MLB Daily Fantasy: Hitters, Pitchers, & Stacks For Major League Baseball on DraftKings (July 28-30)

MLB Daily Fantasy: Hitters, Pitchers, & Stacks For Major League Baseball on DraftKings (July 28-30)
(Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)

UPDATE:  Wed 7/29, 10:06 PM (Added Pitchers for Wednesday)

Major League Baseball appears to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, with the Miami Marlins having the first coronavirus outbreak since the 60-game season started just last Thursday night. But that’s not to deduct whatsoever from the incredibly fun weekend of MLB Daily Fantasy that we just experienced.

And so long as MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred doesn’t pull the plug entirely, we’re still in for a work week of intriguing slates, starting with the massive Tuesday we have ahead of us.

A rematch of the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers in Walker Buehler’s debut has all the writing on the wall to be a reminiscent dogfight going to the wire with top talents in the National and American Leagues. Divisional action will be abundant as well, with the Los Angeles Angels taking on the Seattle Mariners, and the San Diego Padres traveling to Oracle Park to take on the San Francisco Giants.

Let’s breakdown some top hitters, pitchers, and stacks for Tuesday through Thursday’s main slates, with updates coming along the way as starting pitchers are confirmed through that time frame.

 

Pitchers

Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers started off the season hot in their first two games of a four-game series with San Francisco Giants before sputtering in two losses that followed. But True Blue is rolling out the big guns with their ace in Walker Buehler to get back on the right foot against their World Series rival Houston Astros.

In 2019, Buehler propelled himself to Cy Young contention in just his second season in the Majors following his third-place bid for 2018 NL Rookie of the Year. Notching a 14-4 record last season while posting an array of impressive numbers (1.042 WHIP, 10.61 K/9, 3.01 FIP), Walker Buehler was a daily fantasy beast to roster as he averaged 21.70 DraftKings Fantasy Points per game in 30 games played.

While the Astros stand to be a tall task for nearly any starting pitcher, Walker Buehler has proven himself against top tier opponents, on the grandest of stages in the playoffs and World Series as well. He diced the World Champion Washington Nationals in the NL Divisional Series with an insane 15 strikeouts and 0.868 WHIP in two games started (before the Dodgers blew the series on him).

Given the lofty price tag and menacing opponent, Walker Buehler may fly under some radars and has the potential to be the top pitcher on Tuesday’s slate with massive strikeout upside.

 

Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets

The NL Cy Young winner of 2018 & 2019 is a difficult player to fade on any given slate he’s featured, and while the Boston Red Sox aren’t the first team you’d like to target against, Jacob DeGrom is always worth the attention when available.

With a 2020 season Steamer projection of a 1.08 WHIP and 10.93 K/9, Jacob DeGrom forecasts to once again be a contender for the Cy Young award and can produce slate-breaking numbers regardless of the opponent. Averaging 22.94 DraftKings Fantasy Points in 2019 in 34 games played, DeGrom’s resume speaks for itself and validates the fantasy price premium.

While the Red Sox have started off the season with some solid hitting and the top batting average thus far in a short sample size, they also account for a 12.5% swinging strike rate (9th in Majors), which is food for thought if anything against a guy who posted 11.3 K/9 just last season.

Boston still has some very formidable talents in the heart of their order with Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Rafael Devers. But Jacob DeGrom should be in a parallel position to Walker Buehler’s Tuesday situation against Houston, mitigating ownership through difficulty of opponent combined with the optics of spending top dollar to roster them each, respectively.

 

Other Pitchers For The Work Week:

Tues:

(woof, these pitchers are bad)

Homer Bailey, MIN

Kyle Gibson, TEX

Jeff Samardzjia, SF

Merrill Kelly, ARI

Patrick Sandoval, LAA

Zach Davies, SD

 

Wed:

Max Scherzer, WAS

Sonny Gray, CIN (CONTRARIAN)

German Marquez, COL

Gerrit Cole, NYY

Chris Paddack, SD

Kyle Hendricks, CHC

Andrew Heaney, LAA

 

Thurs:

Shane Bieber, CLE (CONTRARIAN)

Ross Stripling, LAD

Dinelson Lamet, SD 

Brady Singer, KC (CONTRARIAN)

Dylan Bundy, LAA

Max Fried, ATL

Steven Matz, NYM (CONTRARIAN)

 

Hitters

Colin Moran (1B/3B), Pittsburgh Pirates

Given the staggering lack of talent in the pitching department on Tuesday, value matchups will be in abundance, and Colin Moran happens looks to be a benefactor of such.

