DraftKings MLB Main Picks April 9: deGrom, the slate breaker

We have a pretty full ten game main slate for our DraftKings MLB tournaments. Not all of the aces go on the same day anymore, so we have some good pitchers and some bad pitchers out there. What is the right mix? There are 20 pitchers and we only get two of them! I guess that depends on where we want to go with the bats tonight.

DraftKings MLB Main Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Jacob deGrom ($11,600): The current Twins have only faced deGrom eight times, so that isn’t going to tell you much. His first two starts of the season tell us plenty though. deGrom has allowed just eight hits, two walks, and no runs while striking out 24 batters in just 13 innings. That’s eight retired on fly balls, six on groundouts, and a staggering 24 going back to the dugout shaking their heads. A price can’t be put on this kind of dominance. deGrom is a cash game lock. He’s almost a lock in GPP’s as well. I just don’t know if we can make up that kind of points if we fade him.

Stephen Strasburg ($9,700): The Phillies are only hitting .222 in 171 at bats against Strasburg with only three homers, ten runs, and 50 strikeouts. Those numbers make Strasburg a solid fade option or give you a really good reason to try and cram him and deGrom in the same line. I kind of have a feeling that this tier will get lost in the shuffle with deGrom out there. Strasburg gives us a good reason to try a fade in GPP lineups.

Aaron Nola ($9,400): The Nationals are only hitting .239 in 155 at bats against Nola, but they do have six homers and 18 runs. The 45 strikeouts puts his rate a touch higher than Strasburg’s. This might be a low scoring game, but I don’t really know that I want to play both sides of it. Not on a mostly full slate. There’s no upside. Choose your side between Nola and Strasburg tonight.

Middle Tier:

Joey Lucchesi ($9,200): DraftKings adjusted the price to the point that it’s going to be very difficult to pair deGrom with Lucchesi. If his price weren’t so out of control, that would be my ideal pairing. However, the Giants offense has woke up lately. Lucchesi has dominated the Giants twice in his career. He has a great chance to do it again, but this price concerns me.

German Marquez ($8,800): If you’re willing to fade the bats from here, you can fit Marquez in with deGrom. Do we want to? With Fried on the other side, it’s easy to say yes. Marquez has solid numbers against the Braves. They have only homered off of him once in 36 at bats with a .250 average, but the six runs are a problem. Still, Marquez gave up just 10 runs in seven home starts after the All Star break last year. There is a lot to like about this.

Brett Anderson ($8,000): I wont lie. The fact that the wind is blowing in in Baltimore makes this pick appetizing. The Orioles are only hitting .212 against Anderson in 33 at bats with two runs and seven strikeouts. Those aren’t what I call elite numbers, but Anderson is off to a good start anyway. That should continue against the Orioles.

Bargain Pitchers:

Jake Junis ($7,200): The Mariners have been horrid against Junis so far. They are a putrid 4-37(.108) with only one extra base hit (a Jay Bruce homer), two runs, and six strikeouts. You have to have a strong stomach for this though with the way the Mariners offense has been rolling. It’s a small sample size that isn’t going to get better. It’s only going to get worse. Still, this is a fair price for a SP2 that has been better at home than on the road in his short career so far.

Mike Minor ($6,300): There isn’t a free space out there on DraftKings like there is on FanDuel, so we are going to have to dig a little deeper for our second pitcher. Minor could be the place to do that. Arizona is very heavy on the righties though, and it’s a nice night with the wind blowing out in Phoenix. Still, the Diamondbacks are only 3-15 against Minor so far with the only damage done by Jones. I see the upside here, and after what Minor did to the Astros there is hope he can do it again. Keep in mind he was hammered by the righty heavy Cubs in his first start.

John Means ($4,500): Means will join the rotation after dominating out of the bullpen behind opener Nate Karns. Means has allowed one run and struck out nine in 5.2 innings out of the bullpen. The A’s really don’t know what to expect from him. I think Means has more upside than most pitchers at this price point. He likely wont go more than five innings no matter how well he pitches though, so temper your expectations. I would say that Means goes about four innings, gives up a run or two, and strikes out a half dozen or so. That’s a strong return for this price.

My picks: deGrom, Means; deGrom, Junis

DraftKings MLB: Main stack options

Colorado Rockies vs. Max Fried:

Okay, so only five current Rockies faced Fried last year. Trevor Story smacked a three run homer off of him. Mark Reynolds had a double. I really like Arenado here as well. Charlie Blackmon hits lefties well enough that he’s always in consideration. Whatever platoon righty the Rockies put in the outfield in place of Dahl is a good place to save a few bucks and still get exposure.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Ross Stripling:

Despite Stripling’s success in his short career, he has not been able to figure out the Cardinals. They are hitting a robust .356 against Stripling in 45 at bats with three homers, nine runs, and only seven strikeouts. There is no way Stripling is worth the price, and the best part is that we can leverage his ownership rather easily here since the Cardinals aren’t that expensive. Dexter Fowler, Marcell Ozuna, and Goldy have the homers. Yadier Molina is 3-5 with three RBI against Stripling. The red hot Kolten Wong is 2-4 lifetime off of Stripling. The only Cardinal that has struggled against Stripling is Matt Carpenter, who is 0-5. There are many ways to stack this.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Dakota Hudson:

Hudson hasn’t looked nearly as sharp as he did last September. That’s a bit of a problem because the Cardinals need him. The Dodgers aren’t the place that he’s going to get on track. I don’t expect the Dodgers to destroy Hudson, so stack is a relative term. However, this team hits righties very well. Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy, and Corey Seager are all in play. If Joc Pederson leads off, I like him too. Kike Hernandez is hitting righties this year as well, not just lefties. He’s a good way to save money in a full blown stack.

