Main DraftKings MLB Picks June 19: Kick in the Heaney

Main DraftKings MLB Picks June 19: Kick in the Heaney

We have a ten game main slate for our DraftKings MLB tournaments today. Since the Washington double dipper is day/night, the second game of the twin bill is in the main tournament. That could mean some nice value if the teams don’t want to use some starters in both games. Seattle is left off because they had the audacity to start a half hour earlier.

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Rain is going to be an issue again. We had four games start delayed last night, and it looks likely that St. Louis will tonight. Rain wont hit Pittsburgh until about halfway through the game. It may be sporadic enough that they finish though. The rain in Chicago isn’t supposed to be hard, so I feel like they will try to play through it. However, it will be raining most of the night. The field may become too wet after a while. Thunderstorms are likely in the Dallas area, so the risk there is delays, but the game should play at some point.

There is a 12 mph wind in from right in Arlington and from left in Wrigley. That could work to knock a few balls down. NOTE: at this hour, it’s way too difficult to try to decide what the Nationals will do with the games of the doubleheader. Their side is fairly cut and dry. Stack Phillies against Fedde. We don’t know if the Phils will let Pivetta go or not. If they do, stack against Pivetta. If not, it’s Juan Soto only.

A huge night from Whit Merrifield knocked most of my lineups out. My Cubs stack in two different lineups failed, but the dynamic pitching duo of Hamels and Jack Flaherty cashed me a couple of times.

These tips are based mostly on past performance. This is a nice tool for building a lineup, but should not be the only pieces of information you use. We have plenty of writers on here who give you relevant information no matter which site you play on, and we all attack the slate from different angles.

Main DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Lucas Giolito ($11,300): With Scherzer off the slate, Giolito is easily the ace on this slate. I don’t particularly like his price against an offense like the Cubs, but you certainly can’t argue with it. Giolito is 8-0 with a 1.25 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 65 innings over his last ten starts. Let that sink in. Not only that, but Giolito has had five scoreless outings in that stretch. Gi-ELITE-o is once again an elite play.

Andrew Heaney ($8,500): I’m pretty shocked Heaney is this cheap against a team that strikes out like the Jays do. Sure, Heaney only struck out two Rays, but they are a disciplined team. Heaney hit double digits in back to back outings against Seattle before that. Then there is the little thing that Heaney’s ERA is almost two runs lower on the road. I’m a big fan of Heaney tonight. He might be my top overall play.

Middle Tier:

Jon Gray ($8,000): Gray’s home ERA is better than his road ERA by a large margin, but he has actually held his own at Chase Field. Gray has a 3.71 ERA in three starts there with 24 strikeouts in 17 innings. On top of that, Gray held this Arizona team to two runs earlier this year. Now, he’ll need more than the two strikeouts he had in that game at Coors, but judging by his history at Chase Field, it looks promising.

Daniel Poncedeleon ($7,800): Poncedeleon has only allowed two runs in two starts, but he’s not going deep into games either. He still issues too many walks, but the strikeout upside is there. The Marlins have cooled off some, and if he can hold the Mets to one run in CitiField, I’m not too worried about the Marlins in Busch. Don’t expect miracles, but Poncedeleon could approach 20 DraftKings points so long as he goes five innings.

Bargain Pitchers:

Trevor Williams ($7,300): Williams gave up two runs in six innings against Detroit earlier this year, but that was with the DH in the lineup. Williams put up a solid 14.1 DraftKings points in that one. The only thing that might chase me away here is that Williams only went three innings (71 pitches) in his last rehab start. There is a good chance that Williams only goes five innings, but there is nice potential against this lineup.

Adam Plutko ($5,900): What has Plutko done to get priced this far down? He has 41.6 DraftKings points over his last two starts against the Tigers and Yankees. The Rangers are still a solid offense, but they aren’t nearly as scary without Gallo in there. Sure, Plutko doesn’t offer much for strikeouts, but he has ten in his last two starts. That’s plenty good enough with his price in this range. Plutko is a very solid punt tonight.

My picks: Giolito, Plutko; Gray, Heaney; Giolito, Heaney

DraftKings MLB Stack Options:

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Jordan Zimmerman:

Zimmerman was 0-4 with a 5.93 ERA before going on the IL and he just gave up four runs in 4.2 innings in his latest rehab start for AAA Toledo. What part of this is encouraging to the Tigers? Josh Bell looks elite here, and I’m really liking Gregory Polanco, Adam Frazier, and Corey Dickerson here as well. Oh, and Colin Moran is WAY too cheap. It looks like DraftKings priced these guys like they were facing Boyd, not Zimmerman.

