DraftKings MLB Main Picks April 5: Me Gusta Quintana

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – APRIL 03: Alex Gordon #4 of the Kansas City Royals hits a three-run home run against the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning at Kauffman Stadium on April 03, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB Main Picks April 5: Me Gusta Quintana

We have eight games for our main DraftKings MLB tournaments. After a few days of smaller ones, we have quite a few games, but not a lot of star pitching. Honestly, the pitching was probably better with the six pitchers on the day slate. Which way should we go with this? Let’s take a look!

DraftKings MLB Main Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Collin McHugh ($9,500): McHugh is the highest price on the slate against an Oakland offense that looked really good against Boston. I don’t like this price, but it’s hard to argue with the results from McHugh’s first start. He put up 22.9 DraftKings points on the Rays. The A’s are only hitting .212 with three homers and five runs in 85 at bats with 24 strikeouts. That’s a strong strikeout rate and an offense that hasn’t done well against McHugh thus far. I see the upside here.

Shane Bieber ($9,300): Beiber wasn’t all that good in the first start of the year, but this Blue Jays offense isn’t striking fear into anyone. The Indians behind Bauer and the bullpen locked down the Jays yesterday. There’s a good chance Bieber gets back on track here.

Middle Tier:

Jose Quintana ($8,400): It takes a leap of faith here to go after Quintana, but there are stats to back it up. First off, Quintana has dominated at Miller Park. He is 4-1 with a 1.55 ERA in six career Miller Park starts. Since Quintana joined the Cubs, he has really only been a train wreck at Wrigley. The Brewers are a really good offense, but a bulk of the power if from the left side. There is serious potential here.

Frankie Montas ($8,000): The Astros have only scored 15 runs in the first seven games of the season. Meanwhile, Montas was sharp in his first start, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out six Angels in six innings. Montas checks all the boxes as far as prospects go, and he can really make a statement by holding down this struggling Astros offense.

Bargain Pitchers:

Lance Lynn ($7,000): The Angels are only hitting .211 against Lynn, but this offense teed off on the Rangers last night. Lynn isn’t much of a strikeout guy, but he does induce a whole lot of weak contact. If Andrelton Simmons misses this game, the Angels are down yet another one of their better bats. This is looking better and better!

Trent Thornton ($6,200): Thornton was outstanding in his first start, but it’s one thing to dominate the Tigers. It’s another thing entirely to do the same to Cleveland. The Indians have not scored more than five runs in a game though, so there is potential here. However, if Thornton gives up five, we’ll be pretty upset with that. Therein lies the risk.

My picks: Quintana, Montas

MIAMI, FL – MARCH 28: Jorge Alfaro #38 of the Miami Marlins at bat in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies during Opening Day at Marlins Park on March 28, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Boston Red Sox vs. Zack Godley:

If the Red Sox offense is ever going to wake up, it should be here. Godley was destroyed in his first outing, allowing eight runs (seven earned) in 5.1 innings against the Dodgers. On paper, the Red Sox offense is at least as good. On top of that, Godley has a 4.76 career ERA in 35 starts at Chase Field. Godley has a reverse splits thing going on, and has allowed far more home runs to righties. I want all of Mookie, J.D., and Xander Bogaerts. Benintendi and Mitch Moreland are worth a look here as well.

Atlanta Braves vs. Pablo Lopez:

The Braves beat up on Lopez last year, and this offense could be better than it was last year. Atlanta just got done hammering the Cubs for 23 runs in that three game series. The ball is flying in SunTrust, so this looks bad for Pablo. Ronald Acuna was the only guy to homer off of him in the start last year, but Camargo, Ender Inciarte, and Tyler Flowers hit him well too. The Braves hit .316 off of him last year. Freeman was the only one that really struggled (0-5), so just about anyone else in this lineup is worth a shot.

Florida Marlins vs. Kevin Gausman:

You may not see the Marlins in this space again, except when they face Gausman again. The Marlins are hitting .380 in 71 at bats against Gausman with four homers and 13 runs. Lewis Brinson is 2-3. Both hits were triples. Curtis Granderson is 3-7 with a pair of homers. Jorge Alfaro is 4-6 with a homer, and his average exit velocity off of Gausman is 100.7 mph, the highest on the slate. Brian Anderson‘s exit velocity is 92.5, good enough for fourth. Starlin Castro is 11-35(.314) with a homer and four RBI. This is also a nice, cheap stack.

Texas Rangers vs. Felix Pena:

Pena was really good against the Rangers last year, but I can’t get his first start out of my head. He was a disaster. Ronald Guzman has the only Rangers homer off of Pena. This team destroyed Mike Harvey last night. Everything is lining up for a repeat performance here. The Rangers offense is rolling, the Angels pitchers are reeling. Here’s your late night hammer, probably in the form of Joey Gallo.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 04: Stephen Piscotty #25 of the Oakland Athletics hits a three run home run in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on April 04, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Sonny Gray wasn’t necessarily hit hard by the Pirates, but they certainly got on base a lot against him. The Pirates drew four walks in 2.2 innings and picked up five hits as well. That’s nine base runners and eight outs if you’re keeping score at home. No part of me wants to use Gray here, but Adam Frazier, Colin Moran, and Kang look very good here. So does Starling Marte if you want to spend up. The only reason I’m not stacking is because Pittsburgh never got that one big hit for maximum points on DraftKings. There is a lot to like about this though.