DraftKings MLB Picks April 23: German invades L.A.

PHOENIX, AZ – JULY 20: Starting pitcher Patrick Corbin #46 of the Arizona Diamondbacks reacts after giving up a two run home run to Josh Donaldson #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of the interleague MLB game at Chase Field on August 20, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) DraftKings MLB /

DraftKings MLB Picks April 23: German invades L.A.

We have a pretty busy Tuesday with 13 games for our DraftKings MLB tournaments. Again, we don’t really have an ace, but there are some high prices on the pitching end. I’ll go ahead and rule one of them out right now: Patrick Corbin has a 6.55 ERA in ten career Coors Field starts.

DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Kenta Maeda ($10,000): The Cubs are only hitting .195 against Maeda in 41 at bats, but Maeda’s only Wrigley Field start was not a good one. Still, the ten strikeout in 41 at bats is strong, as is the two runs allowed. This is good enough that I’m not a fan of any Cubs here, but I’m still nervous about Maeda, especially for the price.

Domingo German ($9,000): German has been dominant this year, going 3-1 with a 2.37 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched. The Angels offense isn’t as bad as it was early on, but I’m not sure it matters. German even looks cheap at this price. If you’re looking for a late night hammer, this is it.

Middle Tier:

Trevor Williams ($8,300): We saw Musgrove get knocked around a little bit last night, and Williams’ numbers against Arizona aren’t that good. So why use him? Williams has a 2.59 ERA, which means that he is picking up right where he left off in the second half of last year. The lack of strikeouts have me leaning towards Weaver here, but Williams will probably give up less runs.

Luke Weaver ($8,100): Weaver has been strong over his last two starts, picking up 53.6 DraftKings points in those games. The Pirates have actually hit Weaver pretty well in two games against him from his time with the Cardinals. This lineup is getting healthy and is somewhat dangerous, but the 17 strikeouts Weaver has picked up in the last two games have me leaning towards using him anyway.

Jeff Samardzija ($7,800): Shark was miserable last year, so his start to this year has to be encouraging. Only Tampa really hit him hard. The current Jays are only hitting .209 against him in 43 at bats with a homer and three runs with 13 strikeouts. Samardzija isn’t a high strikeout guy for the most part, but there is still potential here.

Bargain Pitchers:

Trent Thornton ($7,000): Thornton’s luster has worn off quite a bit since he has given up nine runs in his last two starts. However, the Giants aren’t the offense that Tampa and Minnesota are. This is the prime chance for Thornton to get back on track. Of course, the downside here is that Thornton hasn’t racked up many strikeouts lately and the Giants don’t strike out much. If they get to Thornton, there’s nothing to salvage his line.

Nick Margevicius ($6,900): Margevicius was knocked around by the Rockies in his last start, so there’s plenty of reasons to want to avoid this. Seattle has a lot of right-handed power, so there is risk involved here. Still, Margevicius has upside due to the strikeouts, which you usually don’t get at this price.

Hector Velazquez ($6,400): Velazquez has been strong in relief for Boston, which is big considering how bad their rotation was early on. The issue here is that Velazquez may not be stretched out enough to go more than five innings. He may not even get that far, which makes me leery of paying this price. I definitely see the upside here though.

Jalen Beeks ($5,900): Beeks hasn’t gone more than three innings in any of his long relief appearances this year, so I see the risk. Then I look at the Royals offense and see the reward. There really isn’t a lot of strikeout upside here either. But, if you want to pay for Coors bats, you’re going to find yourself in this tier.

My picks: German, Margevicius; German, Samardzija

DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 22: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies rounds the bases to score on a Ryan McMahon double in the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Coors Field on April 22, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB stack options

New York Mets vs. Zach Eflin:

The Mets are hitting .311 with three homers and 12 runs in just 61 at bats against Eflin. Cano, Todd Frazier, and Conforto have the homers. Jeff McNeil and Amed Rosario look good here too. I do like Brandon Nimmo batting leadoff, but he is just 1-7 lifetime against Eflin. There are probably better places to go after Eflin.

Chicago White Sox vs. Andrew Cashner:

The Sox are hitting .354 in 65 at bats against Cashner with a homer and ten runs. How much longer are the Orioles going to keep throwing him out there? Nicky Delmonico has the only homer so far, but he barely plays. Leury Garcia, Jose Abreu, Yonder Alonso, Moncada, and Tim Anderson are on my radar again.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Zach Wheeler:

The Phillies are hitting .273 with four homers and 15 runs in 99 at bats. This looks to be a high scoring game. McCutchen, Maikel Franco, Cesar Hernandez, and Bryce Harper have the homers. All of them are good plays. J.T. Realmuto is 5-11 with a pair of RBI. Nick Williams is also worth a look too.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Zach Davies:

Davies is only worth using in the right situations, but this is definitely not one of them. The Cardinals are hitting .341 with six homers and 22 runs in 129 at bats. Matt Carpenter is 10-22(.455) with three homers and four RBI, so lock him in. Kolten Wong, Dexter Fowler and Jedd Gyorko have the homers. Marcell Ozuna is 6-16 with three RBI. And don’t you dare fade Paul Goldschmidt.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Jose Quintana:

Quintana has been pretty bad at Wrigley, but he does hold the platoon advantage over a vast majority of this offense. However, Cody Bellinger and Corey Seager hit lefties well enough to consider. Max Muncy has the only Dodger homer off of Quintana so far. A.J. Pollock, Kike Hernandez, and Justin Turner also stand out here.

