Early DraftKings MLB Picks June 23: Will Yamamoto allow a run?

The early slate is the main slate as per your typical Sunday for the DraftKings MLB tournaments. There are ten games on the early slate and a healthy helping of aces. The middle tier is a little weak, so if you aren’t looking to pay up, you likely have to pay way down. Is that even possible? Let’s take a look. After the weather, of course.

Main DraftKings MLB Pitcher Plays:

Top Tier:

Cole Hamels ($11,000): Hamels has been special at Wrigley this year. He has a 2.38 ERA in seven home starts. There is risk against a team like the Mets, especially considering that they are more familiar with Hamels than most. There is also a weather risk here. Hamels is a guy you don’t want to set and forget today. If you don’t have time to keep track of the weather, go elsewhere. Just don’t pay up for Verlander. If this game plays, Hamels is likely the best option of the day.

Mike Soroka ($9,800): We keep waiting for Soroka to go the way of Max Fried, and that may be happening. Soroka has given up eight runs in his last two starts. It could just be that the weather is heating up in Atlanta, and the ball is launching. Soroka has allowed 13 homers in just 35.2 home innings, yet he still has a 2.12 ERA. How? A 1.11 ERA in six road starts. Soroka has dominated on the road this year. If you’re going to play him, it should be in a road start.

Middle Tier:

Rick Porcello ($8,600): Is Porcello starting to get it together? He has 52.8 DraftKings points in his last two starts against Minnesota and Texas, two teams that are hitting pretty well. Porcello went for 17.7 DraftKings points in Rogers Centre 31 days ago, allowing just a solo homer in that game. His price looks a touch inflated to me, but he might just be worth it based on his last two outings.

Jordan Yamamoto ($7,800): Yamamoto faces his first team other than the Cardinals in the Phillies, a team that has lost six straight. Yamamoto’s first two career starts resulted in just five hits and four walks over 14 scoreless innings to the Cardinals. There is strong reason for optimism here, but it will also likely result in high ownership. Someone is going to figure out Yamamoto, but the chances are slim that it’s a Phillies team that can’t even figure out themselves right now.

Zach Plesac ($7,700): Plesac has been better on the road early in his career, but the only non-quality start he has had was a game against the Reds at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario in which he gave up three homers. Detroit isn’t going to do that. This lineup has little power and a whole lot of strikeout potential. Plesac held Texas to one run in seven innings in Arlington in his last start. The issue was that he issued as many free passes in that game that he had in his previous four starts combined. That could put a dent in his point total, but I still feel like Plesac is a really nice bargain here.

Bargain Pitchers:

Michael Pineda ($6,700): The Royals are only hitting .217 with a homer and four runs in 46 at bats against Pineda. Big deal, right? The thing that stands out here is the 17 strikeouts. Pineda has not allowed more than three earned runs in a start since April 30th, and has only allowed two combined in his last two starts. Pineda seems to be picking it up right now.

Homer Bailey ($6,400): Sure, the Twins are hot, but Bailey hasn’t allowed a home run since June 1st. He hasn’t allowed a run of any kind since June 7th. There is a lot to like about Bailey here. He picked up 17.1 DraftKings points against the Twins the first time around. Still, the risk is that Bailey has a 4.82 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. This could blow up at any time. That’s why you’ll also see the Twins on the next page.

Daniel Norris ($5,500): Norris’s numbers on the season are not great, but they certainly aren’t bad enough for him to be in this price range. There are only two pitchers cheaper than Norris today. Norris has a 3.92 ERA on the road this year, and Cleveland has only hit one homer in 50 at bats off of him. You wont see a ton of strikeouts here, but Norris has reached a dozen DraftKings points or more in each of his last three starts. This feels like a decent punt option.

My picks: Plesac, Pineda; Yamamoto, Plesac; Soroka, Pineda

DraftKings MLB Stack Options:

Atlanta Braves vs. Austin Voth:

Voth, he of the 6.57 September ERA in 2018 and a 4.40 ERA for AAA Fresno this year, is making his 2019 debut against the scorching Braves right now. What could possibly go wrong? Never looks a gift DFS horse in the mouth. Just stack up some Braves lefties! Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann, and Nick Markakis are my favorites, but I wont just ignore Acuna or Dansby Swanson either. Voth isn’t going deep into this game. The Braves will get to attack this bullpen too.

Houston Astros vs. J.A. Happ:

Happ has been bludgeoned at Yankee Stadium this year, allowing ten homers in eight home starts with a 5.13 ERA. The Astros have five homers and 12 runs in only 85 at bats against Happ, and that isn’t including the stats of the still injured stars. Bregman has one of the homers. Big surprise. So do Robinson Chirinos and Michael Brantley. The best part is that Gurriel and Jose Altuve both have homered against Happ, and both are under $4,000.