New York Mets vs. Kyle Gibson:

The Mets offense is hot. Gibson got torched by the Royals in his first start of the season, not even making it through five innings. The best place to start this could be with Travis d’Arnaud. d’Arnaud has an average exit velocity of 96.8 mph against Gibson, the second highest on the slate. Robinson Cano is 8-30(.267) with five RBI against Gibson, but no homers yet. Michael Conforto needs to be part of this as well. For the other two parts of this stack, Keon Broxton and Wilson Ramos are a combined 4-8 against Gibson, but I would lean towards Brandon Nimmo if he is at or near the top of the lineup again.

Kansas City Royals vs. Marco Gonzales:

Yes, Gonzales has been a pretty good pitcher so far in his career. These Royals have really got the bat on the ball against him though. Jorge Soler is 3-5 and has an average exit velocity of 108 mph off of Gonzalez. It’s a miracle Gonzales hasn’t homered off of him yet. The whole Royals team is hitting .410 in 39 at bats against Gonzales with a homer and six runs. Whit Merrifield has the homer. Martin Maldonado is 6-11 with a pair of RBI. Add in the hot bat of Alex Gordon and sprinkle in a little Mondesi for a nice contrarian stack here. I think many are going to try to use Gonzales against the Royals tonight.

Miwaukee Brewers vs. Matt Harvey:

Oooh, the Brewers are expensive, but they deserve to be. They are hitting .317 with five homers and 19 runs in 101 at bats against Harvey. Arcia, Jesus Aguilar, Hernan Perez, Manny Pina, and Yelich have the homers. Travis Shaw is 6-14 even though he hasn’t taken Harvey yard yet. Everyone in this lineup is in play tonight.

San Diego Padres vs. Derek Holland:

I’m actually expecting healthy ownership on Holland because he’s not a bad pitcher. Then why stack against him? The Padres are right handed heavy and have hit Holland hard. They are hitting .311 with four homers and 18 runs in 106 at bats. Wil Myers, Manny Machado, and Ian Kinsler all have an exit velocity of 93 mph or more against Holland. Eric Hosmer, Franmil Reyes, Kinsler, and Hunter Renfroe have all homered against Holland. This isn’t really a hitter’s park, but with that kind of exit velocity, if they get into one, it wont land soon.

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

I’m still trying to decide just how heavily I want to go after John Means here. The A’s have a lot of right handed power. Khris Davis is a definite here, and Matt Chapman looks very good as well. There’s nothing wrong with throwing a hot Robbie Grossman out there either. The good part if you decide to stack this is that the Baltimore bullpen isn’t very good either.

More from FanSided

Maikel Franco is 7-25(.280) with two homers and four RBI against Strasburg. He’s about the only one I would take a shot on though besides a fairly priced Jean Segura. Realmuto isn’t priced down at all!

The Nationals are a better chance to take a shot at power, especially considering Nola was rocked in his last outing. Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon have both homered off of Nola twice. Juan Soto and Michael Taylor have the others.

The Astros’ offense is in no shape to be stacking on anyone, and Loaisiga has proven to be a capable pitcher. I don’t love the Astros here, but they can’t stay cold forever. George Springer and Jose Altuve are my favorite darts here.

Dansby Swanson is hitting well right now, and he’s 3-3 with everything but a homer off of Marquez in his career. $4,100 seems cheap. Still, with as dominant as Marquez was down the stretch at home, I’m not going overboard here. Swanson and Albies are really the only Braves I’d chase.

I will start this by saying that I expect Gerrit Cole to be better than Verlander last night. I recommended Verlander, so why not Cole? It’s simple. Price. Cole’s price isn’t far enough off of deGrom’s to make me want to drop off, and you can’t fit both in the lineup. Does that mean I want to use Yankees against him? Not really, but I do like Brett Gardner leading off for $3,600.

Seattle’s offense went off again last night, but it was on Homer Bailey. Jay Bruce is the way to go after Junis. Dan Vogelbach is in play too since he’s on fire right now, but I don’t want a ton of exposure to this. They are going to slow down some time.

Minor has had enough of a resurgence to not stack against, but Christian Walker and Adam Jones are priced right here in case Minor implodes. Wilmer Flores also hammers a lot of left handed pitching, though Minor has escaped his wrath thus far.

I’m not stacking against Zack Greinke, but I don’t trust him either. His career numbers at Chase Field are impressive, but this Texas offense has been very good so far. Greinke’s career numbers don’t jump off the page either. However, a couple do against him. Hunter Pence is dirt cheap, and he has two homers off of Greinke. Shin-Soo Choo is 13-48(.271) with a homer and eight RBI. Asdrubal Cabrera is 16-37(.432) with six walks, four runs, and three RBI. This is a good way to leverage Greinke ownership.

Justin Bour is the only Angel that has faced Freddy Peralta. He homered off of him. I like Peralta, but not at that price. It’s not worth the bats you would have to sacrifice to pair him with deGrom.

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