Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top MLB DFS Value Plays – Wednesday, May 1st (Main)

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. 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!

SP – Marcus Stroman – Toronto Blue Jays – $39

We start today’s value with a pitcher that I do not normally target, as all of the metrics simply point to him being a very hittable pitcher thus far throughout his career. However, for some reason, Stroman has figured it out this season, and he is getting guys out at an incredible clip. After two straight starts where he was no less than dominant, albeit both games were against Oakland, Stroman is fantastic value under $40 here, especially compared to everywhere else.

In those last two starts, Stroman pitched a total of 15 innings, and struck out 13. He only allowed one total earned run, and just seven hits. As it sits right now, Stroman is just 1-3, but his 1.43 ERA is among the best in the league, and his K/9 is a respectable 8.6. It is always tough to get good bats on Yahoo with the pricing. That fact along with the fact that his opponent the Angels aren’t really hitting anybody right now has me with Stroman locked in at SP2 here.

3B – Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians – $10

It has been a disappointing season for JRam, and his price really reflects that fact here on Yahoo, and I have to keep playing him this cheap on talent alone. Ramirez went 0-for-4 last night bringing his current batting average down to .181, but he did walk and steal a base, and as guys like Carlos Santana and Carlos Gonzalez continue to hit well, this offense is capable to put up a big number on any given night.

The Indians will face young Marlins lefty Caleb Smith who has started the season on fire, so this will be no walk in the park, but with homers from the above mentioned middle of the lineup last night, and Francisco Lindor heating up, I will keep riding with Ramirez here, in the hopes that he can swipe more than base, or take one deep. Look at it this way, if Jesus Aguilar can break out big time and hit three homers in two days, expect a much better player in JRam to turn it around really soon.

Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FantasyDraft

IF/OF – Kike Hernandez – Los Angeles Dodgers – $7,400

If the Dodgers weren’t popular on here on Fantasy Draft where they are always too cheap, I am guessing things will be different today. Hernandez, David Freese, and Justin Turner all went deep last night, and if the latter two can keep it up, this team will keep putting massive run totals against left-handed pitching. It will be a little tougher tonight in going from Drew Pomeranz to Madison Bumgarner, but this is a team that has seen Ole’ Bummy plenty throughout the years, and holy crap has Kike hit him well.

We have a huge sample size and some flat-out BvP dominance for once, as Hernandez has compiled 21 hits on 42 at-bats against Bumgarner for an astounding .500 batting average. He has taken him deep four times, and added five doubles. It’s rare I see BvP that makes me drool, but this is right here is why you should always look. It’s obvious Kike can see the ball well from Bumgarner’s arm angle, and BvP samples like this should scream at you. I am playing Hernandez everywhere tonight, but he is especially cheap here on Fantasy Draft.

IF – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – Toronto Blue Jays – $7,600

Vlad Jr. keeps dropping in salary here while getting slow steady price bumps elsewhere, and we are still waiting for that first huge game out of the youngster. Last nights action is not quite over as I write this, but it looks like Guerrero Jr. may have his first hitless game as a pro, as he is currently 0-for-2 with a walk. He did drop to the six spot in the lineup today as well, but a drop in the order will only take pressure off of him, and it does not sway me either way with a talent like this.

Toronto did not hit rookie Griffin Canning particularly well in his major league debut, but Brandon Drury of all people got a hold of one in the fifth inning for a third run on a solo shot, as he continues to fight for playing time with the presence of Vlad Jr., and spoiled the youngsters debut. The Jays will get righty Felix Pena tonight, who is having a decent season up to this point, but regression is coming. I love Vlad on Fantasy Draft under $8K for the time being, because the breakout game is coming, and I will happy to be a part of it.

Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FanDuel 

1B – Eric Thames – Milwaukee Brewers – $3,000

The Brewers had a very difficult time with German Marquez last night, until Aguilar connected for his third homer of the season. Though Aguilar remains fairly cheap, Thames is still cheap as well, and is not only putting together a better overall season, he also matches up much better here against Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela. There are some other cheap options at the position here tonight like Rowdy Tellez, and we should see Matt Adams start again, but for just a little more, I will go with Thames.

