Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top MLB DFS Value Plays – Friday May 24
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!
OF – Aaron Hicks – New York Yankees – $13
The Yankees will head to Kansas City, and they will face struggling right-hander Jake Junis. Hicks has been off to a slow start since returning from injury, but with Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres heating up and likely returning to action today, this looks like a spot where this offense could explode once again.
Hicks showed some pop last year with 27 homers. We haven’t seen it quite yet through eight games as he has left the yard just once, but with winds looking to be blowing out to center today, and Junis giving up just over a homer and half per nine innings, this looks a good spot for number two. $13 is a hair too cheap here, and depending on what I do with pitching today, Hicks looks like a solid value option.
2B – Brendan Rodgers – Colorado Rockies – $9
He is only four games into his major league career, but the 22-year-old Rodgers is one of the best offensive prospects in the Rockies system, and he will make his home debut tonight against left-hander John Means. Rodgers is fairly expensive elsewhere, as the other sites have the noted Coors Field price bump for the most part, but his start has been good enough to warrant a roster spot here where is still pretty cheap.
Rodgers is hitting 5-for-17 with a double thus far, and so far he has hit in the bottom third of the lineup. He has driven in four runs in four games now, and after a long road trip, I expect the Rockies to hit the ball around Coors Field this weekend against the Orioles and their terrible pitching staff.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FantasyDraft
OF – David Dahl – Colorado Rockies – $8,200
There is little doubt the Rockies will be thrilled to be home after a long road trip, and even though Baltimore will start a lefty today, Dahl is looking like a good source of value here. Means probably won’t last long, and Dahl will likely face a righty or two at some point. With Charlie Blackmon leaving yesterdays game in the fourth inning and his status in doubt for today, Dahl will likely sit at the top of this order today.
May has been slow for Dahl, and this road trip has brought his batting average below .300. He is a much better hitter at home as you can imagine with the thin Colorado air, and he actually has not been bad against lefties either. Dahl is 11-for-37 against southpaws with five doubles and a triple on the season, and 21-for-61 at home. With expensive pitching options to sort through, and tons of good hitting spots, Dahl is a solid way to get some exposure to some Rockies.
IF – Marcus Semien – Oakland Athletics – $7,200
Big time stack spot here on Fantasy Draft as we always have one team right? We have some serious stud pitchers in good spots today, and if you want to roster two of them today here, this Oakland stack can help. The A’s will face lefty Wade LeBlanc at home, and he might be the worst pitcher on the slate.
LeBlanc got shelled by the Twins his last time out, giving up seven earned runs in just 2.1 innings. He has only started four games this season, and in 18.1 innings, he has given up 15 earned runs. The Athletics hit lefties well as it is, and even with Khris Davis out of the lineup, this is still a spot to attack.
For me it starts at the top of the order with Semien. He is coming off a 2-for-4 game with a stolen base, and there is still some pop in his bat, with 12 doubles and five homers on the season. The 1-6 stack here is as cheap as it gets, and don’t forget a guy like Mark Canha should he crack the starting nine. Matt Olson can also hold his own against lefties, and he is in a favorable lefty/lefty match-up here as well.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FanDuel
SS – Corey Seager – Los Angeles Dodgers – $2,900
We do not have a guarantee on who will pitch for Pittsburgh tonight as the Dodgers come to town, but as far as I can tell, it looks like it will be Steven Brault. Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger are always in play it seems, and if I decide to stack them up in this spot, Seager below $3K makes a ton of sense to finish up the stack. Obviously the right handed bats in Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, and Kike Hernandez make some sense here as well.
Overall 2019 has been a struggle offensively for Seager, as he currently sits with a .231 batting average with just four homers. However, he been picking it up as of late. He went 2-for-5 with a stolen base in Tampa on Tuesday, and although he has cooled off a little since his hot streak last week, he drops back in value range in a decent spot tonight.
OF – Carlos Gomez – New York Mets – $2,300
Could we see Mets chalk today? This will likely be a lineup full of cheap right-handed bats against Tigers rookie lefty Gregory Soto, so it is very likely. We have expensive pitchers in great spots, and a Coors Field game that could see 20 runs easily, so we will need to fill in the blanks with cheap bats. Gomez was the hero with his three-run homer in the eighth inning, and the veteran spark plug finished 2-for-3 with three RBI’s and a stolen base to go along with his bomb.
