MLB Top DRAFT Picks June 25th from Chris Aliperto and FantasyCPR

Why do you need another DFS site? Because DRAFT combines the excitement of a season-long draft into one set of games!

Welcome to today’s edition of MLB Top DRAFT Picks from FantasyCPR. The DRAFT app can be downloaded to your mobile device through your app store, or you can access their desktop site here.

I play quite a bit on DRAFT, and have always been a big fan of the snake draft format. On DRAFT, you roster one starting pitcher, two infielders, and two outfielders. They offer head-to-head, 3-man, 6-man and 10-man drafts that start upon filling. Also, they have a tournament format, where one contest will span a few days. The further you advance, the more you win. I play mostly the six-man contests for cash games, which payout to the top two spots.

My goal here will be to give you my strategy for drafting today on DRAFT, followed by my top 30 overall rankings. Strategy of course changes day by day, depending on what type of slate we are working with. I always start with my pitcher, as everything else revolves around that. After having completed my rankings for today and done a few six-man drafts, here is how I am attacking this slate.

DRAFT – DFS Slate Overview:

Today we are working with a 12-game full slate starting at 2:10 CDT, with an afternoon tilt at Detroit between the Tigers and the A’s. The Royals and Angels will also have an afternoon start in Kansas City, leaving us a 10-game main slate for the normal 6:05 CDT lock time. There are a couple of weather spots to watch, so let’s cover those before we get into today’s new look second page, which will now cover my targets instead of basic drafting strategy.

Both spots appear to minor at this time, and there looks to be no actual PPD threats. The two spots that could see a brief delay are in KC for the afternoon game, and in St. Louis, where a quick thunderstorm could help hitting conditions dramatically in that humidity.

PHOENIX, AZ – MAY 06: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros walks to the dugout for the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 6, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images) /

DRAFT – DFS Today’s Top DRAFT Picks – Pitching:

I felt like changing this up a bit so welcome to the new format! It is pretty easy to decipher throughout my rankings what that day’s particular strategy will be, so let’s mix it up a bit. Instead of giving you some basic vanilla strategy, like repeating the fact that the Infield position is usually deep throughout, and the outfield position drops off pretty dramatically usually in terms of “lock” type plays, I will opt to point out the guys I am actually targeting and drafting. I think this will be more helpful in terms of understanding why I have certain players ranked where they are. Similar to the rankings, followed by each target will be their overall ranking of 30 in parenthesis. Let’s start with the pitchers!

Justin Verlander – Houston Astros- (1)

Verlander is the clear top option tonight, as his Astros are at home facing the Blue Jays. When there is only one ace with a much higher projection than the next ranked pitcher there is no debate. Toronto has been playing good baseball as of late, and will counter with their “ace” J.A. Happ. Normally Happ would be a decent pick as well, as he has a compiled a 9-3 record with a 3.56 ERA. However, the Astros caught some fire yesterday, scoring 10 runs against Kansas City pitching behind the bat of Yuli Gurriel. Verly’s strikeouts should be up there, and he should get some run support to pick up a win here. He continues to be one of the best in baseball, with a miniscule 1.60 ERA and 130 K’s over 107 innings.

Tyler Skaggs – Los Angeles Angels – (14)

Last time Skaggs was scheduled to start, he had a low projection, but was still getting sniped from me in the third round. This time however, at the time of writing this, he currently has a 0.0 projection, and is an easy last pick for me right now. I am cramming as many early drafts as I can in here Sunday evening, as the masses have not quite caught on. I fully expect this projection to change at some point, so my ranking will show where he SHOULD be.

Skaggs has quietly been fairly dominant over his last three starts, and is putting up some great numbers. Those three starts have yielded three quality starts, three wins, and 20 strikeouts in 20 innings. I love riding hot pitchers, and Skaggs should stay hot here, as his Angels travel to KC. He is now on eight days rest, after a minor hamstring injury caused him to be scratched from that last start.

DRAFT – DFS Today’s Top DRAFT Picks – Hitters:

For today’s hitter targets, I will highlight two mini-stacks that feature some hot bats, are in good hitting environments, and are facing less than stellar pitching. It’s early Sunday evening, and this is the best time to draft if you are ahead of the curve. Tyler Skaggs has a 0 projection at the moment as I stated earlier, and some hitters are sitting at that 0.4 or 0.7 mark as well. They sneak in at the end of my rankings, so make sure to figure out who they are. (Hint: both infielders)

So as it sits, I am successfully drafting all four of these players most of the time. I have mixed in some Michael Brantley and of course, Paul Goldschmidt, but for the most part I am on Indians and Dodgers bats. The Tribe will face Cardinals right-hander John Gant, while the Dodgers will face tentative Cubs starter rookie Duane Underwood Jr. who will be making his major league debut.

The ideal scenario for me, and I hope it works out often, is to get pick four, five, or six. At this slot, Ramirez seems to be falling in perfectly there in the first, and Francisco Lindor can usually be had in the second. I will then switch my focus to the OF position and Dodgers lefties Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger. I can then wrap it up with Skaggs, and hope the weather situation in KC doesn’t get worse. Let’s talk about how hot these hitters are before we get to the rankings.

