MLB DRAFT DFS Picks (DRAFT.com): Monday, August 13

Why do you need another DFS site? Because DRAFT combines the excitement of a season-long draft into one set of games and gives you even more MLB DRAFT DFS Picks action in your life.

Welcome to today’s edition of MLB DRAFT DFS 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.

If you are finding this article for the first time, my goal here will be to give you my targets 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. Before we get to the targets and rankings, lets take a quick look at today’s slate.

MLB DRAFT DFS Picks – Slate Overview:

Looking at today, we have a 11 games with the Marlins and Braves playing a day/night double header in Atlanta. I am not really a fan of what DRAFT does in this instance so let me explain how this works. There are essentially two slates tomorrow, with the first lock being at 1:35 ET and including the first game of the double dip of course. This article will focus on the second slate of the day, which will be a nine game slate, and will NOT include that 2nd game between Miami and Atlanta. I think most would rather just throw out that lone early game and play the normal evening slate, and that is what I plan to do. However, if you do play the early slate, Anibal Sanchez may not be a bad play, but there are much better pitchers in action today in my opinion.

So what it boils down to, is that we have a nine-game slate starting at 6:05 ET, highlighted by a fantastic pitching match-up in the Bronx, where the Mets and Yankees will meet for another subway series. Luis Severino and Jacob deGrom will be in action for their respective teams, and while Severino has the dream match-up here against the struggling Mets, he has not been at his best over the last month or so. He was much better than recent in his last outing against the White Sox, so I am comfortable rostering him as a top play considering the Mets bats. deGrom however, will have his hands full with Giancarlo Stanton and the rest of the Yankees lineup, as they continue to heat up.

Another fantastic projected pitchers duel is expected in Los Angeles as well, where Clayton Kershaw will face Madison Bumgarner and the Giants. Throw the Marco Gonzales, Sean Manaea match-up in Oakland in the mix as well and we have six legitimate pitching targets right there. While it is tempting to grab one of the studs early, I will no doubt be passing on pitcher until the end of my drafts once again, as there is just much more depth here than the hitters offer today.

Looking at the hitting side of things, we do not have to much to work with due to the smaller slate. We are getting closer to the end of the season, and we will start to see some new faces on some teams that are clearly out of it. Also injuries are piling up around the league, forcing some teams to dig in to their farm systems a little earlier than they would like to. Take the Minnesota Twins for example. They gave 2013 first round pick Kohl Stewart his first major league start yesterday, despite clearly not being major league ready. Keep an eye out for call-ups like this, where a non top prospect gets called up for a spot start, because it may be a good idea to target some hitters facing said pitcher.

So to sum it up, we have numerous great pitchers in action with very few solid hitters to target, so let’s dig in and figure it out.

MLB DRAFT DFS Picks – Top Pitching Targets

For my targets, instead of giving you some basic strategy, 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.

Luis Severino – New York Yankees – (10)

Well this is simply coming down to the match-up factor, as Severino may not be everyone’s top pitching target today. The season numbers are fantastic on Severino, but his last month was nothing to write home about. His record stands at 15-5 with a 3.11 ERA, and he has faced his opponent the Mets once this season. In that game he only went five innings, but struck out seven and allowed two earned on five hits. Regardless of how bad his July was including getting rocked by Tampa Bay, he looked much better his last time out in Chicago, where he went seven innings with seven K’s. I likely won’t have much Severino or any of the top studs today as I will be waiting, but Severino is my top pitching target.

Clayton Kershaw – Los Angeles Dodgers – (11)

The strikeouts are down. The wins are down. Maybe Kershaw is human? For years this guy was untouchable, and while he keeps putting up quality starts start after start, he isn’t winning many games, and has not had a double-digit strikeout game since mid-April. Seems crazy right? Let’s not forget he missed a month in June, and was eased back into action, and the Dodgers still seem to be handling their ace with extreme care. Now that the season is winding down and Kershaw is getting healthy, I am expecting to get their ace back to the mode where he was throwing 110 pitches a start. It might not be until September, but it will happen. Kershaw will face the Giants at home which is almost as good of a match-up as Severino, so Kershaw comes in as a close second for me today at the pitching position.

Andrew Heaney – Los Angeles Angeles – (29)

Since I have already established I will not be taking a pitcher early, there is a solid chance I will have quite a bit of Heaney today. The Angels lost stud Mike Trout to injury so the lineup takes a hit, but they are still battling, losing the rubber match of a series in a 8-7 loss to the A’s yesterday. On the flip side, his opponent the Padres, just took two of three from the Phillies, and will be at home again for this series. Heaney hasn’t exactly been lights out the last few starts, but he is still sporting an ERA below four, and has 122 K’s in 127.1 innings pitched. The Padres hit lefties well, but Heaney will have the park factor in his favor here at PetCo, and I can see a double-digit DP game on tap for tonight.