Cleveland Indians vs. Joe Palumbo:

This Cleveland offense is starting to wake up. This is going to be the last time for a while that you will see Kipnis and Jose Ramirez priced this low, so make sure to capitalize on that. No Indians stack is complete without Francisco Lindor either. I’m a big fan of Jordan Luplow for the price against a lefty. Finish it off with either the hot Oscar Mercado or Carlos Santana. This could be a lucrative offense tonight.

Minnesota Twins vs. Eduardo Rodriguez:

E-Rod has a 5.23 ERA on the road, and that’s after giving up only four runs in his last three road starts combined. So why stack? Because the Twins are leading the planet in most offensive categories. Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron, and Jonathan Schoop have all homered against Rodriguez so far. You want to go back to the well with righties here. Mitch Garver and Miguel Sano look like really good plays. So does Jorge Polanco. There are plenty of options and none of them are bad.

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

I don’t know that I would go a full stack against Aaron Sanchez, but I definitely want some Angels here. Kole Calhoun has both homers for the Angels against Sanchez so far. Justin Upton is 6-11 lifetime, and is still underpriced. Ohtani is a great pick here, and I may even like him over Trout for the price difference.

Steven Matz has pitched well in SunTrust Park, but I really can’t trust him right now. The weather in Atlanta should cooperate, but I still think I would rather go after him with Acuna, Ozzie Albies, and Dansby Swanson than try to predict a good outing from Matz. Josh Donaldson looks good for $4,400 as well.

The wheels have fallen off of Max Fried. I still don’t think I want to stack Mets, but wow, Pete Alonso looks like an elite play here. Amed Rosario and Todd Frazier aren’t far behind. I could also talk myself into Robinson Cano because he’s cheap and hits lefties pretty well.

Ugh….someone talk me out of stacking White Sox. Every time I stack against Lester he trolls me, but there is some light tower power from the right side for the South Siders. Eloy Jimenez is my favorite here. Both Jose Abreu and Tim Anderson have homered off of Lester too. Those three make a solid, and affordable, mini stack. Oh, and Lester has a 5.82 ERA in six road starts.

I still expect Plutko to give up two or three runs, so I see no reason not to take a run at him with a reasonably priced Rougned Odor. Choo and Mazara are solid plays as well, but I wouldn’t get too carried away here.

I’m not a huge believer in the Kyle Gibson resurgence anyway, so there’s no way I’m using him against Boston with that price tag. Mookie is 6-16 with three homers and five RBI against Gibson already. J.D. Martinez has homered off of him twice. Those are the only two I would go out of my way to get, but I certainly couldn’t argue with Jackie Bradley with the way he’s hitting either.

For whatever reason the Rockies have hit Zack Greinke hard and not just in Coors Field. Trevor Story has five homers and 12 RBI off of Greinke in only 38 at bats. Charlie Blackmon has two homers, five RBI, and 11 runs scored despite a marginal .269 average. Mark Reynolds has four career homers against Greinke, but he is just 7-36(.194) overall.

It’s cheap Dodger night against Drew Pomeranz! Chris Taylor, David Freese, Russell Martin, and Alex Verdugo have all homered off of him already. Only Freese will cost you more than $3,700. Kike Hernandez is worth a look as well since he kills lefties.

DraftKings MLB one-off plays:

I’m trying to think of a Tigers player that I want to use and I’m having trouble. There’s a reason they are all under $4,000, and it isn’t because they’re facing an ace. If I had to pick one, it would be Christin Stewart.

Trevor Richards got blasted by Pittsburgh in his last outing, but I don’t trust the weather in St. Louis. I’m not sure I trust him in St. Louis either. I’m not going heavily after Richards, but Goldy is still super cheap if you want to take a shot there. I also like Matt Carpenter for the price.

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Vladdy Jr. is the only one I would even consider against Andrew Heaney tonight, and I still think there are better plays. It just depends on if you’re trying to be different or not.

Javy Baez hit a grand slam against Lucas Giolito, and that’s all the Cubs have against him. You can make a case for a super cheap CarGo or Addison Russell, but you aren’t going to get much out of them. I really don’t know if I want any Cubs at all.

Poncedeleon has pitched well enough that I’m not going to go after him. I do like Harold Ramirez and Starlin Castro for the price though. They are both solid punt plays. I want to see more from Granderson before I start throwing him out there again.

Eduardo Escobar has the only current Arizona homer against Jon Gray and three of the five RBI. If you’re going to chase after Gray, do it here or with David Peralta, who is 8-18 against Gray in his career.

I don’t expect Rich Hill to get hit hard, but I don’t expect him to pitch well enough to warrant that price either. Brandon Belt and Buster Posey have homered off of him before. Belt’s was hit just 11 days ago. I could also see using a super cheap Joe Panik (4-9) or Brandon Crawford(6-17) as punt plays.

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