Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top MLB DFS Value Plays – Friday, April 26th
Daily Fantasy Baseball is in full swing, and whether you play on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, or Fantasy Draft, this article is designed to help you find the best value plays across the board for today’s slate. These low salary targets are my top players to help you roster your stud bats and pitchers.
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While most of our content is site specific, whether it be for hitting or pitching, this article is going to be different. What I will do here, is evaluate potential value plays for that particular day, across the four major DFS sites.
So the plan of attack here is, first I will highlight my top value plays for Yahoo and Fantasy Draft. I will dig up certain plays that I think fit their scoring systems, and possible flaws in pricing. I will then do the same for FanDuel, and then for DraftKings.
Finally after I break down my favorites from each site specifically, I will then finish up with top overall multi-site value plays. These are the top players viable across the industry, who are in line to out produce their respective salary, no matter what the site. To summarize, all of these plays are just simply the best value plays that stand out across the industry, regardless of site.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – Yahoo!
3B – Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians – $13
Make sure you scroll this position pretty good today if you are playing on Yahoo. It seems like , but everywhere else, Ramirez is finally getting some respect after his monster night a couple of days ago, but here he is still down in salary quite a bit. When you consider he is the same price as Rafael Devers, and $5 cheaper than Blue Jays rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who will be making his major league debut, you have to take a good look here.
I have rolled him out as a value play on FanDuel the last couple days as a talent this good is still too cheap everywhere. But the fact that he has had a slow start makes it all make sense. However, when you consider the fact that Francisco Lindor is back anchoring the top of this lineup, you also have to expect Ramirez to heat up soon. The match-up isn’t great against an improved Collin McHugh, but the price is still right at least here on Yahoo.
2B – Eric Sogard – Toronto Blue Jays – $7
Minimum price for a lead off hitter, currently overachieving in general, against Mike Fiers, in a game where this Jays lineup will be led by the major league debut of Vlad Jr. Sign me up. Sogard continues to be a welcomed addition to the top of this Jays lineup as he is hitting better than anyone expected I am willing to bet.
In seven games, Sogard is hitting .367 with a homer and two stolen bases. No chance he maintains this pace given his history, but we might as well ride it out in good match-up’s as long as he remains at the top of the lineup. This one will be a decision for me though however, because we have another $7 second baseman to talk about later. Please continue.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FantasyDraft
IF – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – Toronto Blue Jays – $8,300
You knew he would pop up somewhere right? I hope so. No chance I am not rostering this kid somewhere tonight, and while FanDuel is very viable it $3,200, he fits perfectly in the traditional theme of this article right here on Fantasy Draft.
I kind of wish Sogard and Justin Smoak were a little cheaper here as I kind of want to pay up for pitching at least a little here tonight, but I will definitely be sliding Guerrero Jr. in as a one-off. Vlad Jr. making his debut is one of the most anticipated Major League debuts in quite some time. You won’t want to miss this one as I expect a full splash.
IF/OF – Kris Bryant – Chicago Cubs – $7,300
KB continues to struggle mightily, as he has still just homered once this season. But I cannot pass on this price here against a lefty. He is cheap in my opinion over on FanDuel as well today, but this is rock bottom value for an all-star caliber hitter today on Fantasy Draft.
Robbie Ray has been pitching well on the other side, and he has also owned KB in his career up to this point, but I am banking on the quality of hitter. Bryant will bust out of his slump at some point, and the Cubs need it to happen desperately. He has been consistently getting on base at least daily, and a full break out seems imminent .
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FanDuel
2B – Michael Chavis – Boston Red Sox – $2,700
Chavis is getting the obligatory price bump across the industry, as he continues to hold down the fort for the Red Sox at second base while they deal with injuries to Eduardo Nunez, Dustin Pedroia, and Brock Holt. He is just 23, but there are high hopes for the former first round pick, and he is certainly making the most of his shot in the bigs.
Chavis remains a solid value here on FanDuel tonight, as he continues to make an impression, as he launched his second home run last night off of Jordan Zimmerman in the first inning. He is now just six games in to his major league career, but he has three straight games over 20 FDP. The Sox will face Charlie Morton who they just faced six days ago, but Chavis did not start that game, as he made his first career start the following day.
OF – Joey Rickard – Baltimore Orioles – $2,700
Man I hate playing this guy, but of all the pitchers on the slate, I have to pick on Twins lefty Martin Perez a little bit. Like Morton against the Red Sox, Perez just faced Baltimore in his last start. While he was semi-effective lasting six innings, he gave up four earned runs on six hits, but was still able to pick up the win.
Rickard led off that game, and went 1-for-5 with a run scored. However, any time a pitcher has to face the same team in consecutive starts he is at a disadvantage in my opinion, as the hitters have a much better idea of what is coming. Rickard is quietly hitting well in his last two games as well.