Thames got off to a slow start, and was mainly a pinch-hitter to start the season. Even a couple of big pinch-hit three-run homers in a series against the Cubs early in the season couldn’t get him in the lineup to stick. However, since he assumed more playing time over the last couple of weeks, he is now up to five home runs, and has driven in 16, which is pretty impressive given his number of at-bats. If a banged up Christian Yelich returns to the lineup, I love a stack here, and if he doesn’t, the Brew Crew will really need Thames to step up.

OF – Johan Camargo – Atlanta Braves – $2,600

We will need an update on Josh Donaldson‘s condition before we lock this one in, but given his track record with injuries, I will not be the least bit surprised if he sits another one out. Camargo was thrust into action at third base last night after Donaldson was scratched with a sore calf, and if he misses another one, Camargo and the rest of the Braves look to have a great match-up here tonight with Padres rookie Cal Quantrill.

Camargo has been getting fairly regular run as of late in the outfield, and he has reached base safely and scored a run in four straight games. If the Braves end up a top end stack tonight with studs like Freddie Freeman and Ozzie Albies, consider Camargo here for some salary relief, as long as he sticks in the starting lineup, which looks fairly safe.

Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – DraftKings 

SP – Aaron Nola – Philadelphia Phillies – $9,000

We have a couple of stud pitchers at the top tonight that are fairly cheap themselves in Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, and while I love some deGrom at home against the Reds, it is hard not to consider Nola a solid value at $9K here. Sure Nola has not been great thus far this season, but his two good games came against strikeout prone teams in the Rockies and the Braves, (early season) and this could be his best match-up yet as the Phillies clash with the Tigers at home.

Nola does have a lethal breaking ball, and a solid change-up to go with his low 90’s fast ball, but he hits spots, and the change and curve will get guys swinging. This is a great spot to get him as cheap as he may be all year, and tonight has potential to be his first double-digit strikeout game of the season.

OF – Franmil Reyes – San Diego Padres – $3,700

Reyes is always on my mind against left-handed pitching, and although Max Fried has been fantastic thus far this season, Franmil just destroyed Julio Teheran last night, hopefully busting out a little bit after going 2-for-14 since his last pair of homers.

It was Reyes’ second multi-home run game in a week, as he took Teheran deep twice last night, bringing his season total to eight. This kid has legit 30+ home run power, and they look to come in bunches. He may be chalk after last night, but the price is right. Again, I won’t go at Max Fried too hard as he has been solid, but until lineups come out Reyes looks like my top value bat on DraftKings tonight.

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.

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.

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3B – Travis Shaw – Milwaukee Brewers – ($3,600 DK, $2,500 FD, $11 Y!, $7,700 FantasyDraft)

After finally getting in a rhythm last week and hitting a few bombs against the Cardinals, Milwaukee ran into a couple of lefties, and Shaw found himself taking a seat on the bench in favor of Hernan Perez. He returned to the lineup last night against German Marquez, and was able to get a hit and score a big run on the Aguilar homer.

The Brewers have one of the better match-up’s on the slate against Senzatela, and if Yelich is healthy enough to return, I love this lefty stack of Thames, Yelich and Shaw most everywhere. One more good game and Shaw can get past the dreaded Mendoza line, as his batting average currently sits at a paltry .194. I love Shaw for the price the most on DK, and it doesn’t look like I will be using him much on FanDuel, as our last target and today’s cover boy is still listed at third base there.

1B/3B David Freese – Los Angeles Dodgers – ($3,400 DK, $2,700 FD, $11 Y! $6,400 FantasyDraft)

Freese more or less got the fun started last night, when he connected with a three-run homer off of Pomeranz in the fourth inning to put the Dodgers up 3-1. They never looked back, and Freese added an additional base hit and run scored. It was a long wait for that first home run, but in a limited role only getting action against left-handed pitching, it is what it is.

You will find Freese at first base on DK and Yahoo, third base on FanDuel, and cheap everywhere. Bumgarner is no question a better pitcher than Pomeranz, but like his teammate Kike Hernandez who we talked about earlier, Freese likely is also very comfortable facing Bum. The sample size is not as good, but Freese is 7-for-15 in 17 plate appearances in his career against Bumgarner, with two doubles and a homer. If I had to call a longshot home run today, Freese is my guy.

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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