KBO DFS Overview - HRs, Stacks and Pitchers for DraftKings + FanDuel

KBO DFS rolls on for a few more days and what would would possibly the last week of our focus on KBO be without a little rain in the forecast to keep us on our toes!? Just like yesterday, this piece will incorporate the standard Top HR Options from my home run model, pitching recommendations, and a short (for me) version of a look at the games and stacks.

To get yourself going in MLB DFS check out Awesemo’s MLB DFS primer, the MLB DFS Kickoff Strategy Show, Day 1 of the MLB Cram Session and today’s Day 2 for Rosters, Hitters and Stacks. Keep an eye on the MLB channel and the site for everything you need to catch up fast.

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KBO DFS Overview: Top HR Options, Stacks and Pitchers

KBO DFS Home Run Ratings

Scale: 5-10 Average; 10-20 Good; 20-25 Very Good; 25+ Great

Doosan Bears: Jae-il Oh – 10.20

Hanwha Eagles: Tae-kyun Kim – 14.53

Kia Tigers: Hyung-woo Choi – 18.22

Kiwoom Heroes: Byung-ho Park – 20.11

KT Wiz: Mel Rojas Jr. – 20.42

LG Twins: Hyun-soo Kim – 24.00

Lotte Giants: Jun-woo Jeon – 19.69

NC Dinos: Aaron Altherr – 23.38

Samsung Lions: Dong-yeop Kim – 18.15

SK Wyverns: Jamie Romak – 19.71

Looking for more KBO DFS picks content? We’ve got loads of articles, data, cheat-sheets and more on the Awesemo KBO home page, just click HERE

KBO DFS Pitching Options

Tonight’s KBO DFS pitching slate looks a little bumpy with limited options and some large game totals. There is one standout option

Drew Rucinski is the top pitcher on both sites and his price and popularity support that statement on their own. The quality is there and Rucinski is worth paying up for and eating some chalk. His ownership isn’t quite as over the top as we saw on Drew Gagnon last night, so we should be able to play this a bit more comfortably. Rucinski hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a game since his second start of the season in early May. He has been lights out of late giving up just two runs over 34 innings in his last four starts. The only concerning factor in Rucinski’s numbers is his FIP differential, which sits at -1.72 with a 2.05 earned run average giving way to an underlying 3.77 FIP. Rucinski has been getting some benefit from luck and defense here, but there’s enough reason to believe he’ll continue to produce and the rest of his numbers are in line with his stellar 2019 KBO season. Rucinski is facing the Lions who have been friskier in recent weeks, but Vegas has them saddled with the slate’s lowest implied total and the only one under four runs.

There are several ways to go with your second starter on DraftKings or your differentiated single-starter lineups on FanDuel. Dangling over a pit of lava needing to get it right I would probably just target the pathetic Eagles and roll with the second highest projection that Awesemo has on the board by playing Kia’s starter Hyun-jong Yang. Yang has not been pitching well in 2020 but he doesn’t need to be great to beat this team. Yang has posted several strong KBO seasons in his career and has previously been a good source of strikeouts among KBO starters. His FIP differential is the reverse of what we saw with Rucinski, his 5.17 FIP is not good by any means but it does tell us he’s been a bit better than the 6.31 earned run average. The strikeouts have cratered to a 17% rate, which is around 5% off of his career mark, but he should be able to pick up enough for his score to keep pace with a limited pitching field tonight at worst and he could shine in a great spot against a bad team.

I don’t typically like targeting the Twins with arms but you could do worse than William Cuevas as an option tonight as well. He’s probably my favorite of the also-ran crowd, but I could argue for some Geon-wook Lee against the Giants as well.

KBO DFS Games and Stacks

Kia Tigers @ Hanwha Eagles – 9.5 run total (5.76/5.14) – Suggested Stack(s): Tigers 2-6

The Tigers won in a 10-2 rout last night that saw runs scored up and down the Kia lineup but all the power coming from the eight and nine hitters with solo home runs. Tonight, the Tigers are in a similar spot getting most of the additional run that was added to the total here. The hitters we like in this lineup are in play once again. Min-woo Kim has problems keeping the ball in the yard, giving up 10 home runs in just 61.1 innings so far in 2020. The Tigers should take advantage and rank first in stacks on both sites. The ownership looks present but reasonable this should be quality chalk. Their popularity suggests that it makes sense to be sure to include a lower-owned option at a filler position on DraftKings, Joo-hwan Na ($6/$2,300) serves this purpose well at second base and Chan-ho Park ($10/$4,000) is an option with his third base and shortstop eligibility. The main bats to like are high up in the lineup again with Preston Tucker ($17/$6,000) and Hyung-woo Choi ($15/$5,000) leading the way in both projections and my home run model. KBO DFS owners can mix and match Tigers bats from one though seven here.