He is coming off of a 1-for-3 night with a triple in which he scored 12.2 FDP, which was Wedneday night. The previous night, Rickard connected with his second homer on the season, and finished 2-for-4 on the night with 28.4 FDP.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – DraftKings
SP – Danny Duffy – Kansas City Royals – $6,500
Want a cheap SP2 on DK tonight for tournament play? I wouldn’t suggest this for cash games, as we really do not know what to expect from Duffy, who will be making his first start this season. I do not remember the exact number, solid journalism I know, but in his one rehab appearance in AA, Duffy threw just over 90 pitches, striking out seven in 5.1 scoreless innings. Apparently that was enough to get the veteran southpaw back up to the big club on the fast track, where they desperately need some starting pitching help.
While it always tough to throw a lefty out there when Mike Trout is on the other side, the fact of the matter is, the Angels are struggling mightily against left-handed pitching this season. Our guy Dan Palyo (@ThunderDanDFS) has been preaching lefties against the Angels for a couple weeks now, and I am guessing he will be giving Duffy a good look today as well.
2B – Brian Dozier – Washington Nationals – $3,700
He is just 1-for-7 in his last two games, but it was also just two games ago where he had a streak of three home runs in four days. The Nats will be at home against lefty Matt Straham and the Padres, and Dozier looks like he could be in a spot to get right back on track here.
He won’t hit for average anymore it seems as his currently sits under the dreaded Mendoza line, so it is home run or bust here without a doubt. With Chavis being bumped up over $4K here on DK, if I need the $400 in salary I will likely fire up Dozier.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – Across the Industry!
Welcome to the most important, and final page of the article. On most days, certain value plays will line up well on 2 or three, or even all of the sites covered in this article.
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From the looks of it, I have a piece of every player coming up here on at least two sites in my early lineups, so just because you did not see somebody yet on another site specific slide from earlier, he could be coming up right now.
OF – Nicholas Castellanos – Detroit Tigers – ($3,900 DK, $2,900 FD, $15 Y!, $7,400 FantasyDraft)
Casty finally left the yard yesterday in the third inning off of struggling Red Sox starter Rick Porcello, and now with back-to-back good games, this could be the last chance we have to get him on the cheap. The Tigers bats will get a lefty today in Carlos Rodon, and I think they will put up a few runs once again.
With no utility spot on DK, and value galore on Fantasy Draft, I will be likely be limiting my exposure to FanDuel where he is still under $4K, but price wise, I do think he is in play mostly everywhere. Castellanos is a bit of a reach on Yahoo today at $15, because guys like Rickard at minimum price it is hard to look in the mid-range there. Grabbing one $7 outfielder and two over $20 or in that range looks like my course of action there tonight.
OF/2B – Steve Wilkerson – Baltimore Orioles – ($2,200 DK, $2,500 FD, $7 Y!, $3,900 FantasyDraft)
Well Chris Davis free square season is over it seems pretty much everywhere, but Steve or “Stevie” Wilkerson continues to get the same treatment. I will be honest, I had no idea who this guy was until he made his major league debut the other day, but I have dug a little bit, and here is what I know.
Wilkerson was drafted twice. Once out of high school in 2010 in the 14th round, and again in the eighth round in 2014 after attending Clemson. He is now 1-for-8 in three games after replacing a struggling Cedric Mullins on the Orioles roster, and he connected on his first big league homer on Wednesday off of Ervin Santana.
This is lock button material for me on DraftKings and Fantasy Draft, where if he does in fact make another start, he will smash value just getting on base. Rostering him on those two sites opens up so much that it is worth a look.
Wilkerson is an OF on FanDuel and DraftKings, but you will not find him there on Fantasy Draft and Yahoo. Is my alternative to an also minimum priced Eric Sogard on Yahoo at second base, and is an infielder on Fantasy Draft.
SP – Hyun-Jin Ryu – Los Angeles Dodgers – ($8,200 DK, $9,500 FD, $44 Y!, $16,100 Fantasy Draft)
Yeah kind of a reach for value I get it. After all he is the fifth most expensive pitcher on the slate on FanDuel. However, everywhere else, even Yahoo where is the seventh most expensive pitcher on the slate, Ryu makes a great SP2 options on all sites where needed.
He finally went over 90 pitches in his last start pitching well against the Brewers in a losing effort, but the fact that this Dodgers bullpen has been struggling, and the quality of opponent is weak here in the Pirates, leads me to believe Ryu will rack up fantasy points tonight.
The Dodgers are at home tonight, and in two starts there this season, Ryu has been dominant. In 13 innings, Ryu has struck out 13, picked up two wins and two quality starts, and only allowed a total of three earned runs. With all of the injuries to the Pirates and the fact that they struggle against lefties in general, this is a spot where I will be firing up Ryu on all two-pitcher sites.
Next. DraftKings MLB PIcks April 26. dark
That is all for today’s edition of MLB DFS Top Value Plays. I hope you like the format, as I think this is the best way to talk about which value bats and pitchers to consider, no matter what site you play on.
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