DraftKings MLB Main Picks April 3: Pay for Cole

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 late 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 Main Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Gerrit Cole ($11,400): Verlander didn’t survive the Rangers last night, so I think that may scare people off of Cole. Maybe it shouldn’t. The Rangers are only hitting .216 against Cole in 88 at bats with three homers, seven runs, and a staggering 30 strikeouts. Whatever runs Cole may surrender are going to be overshadowed by that. I don’t see any one stack that jumps off the page besides maybe the Astros. I think we have to use Cole and do what we can for hitters.

Nathan Eovaldi ($9,000): The A’s offense is off to a god start, but Eovadli has stifled them so far. They are only hitting .235 with one run in 34 at bats. The upside ends there. Eovaldi has walked more A’s than he has struck out. The Red Sox rotation has been a disaster with the possible exception of yesterday’s start. Honestly, this price is pretty high. The Red Sox’ struggles so far don’t mean that Eovlaldi is necessarily doomed to failure, but it is an ominous sign.

Middle Tier:

Jameson Taillon ($7,900): The Cardinals are only hitting .212 off of Taillon with just two homers and nine runs in 113 at bats. The 23 strikeouts is nothing to write home about, but you already know that Taillon isn’t a high strikeout pitcher. He did rack up 22.8 DraftKings points per game in three games against the Cardinals last year and did not allow a home run. This is a sneaky good spot for Taillon, who was good for an extra three DraftKings points per game on average at home last season.

Jon Lester ($7,500): SunTrust Park is like the perfect place for Jon Lester to pitch. Sure, he has only pitched there once, but he dominated in seven innings. Righties hit Lester hard, but this park really caters to left handed power. The Braves do have a couple of bats that could be a problem, but overall they are only hitting .237 with four homers and 13 runs in 194 at bats with 51 strikeouts. Those are strong numbers, especially for this price.

Julio Teheran ($7,000): You have to have a strong stomach to go after this, but I’m telling you, the stats support it. The Cubs are hitting just .187 in 75 at bats against Teheran, but they do have three homers and eight runs with 14 strikeouts. There isn’t a whole lot of upside. You would basically be leaning on the past stats to leverage Cubs stackers. They’ll be out there. I promise.

Bargain Pitchers:

Derek Holland ($5,700): Want to get crazy? Use Holland. The Dodgers are only hitting .169 off of the crafty lefty in 65 at bats with only one homer, five runs, and 15 strikeouts. Tempting, isn’t it? Both of these bottom feeders carry massive risk, but past stats aren’t totally useless. These are fairly good sample sizes as well. The only question is: how brave are you?

Marco Estrada ($5,200): Yes, I threw up in my mouth a bit, but this Red Sox offense is not performing very well for the most part. Estrada was sharp last week, not so sharp in Japan. He’s an extreme fly ball pitcher in a cavernous park, so if you really need to save money, I can’t fault this. Besides, the Red Sox are only hitting .195 in 200 at bats with four homers and 23 runs. There’s very little strikeout upside here, and a whole lot of risk with a potent offense. That said, I can see how this play has huge leverage potential if you don’t mind finishing last.

My picks: Cole, Taillon

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

The numbers on Miles Mikolas against the Pirates were nothing special last year, so I have no issue taking a shot at him with Adam Frazier or Corey Dickerson. McCutchen was the only Pirate that homered against Mikolas in five starts last year though.

Strangely enough, the left handed Braves are the ones that have given Lester issues. Both Matt Joyce and Freddie Freeman have homered twice against Lester. They are the guys you want to try Lester with in SunTrust.

More from FanSided

Kris Bryant, Albert Almora, and Anthony Rizzo have the Cubs homers against Teheran. Teheran is an enigmatic pitcher, so there will be those that take shots at him. The past stats are hard to ignore though.

Joey Gallo has smashed two homers against Gerrit Cole, but those are his only two hits in 12 tries. Shin-Soo Choo has the other.

The Cubs stack is probably the contrarian stack. The obvious one is the Astros. They are hitting .287 against Mike Minor with five homers and 17 runs in just 87 at bats. Those are elite numbers. Prime for stacking. Tyler White, Max Stassi, and Josh Reddick all have homers. Yuli Gurriel has two. George Springer and Carlos Correa are worth a look as well. The only Astro I would avoid is Jake Marisnick, who is 1-8 off of Minor.

Matt Carpenter is the only Cardinal that I am remotely interested in against Taillon. Yes, that includes Goldschmidt. Carpenter is a strong 7-21 with a homer, two steals, and two RBI against Taillon.

Khris Davis and Marcus Semien will be the guys I go after if I decide to chase the Red Sox struggling starters again.

The Red Sox haven’t hit Marco Estrada well, but they have hit him hard. Really hard. Boston has four homers and 25 runs in 200 at bats. Those aren’t over the top numbers, but they are good enough to want some exposure. J.D. Martinez has a homer and six RBI. Mitch Moreland and Xander Bogaerts have homered as well.

Kike. Lefty. Lock. The end. Yes, Kike has the homer off of Derek Holland for the Dodgers. Are you really surprised by that?

I’m not all that crazy about Ross Stripling again. I really have no reason to be. I know the Giants are struggling. I get it. However, they had a nice comeback last night, and are hitting .333 against Stripling. I’m not going to chase Giants bats, but there’s enough to give me pause about using Stripling.

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