DraftKings Early MLB Picks June 14: JV is worth the price

PHILADELPHIA, PA – JULY 24: A few fans sit in the stands as the wind whips the outfield flags during a rain delay of the game between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on July 24, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /

DraftKings Early MLB Picks June 14: JV is worth the price

We have nine games on Thursday. The Marlins and Giants are getting going before the crack of noon, so they are only available in the all day and showdown tournaments. The other eight games are evenly split with four in the afternoon and four in the evening. The pitching is better on the first slate, but where else do we build? Let’s take a look!

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We will have a stiff wind blowing out to right in Philly, so be careful with the starting pitchers in this game!

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!

These tips are based mostly on past performance. This is a nice tool for building a lineup, but should not be the only pieces of information you use. Stacking against a bad pitcher is always a good idea!

For you first time players, if you would like a free $20 in DraftKings dollars, use this link for the referral bonus with your first deposit of $5 or more! Then continue reading for tips on how to turn those DraftKings dollars into more!

Next: DraftKings Pitcher Plays

DETROIT, MI – JUNE 9: Mike Clevinger #52 of the Cleveland Indians warms up prior to the start of the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on June 9, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

Top Tier:

Justin Verlander ($13,100): Verlander’s numbers against the A’s are pretty pedestrian. Oakland is hitting .244 with two homers and four runs in 41 at bats with just nine strikeouts. Lost in Verlander’s amazing season is his road dominance. Yeah, like his 1.45 ERA on the season isn’t dominant enough. Verlander has a 0.96 ERA in seven road starts. This is one of the most friendly road environments in the majors. I expect Verlander to be worth his price today.

Mike Clevinger ($9,700): The White Sox are only hitting .214 in 42 at bats against Clevinger with one homer, two runs, and 12 strikeouts. This has been a pretty low scoring series, so I see Clevinger with a lot of upside. He put up 27.4 DraftKings points on the White Sox two weeks ago. Nothing much has changed since then. I’ll take that from Clevinger for this price.

Middle Tier:

Carlos Rodon ($7,700): Rodon has held Cleveland to a .221 average in 122 at bats with just one homer and eight runs to go with a staggering 31 strikeouts. However, I do wonder if Rodon can get back to that level here. This will be just the second start of the season for Rodon. He pitched fairly well in Fenway in his first start of the season last week. There is decent potential here, especially considering that this series has been full of great pitching performances.

Frankie Montas ($7,500): Montas has been outstanding so far in his three starts. That said, two of those were against the Royals. The other was against an Arizona squad that was struggling at the time. There is plenty of risk here, though the Houston offense hasn’t exactly set the world afire lately. For the price, I would either find the $200 for Rodon or use any of the three below Montas, especially since he has no shot at a win against Verlander.

Lance Lynn ($6,900): The Tigers are hitting only .194 against Lynn in 36 at bats, but that is a small sample size. Lynn picked up 22.8 DraftKings points in that first game against the Tigers, putting up 6.2 shutout innings. This Tigers offense was reeling even before Miggy went down. Now they are kind of spiraling out of control. This is a strong spot for Lynn here.

Bargain Pitchers:

Michael Fulmer ($5,700): Apparently DraftKings didn’t catch Fulmer’s last outing. He allowed just one run in five innings against a pretty good Cleveland offense. On top of that, Fulmer racked up 20.6 DraftKings points in his first start against the Twins this year. There are a lot of good low priced options at pitcher today. For me, Fulmer is perhaps the most glaring of the underpriced arms.

German Marquez ($5,300): Marquez is the cheapest arm on the slate, but I don’t expect him to have the worst game. That alone makes him worth a look. The numbers for Marquez don’t look very good, but if you take a closer look, Marquez has a strong 2.06 ERA in six road games this year. The Philadelphia offense is decent, but we haven’t seen them have a really big game in a while. I can see Marquez turning in a quality start at a very low price.

Next: Other notes for 6-14

OAKLAND, CA – JUNE 13: Evan Gattis #11 of the Houston Astros celebrates with Yuli Gurriel #10 and Josh Reddick #22 after he hit a three-run home run against the Oakland Athletics in the second inning at Oakland Alameda Coliseum on June 13, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Top Tier:

Eddie Rosario and Brian Dozier have both homered against Michael Fulmer in their careers, but with Dozier slumping so badly, I’m more inclined to use Rosario and Escobar and that’s it. You can put Max Kepler on the maybe list since his bat is finding more balls lately.

Francisco Lindor is the only current Indians player to hit a homer off of Carlos Rodon. I still don’t know if I would play him, or any offensive player from this game. The prices aren’t discounted, and the pitchers are dominating this series. That said, Jose Ramirez is 5-15 with four walks, four runs, three RBI, and three steals against Rodon. That could make him worth the price.

Frankie Montas has pitched very well against three struggling offenses. That wont be the case here. I don’t expect Montas to get shelled, but if I were stacking anywhere early, it would be here. I want a piece of Correa and Altuve for sure. Springer and Bregman are worth a look as well.

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Middle Tier:

I don’t like a lot of Phillies today since I think Marquez will have a solid game, but Cesar Hernandez, Odubel Herrera, and Hoskins are all worth a look.

Despite the wind blowing out to right in Philly, I still see most of the Rockies as too expensive. Except for CarGo. Gonzalez is 6-12 with a homer and five RBI in his career against Vince Velasquez. Velasquez was bombarded at home last week, but I expect some sort of a rebound. Enough of one to not pay up for Blackmon and Arenado.

Nick Castellanos and Leonys Martin are both in play against Lance Lynn, but there are better options, even on a short slate. They are mostly contrarian plays and nothing else.

Jose Abreu is the only White Sox player to take Clevinger deep, and he is the only one that I would remotely consider here.

Bargain Shoppers:

Both Lucroy and Khris Davis have homered off of Verlander in his career. I don’t care how cheap they are, I’m not interested. That’s how dominant Verlander has been this season.

Next: DFS MLB Game by Game Breakdowns

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