DraftKings MLB Early Picks April 3: Pay up for Marquez

NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 23: Jacob deGrom #48 of the New York Mets pitches against the San Francisco Giants during their game at Citi Field on August 23, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early Picks April 3: Pay up for Marquez

The DraftKings MLB slates are a bit of a mess today, so let’s get that sorted out. The five early games starting at 12:35 eastern are the early slate. There are three afternoon games which have their own little afternoon slate. The Mets-Marlins tilt at 6:10 eastern gets its own showcase game. The last five starting at 7:05 eastern are on the main slate. Confused yet? If not, they have a nice all day 14 game slate for you to feast on as well.

This will focus on the early set of games, but a good reason to play the all day is that you can use the slate’s most expensive pitcher, Jacob deGrom, in the classic mode. Otherwise you’re using half your salary in showdown with him as the captain.

DraftKings MLB Early Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Aaron Nola ($10,200): Nola actually has good numbers against the Nationals. The guy that hit him the hardest is now his teammate. The current Nationals are only hitting .211 against Nola with two homers and nine runs in 152 at bats to go with a solid 48 strikeouts. Pitching is actually not that bad this afternoon. Kluber’s numbers against the White Sox aren’t great, but it is mostly one guy that has done the damage. Still, Nola is my favorite play of the early slate.

German Marquez ($9,900): As we saw yesterday, the Rays can put up some runs, but they are tougher on lefties than righties. Marquez was sharp in the opener, and I trust him fully on the road. Marquez was 8-5 with a 2.95 ERA in 17 road starts last year. He started strong on the other side of Florida last week and I expect pretty much a duplicate performance of that. Marquez is a suitable pivot if the Nationals offense worries you.

Middle Tier:

Charlie Morton ($8,800): Morton is pretty familiar with the Rockies from his time in the National League. His numbers against them aren’t great, but those also include Coors numbers. The bottom line is that Morton keeps the ball in the yard and is adequate with strikeouts. The knock on him here today is that you aren’t going to roll with him as your ace and you aren’t going to pitch him and Marquez together since they play each other. Morton is kind of in no man’s land here. You almost have to pair him with Nola or ignore this whole thing.

Luis Castillo ($8,100): Castillo presents more risk than I am usually interested in taking, but with the slate split like it is, we have to pair one of our high priced pitchers with someone. Castillo has that coveted strikeout upside – he struck out 15 Brewers last year in 12.2 innings and has 19 against their current roster – but he did have a 4.26 ERA against The Crew last year. The current Brewers have slugged three homers off of Castillo, but if we roll with him here we are hoping the strikeouts can overshadow the homers.

Bargain Pitchers:

Carlos Rodon ($7,000): Rodon was solid on opening day, but solid wont cut it against Cleveland. The good news is that even though Rodon was 0-2 in four starts against Cleveland last year, he had a 3.42 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. Overall, Cleveland is only hitting .224 against Rodon with no homers, three runs, and 18 strikeouts over 76 at bats. Those are really good numbers. There is reason to think that Rodon can be solid today.

Kyle Gibson ($6,300): Gibson had one of the best season of his career last year. He even struck out close to a batter per inning for the first time in his career. Gibson averaged 17.3 DraftKings points per game in three starts against the Royals last year. I think we would take that at this price. Gibson is also 3-3 with a 3.43 ERA in ten career starts at Kauffman Stadium. Nothing jumps off the page, but Gibson is solid and he’ll save you money. That’s about all we can ask for on a five game slate.

My picks: Nola, Marquez

FanDuel MLB: ST PETERSBURG, FL – AUGUST 4: Jose Abreu #79 of the Chicago White Sox hits a homer in the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 4, 2018 at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Early batter notes

Tucker Barnhart is the only Reds player to homer off of Freddy Peralta so far, and there’s a good chance that he wont even be in the lineup. Then where do we go? Joey Votto and Jose Peraza have the best averages in a small sample size.

Christian Yelich, Yasmani Grandal, and Ryan Braun all homered off of Luis Castillo last year. If you decide not to use him, this is a good place for a mini stack, especially with a red hot Yelich.