Minnesota Twins vs. Homer Bailey:

Wanting to go after Bailey is a natural human reaction. After all, his stuff is nothing special. The issue with stacking Twins is that Homer doensn’t give up a lot of homers. Part of the reason for stacking is looking for homers, right? Well, Bailey did give up three runs in five innings against the Twins earlier this year. The place to go after him is with lefties. Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler are my favorites. Jake Cave and Jason Castro are good places to save money.

Chicago Cubs vs. Jacob deGrom:

The Cubs are hitting .282 against deGrom with five homers in 117 at bats. Kris Bryant has two of them. CarGo, Addison Russell, and Rizzo have the others. There is an issue here though. If Chicago is going to be battling rain most or all of the game, I get the feeling that the Mets may not put deGrom out there at all. It would make sense. The Cubs hit him and he has a 4.50 career ERA at Wrigley. There’s a lot to like for the Cubs if this game plays.

DraftKings MLB daily notes:

There’s potential value in the Toronto bats even if Porcello shuts them down. Vlad Jr homered off of Porcello earlier this year. Randal Grichuk has a three run homer for his only hit in seven tries against Porcello. Teoscar Hernandez has also taken him deep.

The Marlins put up two runs on Envel de los Santos in his one inning of relief against them. All of that damage was done on a Brian Anderson home run. I wouldn’t stack Marlins here, but de los Santos isn’t going deep into this game and the Phillies bullpen is nothing special. I see good potential for Marlins bats, in particular Anderson, Garrett Cooper, Harold Ramirez, and a still-too-cheap Starlin Castro.

Joey Lucchesi has struggled in every road venue, even the pitcher’s parks, except Coors Field. Figure that one out. He pitched well against the Pirates earlier this year, but his 5.89 road ERA makes me nervous enough to not use him for that price. I wouldn’t go heavy on Pirates here, but Josh Bell and Starling Marte are definitely worth a look here. Bryan Reynolds hit a two run homer off of him in San Diego earlier this year too.

Steven Brault has actually pitched pretty well lately, but this is one of the worst spots for him. All of that right handed power for the Padres should be an issue. Manny Machado, Hunter Renfroe, and Franmil Reyes remain my favorite targets. After all, Machado has homered in each of the first two games of this series.

Justin Verlander is going to give up a homer. Hell, maybe even more than one. He has a 4.03 ERA in nine Yankee Stadium starts. That alone is reason not to pay top dollar for Verlander. The Yankees have six homers against him. Edwin has two of them. Judge, Stanton, Gregorius, and Gardner have the others. The best part? Only Edwin is more than $4,000!

DeSclafani has pitched well lately, and even against the Brewers, but I still don’t trust it. Definitely not with the way the Brewers are hitting in this series. Yelich is 7-15 with two homers and four RBI, so play him. Jesus Aguilar has the only other homer against DeSclafani, but I can’t fault using Arcia on the cheap either. Moose and Lorenzo Cain are a combined 1-14 against DeSclafani though.

Brandon Woodruff has not given up less than three runs in any June start. Tucker Barnhart and Joey Votto have homered off of Woodruff before. Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich would be my picks to join this list. If the Brewers quit hitting Dietrich, that is. They have nailed him six times in this series already! Of course, he is literally on top of the plate…..

I want to stack against Ivan Nova, but the Rangers have been awful against him and he really has only struggled at home. I wont use him, even for free ($4,000) given the fact that he only put up 7.7 DraftKings points last week while allowing just one run. That’s how unspectacular Nova is at this stage of his career. Nomar Mazara is pretty much a must play here. Asdrubal Cabrera and Danny Santana have hit Nova well as well.

In the same vein, I know that you want to use Adrian Sampson. I considered it. However, did you see what the White Sox did to Lynn last night? Why take that risk with so many other good options? Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, and Jose Abreu are my targets here.

DraftKings MLB one-off plays:

Roberto Perez has the only Cleveland homer off of Norris, and he likely wont be in the lineup. My interest in Cleveland is pretty much with Jose Ramirez and that’s it. Kipnis is tempting, but he is 0-7 lifetime against Norris.

The only reason to play a Detroit bat is if you are chasing the Tigers home run achievement on DraftKings. Even then, it’s probably best to wait for another spot to attack.

More from FanSided

Philly’s offense is in a funk. The only guy I have remote interest in throwing out there is Bryce Harper, and it’s based solely on price.

If you want to take a run at Soroka, I totally get it. He has given up 18 homers in 12 starts, but that’s mostly due to SunTrust loving lefties. Juan Soto is worth a look here, but I don’t think I want to spend up for Rendon or Turner.

I could put Whit Merrifield in this spot daily. He is the only current Royal to homer against Michael Pineda. If you need a Royal today, your best bet is to pay up.

Pete Alonso is firmly in play against a lefty, but the guy that has really gotten Hamels’ goat is Robinson Cano. Cano has homered three times against Hamels in 41 at bats. And he’s just $2,800!

Yes, I’m only using one Boston bat against Stroman. Xander Bogaerts is 11-33 with two homers, seven runs, and three RBI. The rest of the team has one homer in 147 at bats.

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