Gomez has now started four games in a row, and with Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo both banged up, it will likely continue. It is tough to use up a value spot in the outfield today, but going cheap here can certainly allow some different things. Going cheap with all three OF spots will allow a nice Rockies stack with Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story, and a Mets/Rockies stack will likely be the plan of attack for many here on FanDuel tomorrow.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – DraftKings
1B – Chris Davis – Baltimore Orioles – $3,600
On these two pitcher sites, we may have a bit of a pickle tonight. So many options up top, and very little at the bottom and even in the mid-tier means we will need a ton of value bats. The cheapest way to get some Coors exposure on DK is home run or bust Chris Davis.
I thought Davis would get over $4K considering the park boost and the opposing pitcher, but I think I have to play him here at this price. Jeff Hoffman will be on the hill for the Rockies after being recalled from AAA, and he has started just one game at the major league level this season.
I hate Coors Field. Especially on a slate like this. My plan of attack tonight for cash games will likely be to spend up at both pitchers spots, and piece in some value. Davis will help a ton in that aspect, and he will likely be pretty chalky tonight.
2B – Nicky Lopez – Kansas City Royals – $3,400
Again, we might have to pay up for pitching today. There isn’t much at second base today, and I don’t think I can stomach Starlin Castro again. Therefore, I think I may turn back to Royals rookie second baseman Nicky Lopez. Kansas City will host the Yankees, and this looks like their best spot for this offense to succeed in this series, as they will face an opener in Chad Green, followed by planned long relief from Luis Cessa.
It feels like Lopez has been up in the bigs for a while now, but it is only been eight games. He started out fairly hot, and while he has cooled off a bit, he is still showing offensive promise. Lopez is hitting .303, and has hit safely in three straight games now. I think you can do worse at the position for much more of your salary, and the only other option for me here at the position is Chris Taylor from the Dodgers. Another cheap option in a plus spot against Steven Brault.
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.
SS – Nick Ahmed – Arizona Diamondbacks – ($3,500 DK, $2,500 FD, $6,500 FantasyDraft, $13 Y!)
First of all with Ahmed, this play does not quite check out on Yahoo. Even if I run this Arizona stack I am looking at, I think I can do better salary wise as far as Yahoo goes. However, everywhere else I see a potentially low-owned stack for GPP play here with some serious upside.
The Diamondbacks will head to San Francisco, and will face lefty Drew Pomeranz in this series opener. Pomeranz has not made it out of the fourth inning in any of his last three starts, and just faced Arizona in his last start. He did not get shelled or anything, but he couldn’t throw strikes. He threw 96 pitches and walked five batters, but only allowed two hits. If he throws some strikes this time, I think he gets pounded.
What I am looking at here, is the sneaky 4-7 stack in this projected lineup on DraftKings and Fantasy Draft for tournament play. Adam Jones, Ketel Marte, Christian Walker and Ahmed all profile well against left-handed pitching, and with a low implied run total of just four at this point, the Diamondbacks will likely get overlooked here.
3B/SS – Zack Cozart – Los Angeles Angels – ($2,300 DK, $2,000 FD, $5,000 FantasyDraft, $7 Y!)
Cozart continues to struggle, but he continues to start, and continues to only need a hit and run scored or anything that amounts to a little over five points or so to hit value. Problem is, a zero is more likely.
However, the Angels have a great match-up tonight at home against Drew Smyly and the Rangers, and this is another cheap stack to consider with all of the arms we are looking at tonight. Again, the prices are mostly right on DK and Fantasy Draft, but this stack is viable anywhere, and has plenty of moving parts.
First of all, don’t leave out the best hitter in baseball in Mike Trout if you are going to stack the Angels. Easier said than done right with these pitchers prices? That’s where the free square Cozart comes in.
A wraparound stack with an also cheap David Fletcher projected to hit in the nine hole, and the overachieving Tommy La Stella with Trout looks like the way to go. However, Albert Pujols offers good value on DK at $3,800, and the same can be said about catcher Jonathan Lucroy at the same salary as well.
1B – Kendrys Morales – New York Yankees – ($3,200 DK, $2,500 FD, $6,600 FantasyDraft, $7 Y!)
Last but not least today, if I am in a spot where I can’t afford Pujols or even Chris Davis (What year is this?), I may turn to new Yankees DH Kendrys Morales who is quite a beat cheaper everywhere. I was going to save my Morales plays for when he is at home with the short porch to right, but hitting in the heart of this order with Torres and Sanchez likely back after resting, I like his chances of driving in some runs today against Junis.
The Yankees stack will less popular today with all of these options, and this could actually be a sneaky spot. Morales offers the only real value other than possibly Hicks is a hair too cheap across the industry, and these two can help with a full stack. Torres and Sanchez are obviously my other choices, and if I want to go five man I will likely try to fit in a suddenly hot D.J. Lemehieu as well.
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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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