I don’t want a lot of exposure to Nola, but Ryan Zimmerman is 7-25(.280) with a homer and four RBI against him. Anthony Rendon is 10-32(.312) with a solo homer and seven runs scored.

The stack of the day has to be the Phillies against Anibal Sanchez. They are 19-72(.264) with four homers and 16 runs with 16 strikeouts. I’ll take those odds! Bryce Harper, Odubel Herrera, Scott Kingery, and Realmuto have the homers. Andrew McCutchen has four RBI in 19 at bats, but no long balls off of Anibal….yet.

The Indians don’t have that great of a history against Rodon, but Jose Ramirez is 7-28 with five runs, four steals, and three RBI. It’s only a matter of time until he gets into one.

Jose Abreu is the one guy we can’t do without today. Abreu is 16-50 with five homers and 12 RBI against Kluber already. Daniel Palka and Yolmer Sanchez have homered off of Kluber as well, but they are only a combined 7-46(.152) off of him.

I’m not going out of my way to get any hitters from the Rays-Rockies game. The exceptions could be Ian Desmond and Mark Reynolds. Both are cheap, and they are a combined 9-23 with two RBI against Morton.

A few Royals have managed to hit Kyle Gibson well over the years. Alex Gordon is still really cheap, and he is a respectable 14-45(.311) with a homer and five RBI. Adalberto Mondesi is 5-9 with a homer and three driven in. Lucas Duda is 3-5 with a homer and Gibson has never retired Ryan O’Hearn in three at bats. All of those are solid options if you don’t use Gibson.

Homer Bailey doesn’t give up a lot of his namesake, but he gives up a ton of hard contact and hits. Nelson Cruz looks particularly good today if he’s in the lineup. So do Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, and Marwin Gonzalez.

TORONTO, ON – MARCH 29: Matt Shoemaker #34 of the Toronto Blue Jays delivers a pitch in the first inning during MLB game action against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre on March 29, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Afternoon Pitcher Picks:

The three game afternoon slate leaves a lot to be desired. There are only three games here, which means only six pitchers. It’s easier to write them all up in a paragraph form than independently because honestly, some aren’t even worth mentioning.

Joey Lucchesi is the top arm, but Arizona hit him pretty well last year. Three homers and eight runs in only 48 at bats. Robbie Ray has held the Padres to a .200 average in 80 at bats, but has given up a staggering eight homers and 14 runs. Ray struggles against lefties. I’m inclined to leave both of these pitchers be and stack the bats in this game.

Matt Boyd has solid numbers against the Yankees that are still healthy, but I want no part of a lefty against the Bombers in Yankee Stadium. Honestly, Jonathan Loaisiga is a great play against the hapless Tigers offense.

Nate Karns is going to open against Toronto and Jimmy Yacabonis is going to relieve him. Want either one of them? Didn’t think so. So by default, we have to take the last pitcher. It’s Matt Shoemaker. You know, the guy who was dominant in his first start as a Blue Jay. The Baltimore offense has been better than advertised, but Shoemaker can handle them. The current Orioles only have one hit off of him in 14 tries.

My picks: Shoemaker, Loaisiga

SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 15: Hunter Renfroe #10 of the San Diego Padres hits a solo home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at PETCO Park on July 15, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

Luke Voit, Troy Tulowitzki, and Gary Sanchez have already homered off of Matt Boyd. There’s a good chance that Aaron Judge joins the party today.

More from FanSided

The Toronto offense has looked really good so far. Using the hot hand in Brandon Drury is a good place to start. Justin Smoak has cooled since the hot spring, but I can see using him too. I want the power potential of Randal Grichuk and Teoscar Hernandez over Billy McKinney or Lourdes Gurriel if you are going to stack this game.

I’m definitely stacking the Arizona-San Diego game in at least one lineup. The two pitchers combined have yielded 11 homers in 128 at bats. That’s a great ratio! Hunter Renfroe has three of them. Nick Ahmed, Eric Hosmer, and Wil Myers have two each. Ketel Marte and Manuel Margot have the others. I’m using at least three of those guys.

Next. MLB DFS Value Plays April 3. dark

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