Already with as many or more home runs as eight different MLB teams (3 HR), Colin Moran comes in priced at a massive discount with an even larger upside. Averaging 14.25 DKFP in four games played in less than a week into the season, the man that matches the mascot (not the Pirate Parrot) has tallied three of those games in double-digit fantasy scoring and somehow still comes into Tuesday’s DraftKings pricing in the Bargain tier, sub-$3,500.

Hitting 13 home runs in all of 2019, Colin Moran is already well on his way to surpass his 5 HR Steamer projection for this 60-game season, and facing off with Josh Lindblom should be a breeze (last posting a 2.032 WHIP and 7.84 ERA in 10.1 IP with PIT in 2017). Not only does Colin Moran get the platoon advantage on Tuesday, but does so as well on Wednesday against starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff.

 

Nelson Cruz (OF), Minnesota Twins

While it’s uncertain how many of you were robbed of substantial winnings in the waning moments of Sunday’s main slate due to a meaningless 3-run home run by Nelson Cruz, breaking even has never felt so good to talk about, knowing I may or may not fall into the aforementioned category (not really, it was awful).

But regardless of my blathering about recent DFS gut-punches, Nelson Cruz made it quite evident on Sunday how slate-breakingly needle-busting his performance ceiling can rev to, making him a candidate for constant attention on any slate. In fact, he joins Colin Moran in the elite group of three hitters tied for the league’s home run leaders at 3 HR a piece currently, alongside an astounding 401 wRC+ and .789 wOBA while ripping the ball on a .538 batting average.

The 52-DraftKings Fantasy Point onslaught of Sunday afternoon is a lot to live up to so early on, but it wasn’t the first rodeo he’s produced a caliber of fantasy totals along the lines of, and Nelson Cruz warrants every slate’s immediate roster considerations, nearly regardless of cost. Don’t live my mistake. Roster Nelson Cruz, especially when the answer happens to be a clear one (such as an opposing pitcher like Reynaldo Lopez last Sunday).

 

Other Batters For The Work Week:

High/Mid:

Cody Bellinger (OF), LAD

Michael Brantley (OF), HOU

J.D. Davis (3B/OF), NYM

Justin Turner (3B), LAD

Josh Bell (1B), PIT

J.D. Martinez (OF), BOS

Pete Alonso (1B), NYM

Alex Bregman (3B), HOU

Amed Rosario (SS), NYM

Rafael Devers (3B), BOS

Trevor Story (SS), COL

Mookie Betts (OF), LAD

Matt Olson (1B), OAK

Niko Goodrum (SS), DET

Shohei Ohtani (OF), LAA

Max Kepler (OF), MIN

 

Mid/Low:

Whit Merrifield (2B/OF), KC

Josh Donaldson (3B), MIN

Joc Pederson (OF), LAD

Joey Gallo (OF), TEX

Xander Bogaerts (SS), BOS

Tommy Murphy (C), SEA

Pablo Sandoval (1B/3B), SF

Jorge Polanco (SS), MIN

Manny Machado (3B), SD

Shin Soo Choo (OF), TEX

Kole Calhoun (OF), ARI

Tyler Heineman (C), SF

Jorge Soler (OF), KC

Paul DeJong (SS), STL

 

Bargain:

Kevin Cron (1B), ARI

Jason Castro (C), LAA

Trent Grisham (OF), SD

JaCoby Jones (OF), DET

C.J. Cron (1B), DET

Matt Carpenter (3B), STL

Kevin Pillar (OF), BOS

David Fletcher (2B/3B), LAA

Ryan O’Hearn (1B), KC

 

Stacks

While I will be getting to essentially a minimum of one four or five-man stack from each team over the course of the work week, the following are going to be favorites that I’ll be chasing for a variety of reasons rolled into one ranking (in numerical order):

 

1) Minnesota Twins

2) New York Mets

3) Atlanta Braves

4) Chicago Cubs

5) Boston Red Sox

6) Los Angeles Dodgers

7) Kansas City Royals

8) Detroit

9) Seattle Mariners

10) Los Angeles Angels

Related Content
WATCH
LISTEN

Sports Gambling Podcast

The College Basketball Experience

NBA Gambling Podcast

NASCAR Gambling Podcast

Premier League Gambling Podcast

MORE

audio podcasts like homepage (post masonry grid, category: NFL)

video podcasts like homepage (post grid, category: NFL)

ToyotaCare 250 DFS and Underdog Fantasy Picks 2024 I NASCAR Gambling Podcast (Ep. 379)

NFL Week Two

NFL Week Three

NFL Week Four

NFL Week Five

audio podcasts like homepage (post grid, category: NFL)