Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top MLB DFS Value Plays – Saturday, June 29 (Early Only)
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!
I think I have mentioned it here before, but I know it has been a while. On days like today where we have nice split slates on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fantasy Draft, Yahoo does things differently by doing late swap all day contests, and reducing the slates as games start.
It is just a preference thing for me, but normally on a weekend slate or any day/night split slate for that matter, this Yahoo section will focus on the later “main” slate. Tonight that include six games, and starts at 8:15 PM EST. However, the rest of this article today will focus only on the eight game EARLY slates ONLY on the other sites due to personal time constraints.
OF – Khris Davis – Oakland Athletics – $14
Davis got the night off last night, as he took a pitch off the hand the day prior, and is currently considered day-to-day. There isn’t much true value here on Yahoo tonight as of yet, so if Davis is able to grip a bat and suit up, this is a great spot for him. He has been struggling a bit this year but he has never hit for average much anyways. Davis doesn’t seem like he has 50 bombs in him anymore, but 16 homers and almost 50 RBI’s before the break is still fairly solid.
This is not really a Yahoo specific play today, it just fits a little better here with pricing as it is turning out. What puts me on Davis though, is the fact that he was coming around a bit, having hit safely in eight straight games before leaving early the other night, and he has great history against Angels lefty Tyler Skaggs who he will face tonight. In 24 plate appearances, Davis is 9-for-21 with four bombs and eight RBI’s
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FantasyDraft
SP – Zach Plesac – Cleveland Indians – $17,200
Yeah I know this is not a cheap value play, but we are going to break the rules a bit. In my eyes, having five pitchers priced above Plesac here is what will make this a value play. Luis Castillo is over $20K against the Cubs so that is a pass. Zach Eflin and Marcus Stroman will cost you more as well. Even after the offensive outburst last night for Baltimore, Plesac is still my top arm tonight.
Plesac has made six starts now, lasted exactly seven innings in four of those while notching a quality start in each, while allowing just five runs total. In my opinion, he is the best bet here by far for 20-25 FDP in this match-up if he continues to get guys out, and be efficient.
IF/OF – Kyle Schwarber – Chicago Cubs – $7,700
This is definitely a different slate over on Fantasy Draft. Other than with our man on the front page Twins rookie on the front page at $7,200, I don’t see a need to go below this price really on hitters, and you can still make yourself a nice Twins and Braves stack with the top arm on the slate above.
Schwarber is struggling to hit for average, but he remains a power threat against right-handed pitching, and he still remains a fixture in the leadoff spot. He hit his 17th home run of the season on Thursday, but followed it up with an 0-for-4 last night. It looks like a tough spot as the Cubs will face Reds ace Luis Castillo, but Schwarber has actually gotten the best of him in their previous meetings. It is a small sample size of just 12 plate appearances, but Schwarbs is 3-for-9 with two bombs and five runs scored. This looks like the one-off I need here today.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – FanDuel Early Only!
OF – Austin Riley – Atlanta Braves – $3,100
After a blazing start off an unexpected early call-up, the future superstar has finally came down to earth a little bit. The numbers are solid for a rookie, as Riley has connected on 12 home runs on just over 150 at-bats, and driven-in 34 runs. He was 1-for-15 over the last five games going into last nights match-up with Jacob deGrom, and he took him deep in the second inning, and ended up 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI’s. With Steven Matz on the hill for the Mets this afternoon, I am looking for Riley to stay hot here at a fair price compared to other sites, where he is priced up a bit.
SP – Brendan McKay – Tampa Bay Rays – $5,700
The next Shohei Ohtani? That is the word on the streets. If you have not heard of this 23-year-old kid yet until today I am sure you will hear plenty as the day goes on and you do your research. McKay played his college ball at Louisville, and he is a legit top prospect as a left-handed pitcher, and a designated hitter.
He will make his major league debut on the hill against Texas at home, and in his young career, he has dominated at every level thus far. I wanted to make him my across the board value play, but this is just especially good here on FanDuel at under $6K, and it makes the most sense here for tournament play.
My only problem with this play, is that Coors Field is on the other slate, and it just might not be necessary considering there just may not be enough bats to pay up for. However, I may want to play this kid while he is still cheap and has a great match-up. Through mostly AA and a brief stint in AAA, McKay has compiled an ERA of 1.21 and has averaged almost 12 K/9 in 66.2 innings pitched.
Daily Fantasy Baseball: Top Value Plays – DraftKings Early Only
3B – Josh Donaldson – Atlanta Braves – $4,200
With the way these slates work out, there is just a lack of solid plays below the normal $4K on DraftKings and $3K on FanDuel value threshold today, and some really solid plays right on that cusp that I would rather touch on. The first was Austin Riley back in the early FanDuel section, and now we have another Braves right-handed bat in a great spot at a great price.
So we know Matz is on the hill, and Josh Donaldson sure doesn’t tag lefties like he used to, but the Braves righties might be my top stack tonight. Matz has given up six bombs over his last three starts, and Donaldson did take him deep when these teams met last week.
With Donaldson and Riley offering value on different sites, it will be nice to pair them up or stack them with Ronald Acuna Jr. and possibly Ozzie Albies as well. The Twins will be the most popular stack with an early implied run total of six against Ivan Nova, but I think they are going to regress a bit the next couple of weeks, as they heal up before the All-Star break.
2B – Robinson Cano – New York Mets – $3,000
I hate it, but unless I decide to pay up for Albies, I will always look to everyone’s favorite disappointing punt, Robinson Cano. I know he always lets us down, but much like the Marlins top of the order once in a while, we find ourselves with limited options, and need to pay up for studs somehow.
$3,000 is just way too cheap for a guy that hits in the heart of the order when he is healthy, and recently got a day off, and followed it with a 2-for-4 game last night. The Mets will face Braves right-hander Julio Teheran who might not be the best pitcher to target on the slate, but he has definitely struggled in his own right this season.
Teheran has been especially bad in his last two starts surrendering 13 earned runs in just eight innings, and one of them games was just last week against these same Mets. The final plus here for playing Cano on DraftKings, is the fact that cover boy Luis Arraez has SS eligibility, and he is my main value target for this early slate.
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.
1B/OF – Bobby Bradley – Cleveland Indians – ($3,700 DK, $2,100 FD, $7,600 Fantasy Draft)
It has been a slow start for the promising young Indians power bat, but he remains a free square to plug-in on FanDuel, and he appears viable today everywhere except Yahoo, where he is priced up a bit too much for my liking. He is only five games into his major league career, so it is certainly way too early to have any cause for concern. Even though Cleveland got waxed last night in Baltimore, this looks like a great bounce back spot for these Indians sticks this afternoon against Andrew Cashner. My gut says we see career home run number one of many today.
2B/SS – Luis Arraez – Minnesota Twins – ($3,900 DK, $2,900 FD, $7,200 Fantasy Draft)
Today’s cover boy Luis Arraez has been maybe the biggest surprise of all these Twins bats so far this season, and that is saying quite a bit. Willians Astudillo burst onto the scene as a fan favorite, and most people had not even heard of Arraez before his call-up. Although he has just four extra-base hits, Arraez is now 22-for-49 through 17 games, good for a .449 batting average. I mentioned it earlier, but the SS eligibility on DK is helpful with some cheaper viable options like Cano at 2B. The Twins will face Ivan Nova, and currently have the highest implied run total on the eight game slate.
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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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