Houston Astros vs. Michael Pineda:

The Astros are hitting .294 with five homers and 13 runs in just 85 at bats against Pineda. Carlos Correa has three of those homers, so he needs to be in your lineups. George Springer has the other two. I suppose you could stop there, but why? Jose Altuve, Tyler White, and Jake Marisnick are all hitting .375 or better off of Pineda.

New York Yankees vs. Chris Stratton:

The Yankees stack didn’t come through last night, but it should here. Stratton has been just north of awful this entire season. Clint Frazier, Brett Gardner, and Luke Voit are my top plays. Gleyber Torres and Mike Tauchman make up this stack for me. Don’t try to get cute with this one. Yankees 1-5 or 2-6 is the way to go, especially with most stacking Coors Field.

Washington Nationals vs. Colorado pitchers:

I don’t care who starts. Not one bit. Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto are the elite plays. Throw in Matt Adams if Chad Bettis really does start this game. Ryan Zimmerman and Howie Kendrick if it’s a lefty. Adam Eaton if a lefty. Victor Robles if a lefty. You can get creative with this one once we get confirmation of the starting lineups.

Colorado Rockies vs. Patrick Corbin:

I mentioned Corbin’s terrible Coors Field ERA. It doesn’t stop there. The Rockies have eight homers and 21 runs in 153 at bats against Corbin. Nolan Arenado is 12-41(.293) with three homers and five RBI. Mark Reynolds has two homers and four RBI, but those are hit only two hits in 15 at bats. Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, and Ian Desmond have the others.

BOSTON, MA – APRIL 12: Chris Davis #19 of the Baltimore Orioles lines out to end the game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 12, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley /Getty Images) /

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

Jung Ho Kang and Colin Moran have the homers against Luke Weaver if you are looking for repeat performances. I think I would rather try for Adam Frazier or Gregory Polanco.

On the other side of this game, Nick Ahmed, David Peralta, and John Ryan Murphy have all homered against Williams. I’m not sure how much exposure I want to this game though. There are better places to attack on almost a full slate.

More from FanSided

Part of me wants to attack with the Orioles again. Ivan Nova doesn’t have much exposure to this incarnation of the Orioles. Chris Davis stands out since he is 10-35 with four homers and 11 RBI against Nova. Villar has homered off of him as well.

Justin Smoak is the only Blue Jay that has homered against Samardzija. Eric Sogard is cheap, and is 6-11 with a pair of RBI in his career against Shark.

There hasn’t been hardly anything to get excited about for the Giants offensively, but I want to take a shot with Brandon Belt. Steven Duggar leading off looks great too.

I think Spencer Turnbull is good enough to not stack against. The hard part is trying to figure out who to go after him with. Moreland and Benintendi look like the ones to me, though Mookie Betts is starting to heat up as well.

I can see the merits of taking a shot at Hector Velazquez, but with who? Niko Goodrum is the obvious spot. Beyond that, I have no idea.

Well, going after Homer Bailey hasn’t done much for us lately, but this Rays offense is really good. Yandy Diaz, Tommy Pham, Brandon Lowe, Avi Garcia, Kevin Kiermaier, and Mike Zunino all look good.

Billy Hamilton is rolling, and I really like his speed in DFS formats. On top of that, he’s cheap. Alex Gordon and Whit Merrifield are worth a look as well, but I usually don’t go after the Rays, especially with iffy offenses.

Daniel Poncedelon struggled this spring, and now gets the Brewers in his first start. What could possibly go wrong? With all of these lefties, good luck. Yelich has not hit a homer on the road year, but this could be where he does. I really like Yasmani Grandal and Moose here if he plays.

It’s dangerous to stack against Wade Miley, but I do want some exposure here. Willians Astudillo, Nelson Cruz, and Byron Buxton would be my choices.

Kendrys Morales has both homers for the A’s against Lance Lynn and six of the 10 runs. I don’t feel comfortable stacking in a stadium like Oakland, but it’s still tempting. So is stacking the other side of this. Frankie Montas is solid, but wow, that left-handed power for Texas. Joey Gallo is hitting everything. Nomar Mazara, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Choo all look good too.

Erik Swanson looks tempting, but that Padres power makes me nervous. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Wil Myers are really the only guys that I’m interested in.

Considering the Rockies got to Margevicius in his last outing, so I can see chasing him with some Seattle right-handed power. Domingo Santana, Mitch Haniger, and Ryon Healy all look good.

Next. MLB DFS Picks and Pivots - Tuesday, April 23. dark

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