MLB DRAFT DFS Picks  – Today’s Hitting Targets:

IF – Francisco Lindor – Cleveland Indians – (2)

I could have easily put Jose Ramirez here as well, but let’s just say we got 1A and 1B today. The Indians will travel to hitter friendly Cincinnati to face right handed gas can Homer Bailey and the Reds. Bailey recently had pretty solid back-to-back outings against the Cardinals and the Tigers, but was quickly brought back to reality in his last start, giving up 11 hits in just three innings against the Mets. The Indians are coming off of a road series win against the White Sox which ended with a 9-7 Indians victory despite Ramirez getting the day off. Lindor was 0-for-5 with four K’s, so my hope is that he gets ignored a bit today. He is hitting a solid .292 with 29 home runs on the season.

More from FanSided

• USWNT vs. Vietnam: Key takeaways before they take on the Dutch
• NFL rumors: 49ers trending toward contract drama with defensive star
• Steelers avoid any camp drama with latest roster move
• MLB Rumors: Potential Braves reunion, Lance Lynn no-trade clause and Orioles deadline intentions
• Caesars, BetMGM and PointsBet Promo Codes Give $1,850 Bonus for ANY World Cup or MLB Game!

IF – Yonder Alonso – Cleveland Indians – (15)

Alonso is really in a great spot today against Bailey, and with the loss of clean-up hitter Edwin Encarnacion to the DL, Alonso has slid into that role. The batting average is below average at .249, but the fact that the RBI opportunity should be there today with Lindor and Ramirez hitting before him has me interested. There really isn’t a whole lot of stacking options today with the pitching we have in action, so I am loading up on Indians when I can. Alonso connected with his 20th home run on Thursday against the Twins, and now has five hits in his last four games. I am drafting him a little later than I have him ranked, and he should be on your radar if you need an IF later in your draft.

OF – David Peralta – Arizona Diamondbacks – (4)

I was going to load up on Indians here to get my point across, but I am actually targeting some other players believe it or not. Arizona is a tough team for me target, and they usually disappoint me when I do. But much like Cleveland, the DBacks will get a park factor boost as they head in to Arlington to face the ageless Bartolo Colon and the Rangers. Usually Colon is not a guy I target against because he always seems to minimize damage, but again with the shape up of this slate, I am putting some faith in Arizona here. Teammate Paul Goldschmidt is heating up, and is also a top target, but Peralta is quietly having a solid all around year at the plate, and has now homered in back-to-back games. Give me Peralta over Bryce Harper today. No regrets.

OF – Jose Martinez – St. Louis Cardinals – (19)

Our last target today is not an Indian or a Diamondback, as there is one more pitcher on the slate that I want to attack. The Cardinals will host the Nationals, who will have veteran journeyman lefty Tommy Milone on the mound. Matt Carpenter is still raking, and if I end up with him early, I may look to stack that up with Martinez and fellow outfielder Marcell Ozuna. Martinez is having a solid season, hitting .299 with 14 homeruns. He is actually a better hitter versus right-handed pitching, but he has also been heating up regardless of match-up. In the Cardinals most recent series over the weekend against the Royals, Martinez went 6-for-12 with a homer and six RBI’s. His projection is just 7.8, so he may end up a late round steal in most drafts, considering he likely won’t be on the radar of most drafters today.

MLB DRAFT DFS Picks –  Today’s 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. Luis Severino – New York Yankees – (10)

2. Clayton Kershaw – Los Angeles Dodgers – (11)

3. Jacob deGrom – New York Mets – (12)

4. Mike Clevinger – Cleveland Indians – (28)

5. Andrew Heaney – Los Angeles Angels – (29)

6. Marco Gonzales – Seattle Mariners – (30)

Infielders:

1. Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians – (1)

2. Francisco Lindor – Cleveland Indians – (2)

3. Paul Goldschmidt – Arizona Diamondbacks – (3)

4. Matt Carpenter – St. Louis Cardinals – (5)

5. Khris Davis – Oakland Athletics – (13)

6. Yonder Alonso – Cleveland Indians – (15)

7. Eduardo Escobar – Arizona Diamondbacks – (16)

8. Manny Machado – Los Angeles Dodgers – (17)

9. Brian Dozier – Los Angeles Dodgers – (18)

10. Didi Gregorius – New York Yankees – (23)

11. Rougned Odor – Texas Rangers – (24)

12. Shin-Soo Choo – Texas Rangers – (25)

Outfielders:

1. David Peralta – Arizona Diamondbacks – (4)

2. AJ Pollack – Arizona Diamondbacks – (6)

3. Giancarlo Stanton – New York Yankees – (7)

4. Michael Brantley – Cleveland Indians – (8)

5. Bryce Harper – Washington Nationals – (9)

6. Joey Gallo – Texas Rangers – (14)

7. Jose Martinez – St. Louis Cardinals – (19)

8. Marcell Ozuna – St. Louis Cardinals – (20)

9. Justin Upton – Los Angeles Angels – (21)

10. Juan Soto – Washington Nationals – (22)

11. Aaron Hicks – New York Yankees – (26)

12. Adam Eaton – Washington Nationals – (27)

That is all for today’s MLB DRAFT DFS 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!