Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top MLB DFS Value Plays – Sunday March 31st
Daily Fantasy Baseball is in full swing, and whether you play on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, or Fantasy Draft, this article is designed to help you find the best value plays across the board for today’s slate. These low salary targets are my top players to help you roster your stud bats and pitchers.
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While most of our content is site specific, whether it be for hitting or pitching, this article is going to be different. What I will do here, is evaluate potential value plays for that particular day, across the four major DFS sites.
So the plan of attack here is, first I will highlight my top value plays for Yahoo and Fantasy Draft. I will dig up certain plays that I think fit their scoring systems, and possible flaws in pricing. I will then do the same for FanDuel, and then for DraftKings.
Finally after I break down my favorites from each site specifically, I will then finish up with top overall multi-site value plays. These are the top players viable across the industry, who are in line to out produce their respective salary, no matter what the site. All of these plays are just simply the best value plays that stand out, regardless of site.
If it does not make sense yet, it will. And it’s going to be unique, and I hope useful, as you start your Daily Fantasy Baseball research for today. Without further ado, let’s get into it. Click the bar below after each page to continue!
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – Yahoo!
C – Victor Caratini – Chicago Cubs – $7
Cubs head coach Joe Maddon has always been notorious for DFS purposes as being the one manager that seems to get his starting lineups out bright and early. Even back in his days with the Rays I can even remember seeing those Tampa lineups out earlier than everyone elses.
We have our first Sunday of the MLB season, and there is a solid chance we see many back-up catchers today for the afternoon games. If Willson Contreras gets the day off, Victor Caratini will get his first action of the 2019 season.
Although his offensive production dipped a bit late last season, Caratini is not a bad hitter. The Cubs will finish up their series in Texas against veteran right-handed gas can Lance Lynn, and Caratini projects to hit sixth in the lineup after Kyle Schwarber, and should get plenty of RBI opportunity.
Again, always make sure to check starting lineups and make sure these guys play. If you end up in a situation where you need to swap, look to Josh Phegley for Oakland who should catch against lefty Tyler Skaggs and the Los Angeles Angels.
OF – Kole Calhoun – Los Angeles Angels – $8
Could we possibly see a Kole Calhoun resurrection this season? He has had some serious bright spots over his career, but found himself hitting at the bottom of the lineup at times often over the last couple of seasons, and seemed to be at the tail end of producing. Calhoun only hit .208 which is pretty bad, but a solid spring and earning his lead off role back seems to be a slight rejuvenation.
Calhoun did get bumped down in batting lineup yesterday as the Angels faced lefty Brett Anderson, but I expect him to be back at the top today. After a solid 3-for-8 start to the season, Calhoun went 0-for-4 last night, as the Angels had problems all night with the crafty veteran Anderson.
Yahoo has done some fun things with their pricing today. If you take a really close look, cover boy to this article and Mets phenom Pete Alonso is the most expensive hitter on the slate at $28. The value is thin today, especially in the outfield, and there isn’t much under $10 anywhere. I think a balanced approach should strongly be considered here on Yahoo for today’s slate.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FantasyDraft
OF – Khris Davis – Oakland Athletics – $8,100
I am going to take a different approach starting today with Fantasy Draft, as I think a more helpful source of value to share with you there is their mid-tier pricing. Sure we all love our sub-$7K guys we need to roster the studs, but they aren’t going anywhere. Always refer to the universal value on the last slide if you want to see those picks, as I will make sure to include them there.
Fantasy Draft seems to be using a performance based model to set their pricing, and there are so many things to consider here. It looks really easy to stack the Dodgers as all studs are $9K or less. The Royals are too still cheap, but most of all, look at all of these solid plays just over $8K!
Any thoughts why Khrush Davis is not at least $9,500 here? Oakland will face lefty Tyler Skaggs, and last seasons home run champ already has three to start 2019. In his career, Davis has faced Skaggs 19 times, and left the yard three times as well. This is my lock on Fantasy Draft today. In fact, I am not sure how you can pass on this.
OF – Joc Pederson – Los Angeles Dodgers – $8,200
It was another lead off homer for Young Joc last night, which set the tone for another offensive onslaught from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and brought his early season total to three after his double dong opening day. The Dodgers crossed the plate a whopping 18 times on 19 hits, and were led by a two-homer game from Cody Bellinger and a 3-for-3 outing by Pederson with that third home run to boot.
Pederson is on fire to start the season hitting .583 at 7-for-15, and while he has been getting the price bumps on the other sites, he still looks very nice here on Fantasy Draft. I mentioned that Dodgers stack a minute ago. Bellinger at $8,800, Max Muncy at $9K, and Pederson will likely be the way I go, as the Dodgers will finish up the series with Diamondbacks at home, who will send former St. Louis Cardinal Luke Weaver out to try to stop these guys.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FanDuel
2B – Adam Frazier – Pittsburgh Pirates – $2,700
There are quite a few solid value options at second base today on FanDuel, and this is shaping up to be a position where it looks like a good spot to chase it. Other than paying up for Mike Moustakas who might be too cheap at $3,600, the options at the top do not look too appealing. The Pirates and the Reds got rained out yesterday, and we should see Adam Frazier at the top of the lineup for the Bucs once again.
