimenez in his career, and he will only cost you $3,700. Matt Chapman is also a cheap A’s hitter with power in a hitter’s park against a weak pitcher.
Juan Centeno is a starter at catcher for just $2,300. If you are punting catcher, this is a nice place to go against up and down Tanner Roark.
Top Tier:
The middle infield picks begin with Jose Altuve. If you are looking to pay up at second for whatever reason, Altuve is the guy you want. Facing Tanner Roark wont change that. In fact, it may even enhance it!
Neil Walker has two homers and six RBI in his career against Jeff Samardzija if you can stomach the 6-32(.188) career average.
Robinson Cano still bats left handed, is still at SunTrust Park, and is still facing a right handed pitcher. Nothing has changed since yesterday except his price ($500 increase). That is likely due to the fact that Lucas Sims has struggled since his early success after he was first called up.
Tim Beckham. Enough said.
Rougned Odor looks like a particularly tasty matchup against Ricky Nolasco due to his .308 average with three homers, three steals, and seven RBI over his last ten games. Elvis Andrus batting leadoff for this team is an elite play as well against Nolasco. By the way, both of them have taken Nolasco deep in their careers before.
Corey Seager calls a pitcher’s park home, so playing a game at PNC Park shouldn’t temper his potential too much. Jameson Taillon does have a 5.09 ERA at home, so Seager is a solid play at potentially lower ownership.
Middle Tier:
Zack Cozart is 7-20 with a walk, two doubles, two homers, five runs scored, and four RBI in his career against John Lackey. Shall I also remind you that Cozart is hitting .335 at home this year?
Jason Kipnis is 12-30 with two walks, two doubles, a steal, five runs scored, and two RBI in his career against Doug Fister. I spent time talking about how the Red Sox could be sneaky against Carrasco. Don’t sleep on the fact that Fister is mediocre at best, and the Tribe is very familiar with him from his time in the A.L. Central.
The entire A’s middle infield is in play with Chad Pinder replacing Marcus Semien and Jed Lowrie against Ubaldo Jimenez.
Paul DeJong already has 20 homers in just 274 at bats in his rookie season. He has four of those in his last ten games. He looks like a great play against lefty Clayton Richard, who has allowed ten homers in only 69 road innings.
Bargain Shoppers:
Cliff Pennington, Andrelton Simmons, and Kaleb Cowart are all great ways to save money against the struggling Tyson Ross. Even though Ross has done well against the Angels in his career, he is saddled with a 7.02 ERA this season.
Yoan Moncada seems unfairly cheap at $3,500 against Kyle Gibson. Just saying…..
Yangervis Solarte is a cleanup hitter with decent pop for $3,200. Lance Lynn has been outstanding lately though.
Brad Miller is a good punt play at $2,700 for the power he has against a rookie pitcher. He has been in quite a slump lately though. He is just 2-31(.065) in his last ten games. But hey, the potential for a homer is there.
Next: Top Outfield Plays
Top Tier:
If you are stacking Diamondback righties against whatever Met lefty takes the mound, J.D. Martinez deserves a spot in your lineup. He is 5-16 with a double, a homer, and five RBI against Milone from when he was with the Twins. Steven Matz has been so bad, past stats don’t really matter.
If you somehow still have money left, you can rarely go wrong with Mike Trout. He has three homers, five RBI, and a steal in the last four games. Facing Tyson Ross will likely help him pad those stats.
I highlighted the struggles of Ricky Nolaso earlier. Of course Nomar Mazara is an elite play, and Shin Soo Choo isn’t that far behind. The trick is trying to afford all of them.
Jay Bruce is hitting .385 with three homers and 12 RBI in his first ten games for Cleveland. He has even stolen a base! A date with Doug Fister gives him a great chance to keep the hot streak going.
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Middle Tier:
I like all of the Reds outfielders (and most of the Cub ones for that matter), but Billy Hamilton is a step above the rest. He has seven steals in his career against John Lackey. He has also swiped 29 bases in 48 games against the Cubs in his career. Predicting Hamilton’s steals against the Cubs is a slightly more precise science than predicting homers.
Eddie Rosario has decimated right handed pitching this year. He is also on fire right now, hitting .429 with five doubles, three homers, a steal, and ten RBI in his last ten games. If you don’t trust Giolito in his 2017 debut, most of the Twins come cheap. The red-hot Byron Buxton is also a reasonable price considering his .405 average with three homers, three steals, and ten RBI in his last ten games.
Adam Jones slugged two homers last night, and he took Paul Blackburn deep the only other time he started against Baltimore. Roll Jones out there again!
AT&T Park kills power, but Ryan Braun is 11-23(.478) with four walks, a double, three homers, six runs, and nine RBI in his career against Jeff Samardzija. His price reflects it, but a couple of balls to the gap also gives you a nice number. Just ask those of us that played Yonder Alonso last night.
Bargain Shoppers:
Seth Smith is still pounding righties since the break. His four points last night were a little bit of a disappointment against a weak right hander, but I’m fine with taking that chance again tonight with another average righty on the mound.
Jose Bautista has slugged three homers in his career against Chris Archer, but he is just 9-50 against him lifetime.
Nicky Delmonco vs. Kyle Gibson for less than $4,000? Yes please!
Kole Calhoun has homered three times in his last five games, and is priced in the same tier as Kike Hernandez and Steve Pearce. He is a great bargain play tonight.
Juan Lagares is one of the few players that the Mets have left in the outfield, so he will play a lot. For $2,700, he is a solid punt to see if he can swipe a bag or two.
Next: FanDuel MLB Picks and Pivots
Good luck out there, and check out our picks for FanDuel baseball, along with our PGA picks. We also have plenty of NFL stuff to get you ready for football!