IF – Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians – (3)

The Indians dynamic duo of Ramirez and Lindor are shaping up to be my two top targets today in the infield. Cleveland will travel in to St. Louis, where thunderstorms and humidity should help for some extra carry on well hit balls. Ramirez homered again, and stole another base yesterday, en route to another monster game. In his last four games, Ramirez now has two home runs and three stolen bases. His home run yesterday gave him his major league leading 23rd of the year.

IF – Francisco Lindor – Cleveland Indians – (5)

Much like Ramirez, Lindor has also had incredible four game stretch. The young shortstop is 6-for–14 with four walks and a stolen base. He also has a double, and more importantly homered in three straight, registering 19,19 and 29 DRAFT points in those games. We are seeing double-digit fantasy points left and right from these Indians sluggers, and the same should be expected today against Gant and the Cardinals. My advice is to draft as much of these two and Brantley as possible. Edwin Encarnacion is also in play as well.

OF – Cody Bellinger – Los Angeles Dodgers – (12)

Bellinger continues to rake, hitting two homers yesterday against the Mets to finish up the Dodgers road trip in New York. He finished the series 5-for-13 with three home runs and a triple, with fantasy scores of 16, 20, and 28 in the three games. The Dodgers are back home against the Cubs, who will send out Underwood Jr. for his first big leage start. Everything I can find on Underwood is that he isn’t pitching great at AAA right now, compiling a 3-7 record with a 4.27 ERA in 13 starts. This looks like a great team to stack tonight.

OF – Joc Pederson – Los Angeles Dodgers – (13)

Pederson has certainly cooled of a bit, but joined the Dodgers home run barrage yesterday in New York. He isn’t a sure thing, but the outfield position gets rather boring at the bottom today. We know the Dodgers are facing a rookie righty, so Pederson should find himself at the top of the order. In my drafts where I happen to land Verlander, I am shifting my focus to this Dodgers stack, simply because my Indians are likely gone. One bonus play I gave a hint on early makes for a nice 3-man stack. Don’t sleep on Max Muncy, who should bat second in the lineup, and has homered in two straight games. You will have to scroll way down the infielders to find him however, as his projection at this moment is 0.7.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JUNE 09: Tyler Skaggs #45 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of the game on June 9, 2018 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

DRAFT – DFS Today’s Top DRAFT Picks – Rankings:

My rankings are pretty easy to follow. I have ranked the top 30 overall. We will go six deep at pitcher, and twelve deep at IF and OF. Rankings are broken down into positions, and following each players name will be their overall ranking in parenthesis.

Pitchers:

1. Justin Verlander – Houston Astros – (1)

2. Mike Clevinger – Cleveland Indians – (15)

3. Tyler Skaggs – Los Angeles Angels – (16)

4. Blake Snell – Tampa Bay Rays – (22)

5. Gio Gonzalez – Washington Nationals – (29)

6. Jameson Taillon – Pittsburgh Pirates – (30)

Infielders:

1. Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians – (3)

2. Francisco Lindor – Cleveland Indians – (5)

3. Freddie Freeman – Atlanta Braves – (6)

4. Paul Goldschmidt – Arizona Diamondbacks – (10)

5. Ozzie Albies – Atlanta Braves – (11)

6. Nelson Cruz – Seattle Mariners – (17)

7. Jose Altuve – Houston Astros – (18)

8. Manny Machado – Baltimore Orioles – (19)

9. Alex Bregman – Houston Astros – (21)

10. Joey Votto – Cincinnati Reds – (23)

11. Giancarlo Stanton – New York Yankees – (24)

12. Max Muncy – Los Angeles Dodgers – (25)

Outfielders:

1. Mike Trout – Los Angeles Angels – (2)

2. Aaron Judge – New York Yankees – (4)

3. Michael Brantley – Cleveland Indians – (7)

4. George Springer – Houston Astros – (8)

5. Bryce Harper – Washington Nationals – (9)

6. Cody Bellinger – Los Angeles Dodgers – (12)

7. Joc Pederson – Los Angeles Dodgers – (13)

8. Justin Upton – Los Angeles Angels – (14)

9. David Peralta – Arizona Diamondbacks – (20)

10. Wil Myers – San Diego Padres – (26)

11. Scott Schebler – Cincinnati Reds – (27)

12. Mitch Haniger – Seattle Mariners – (28)

Next: Fantasy Baseball - Top Two Start Pitcher to Add This Week

That is all for today’s MLB Top DRAFT picks on FantasyCPR. If you have any questions regarding any of my rankings, reach out to me on Twitter at @JuanBondDFS. You can also leave a question right here in the comments, and I will do my best to respond. Good luck tonight and happy drafting on DRAFT!

MLB Top DRAFT Picks (DRAFT.com): Monday, June 25th

By Chris Aliperto | Jun 25, 2018