Frazier has gotten some respect around the industry, but still remains in play here on FanDuel. He is over $8K on Fantasy Draft, and when you look at the other options in that price range it makes zero sense. He also got a bump on DraftKings, and at over $4K there, I will pass on that as well. However, here on FanDuel, the Pirates continue to be priced down a bit, and are in a great spot today against Sonny Gray.
1B – Greg Bird – New York Yankees – $2,500
Same story here pretty much. Priced up everywhere else but FanDuel. Bird got the day off yesterday, as Miguel Andujar slid into the DH role, while newcomer D.J. Lemehieu got the start at third base, and went 2-for-4.
Two things to check on this one. First, the weather looks bad enough to at least keep an eye on it. From what I can gather, a postponement looks unlikely, but a delay or a later start is very possible. Second, check that lineup! I wrote up Bird yesterday and he didn’t crack the starting nine.
Andujar struggles defensively at third base, and if they choose to continue to DH him, that leaves nowhere for Bird. My guess is he priced this low because he is essentially Luke Voits‘ back-up, but the power stroke here and the short porch to right at Yankee stadium always have me interested in the big lefty.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – DraftKings
C – Wilson Ramos – New York Mets – $3,500
How about this start for New York! The Mets will wrap up a series in Washington with the Nats today, and will be looking for the sweep. Looking at implied run totals and projections, it appears as though either nobody believes there is nothing to this early success, or everyone just thinks Patrick Corbin is better than he really is.
Either way, my daily search for value differences between sites has me stuck on the Mets here on DraftKings, and it starts with slugging catcher Wilson Ramos. There is a chance he could rest today, but being one of the better bats in the lineup and it being early in the season, I have a hunch Ramos is on the field today. Of course make sure to confirm that, and lock him in if he is.
1B – Pete Alonso – New York Mets – $3,800
And so the tear continues, and I am hopping on board before it’s too late. Now a fixture in the top of the Mets lineup likely for years to come. The 24-year-old rookie from Tampa has started the regular season 4-for-8 with two doubles after his torrid spring training that kept him up with big club in the first place.
Talk about a price difference from site-to-site. FanDuel has kind of taken the “uh we are not sure” approach with the average price of $3,000, while Yahoo! has indeed said Yahoo! about this kid, as he is the most expensive hitter on the slate.
I should clarify too that I do not think Corbin is bad, it is just evident that these Mets bats are hot to start the season. I think the fact that they didn’t seem to struggle with Stephen Strasburg and company yesterday, is plenty of reason not to think Corbin will fare any better.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – Across the Industry!
Welcome to the most important, and final page of the article. On most days, certain value plays will line up well on 2 or three, or even all of the sites covered in this article. From the looks of it, I have a piece of every player coming up here on at least two sites in my early lineups, so just because you did not see somebody yet on another site specific slide from earlier, he could be coming up right now.
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3B – Brandon Drury – Toronto Blue Jays – ($3,500 DK, $2,200 FD, $14 Y!, $6,300 FantasyDraft)
Are we getting sick of Brandon Drury yet? Well the Tigers will throw another lefty at the Blue Jays tomorrow in Matt Moore, and that should equal another game at the top of the Jays order for Drury. He isn’t tearing it up per se, but is at least getting on base a bit, as he posted another 1-for-4 last night, with a double and a run.
His price hasn’t really moved much, as the only site that has really taken any notice to the fact that he will get five plate appearances per game is Yahoo! In fact, I will go as far as to say do not play Drury on Yahoo, as $14 there equals right around where he should be everywhere else. If you want to save a solid chunk of salary at 3B over on Yahoo today, my pivot there is Yandy Diaz at $9.
OF – Victor Robles – Washington Nationals – ($3,500 DK, $2,600 FD, $18 Y!, $6,600 FantasyDraft)
It was a struggle to find more than one outfielder to write up for today, but I think there is good reason for that. We have oodles of value in the infield positions across the industry, but since the outfield is so stacked with studs, you are only going to want to use one, if any, of your three spots outfield spots on a value play anyways. You may hear an argument that you shouldn’t play Victor Robles because he bats ninth in that Nats lineup, but let me change your mind.
First of all, before I forget, this one is not for Yahoo. I really love it on DraftKings and Fantasy Draft, and I am not quite sure yet what I want to do on FanDuel, but Robles is in the mix. Now about Robles. Batting out of the nine spot with speed essentially makes him another lead off hitter.
Instead of hitting eighth and having the pitcher spot in the way, now when Robles gets on, he has Adam Eaton and Trea Turner to follow. He may not get that extra at-bat in the game that we strive for in cash games, but the fact he may not need it makes him a solid GPP value play.
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That is all for today’s edition of MLB DFS Top Value Plays. I hope you like the format, as I think this is the best way to talk about which value bats and pitchers to consider, no matter what site you play on.
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