The Eagles don’t offer much of anything here again and I like targeting them with the pitcher. However, if he continues to struggle this lineup is potentially worth throwing a limited number of darts with tonight given the popularity. Everything begins and ends in the top five hitters if you go this way and I would be sure to get all three of Tae-kyun Kim ($7/$2,900), Brandon Barnes ($16/$2,200) – who has a major site to site price mismatch here – and Jin-haeng Choi ($6/2,900) in lineups if you go this route.

LG Twins @ KT Wiz – 10.5 run total (5.05/5.68) – Suggested Stack(s): Wiz 2-4

The Twins lost a wild game that saw them tie the score at nine in the top of the ninth only to lose 10-9 on a walk-off homer by Baek-ho Kang. The Twins rank in the bottom-middle of the stack tool here and don’t look particularly strong taking on William Cuevas. The implied team total is dangerously close to slipping below five runs but KBO DFS players are still on these bats, putting them in that shaky middle ground of stack plays. The bats to own are the names we know here, Roberto Ramos ($15/$4,900) mashed a home run last night and looks like a good option for another today. Hyun-soo Kim ($16/$4,800) joins him as a quality home run pick in my model and a hitter who looks great in Awesemo’s projections. This lineup falls off as we get past the five-spot until hitting Kang-nam Yoo ($10/$4,800) if he’s hitting down-lineup again. I could see playing a limited amount of him here if people don’t go that route heavily. Hyung-jong Lee ($5/$3,700) remains a good play hitting in a quality spot in this lineup for the minimum on FanDuel.

The Wiz rank out similarly to their opponents in the stack tool tonight and they’re not my favorite option despite a fairly strong implied team total. On FanDuel there are numerous good hitters in this lineup who are projecting for nearly zero ownership. Yong-ho Jo ($8/$2,700) and Jeong-dae Bae ($13/$3,300) are both essentially untouched and are still important cogs in this lineup. Jo in particular given his price and leadoff spot in the batting order is very appealing on the blue site. The big bats here will all be popular but worth it. Mel Rojas Jr. ($18/$6,500) is going to keep rolling over the KBO whether we’re watching or not and his pal Baek-ho Kang ($14/$5,700) has another strong mark in the home run model.

Lotte Giants @ SK Wyverns – 10.5 run total (5.10/5.63) – Suggested Stack(s): Giants 1-3-4-5-6

Another game that was decided in thee bottom of the ninth saw the Wyverns rally to overcome the Giants in a thrilling 8-7 win on a Jamie Romak walk off shot. The Wyverns are the favored team tonight and the Giants total is close to slipping below five implied runs. They rank in the middle of the stack tool tonight and there looks to be some ownership appeal with the stack going well under on both sites. Getting to the big bats in this lineup isn’t difficult, Jun-woo Jeon ($13/$4,400) has one of the best marks on any team in the homer model tonight and looks strong in Awesemo’s projections. KBO DFS owners can plug him in and build with the hitters around him here. Chi-hong An ($10/$3,600) is a good late-lineup option for these guys. Projected two-hitter Dong-hee Han ($9/$3,500) is a bit of a hole in the lineup with his low projection, but his spot in the batting order should work him into at least some of your Giants builds. Dae-ho Lee ($12/$4,500) remains an inexpensive power option on both sites.

Most of the production from this Wyverns lineup came from right where we expected it and I see no reason that the bats you want would be any different tonight if you’re going to this team. The play on DraftKings is fine, they rank fourth in stacks and, while they’re a bit popular, ownership isn’t too outrageous. On FanDuel they are trending toward 25% team ownership and make a much tougher pill to swallow. Jeong Choi ($14/$5,300), Jamie Romak ($12/$4,400), and Dong-min Han ($8/$4,100) are copy/pasted directly from last night’s builds. You can add hitters like Jong-wook Ko ($6/$3,400) and Ji-hoon Choi ($6/$2,900) to help differentiate or fill out stacks.

Samsung Lions @ NC Dinos – 9.5 run total (3.81/5.93) – Suggested Stack(s): Dinos 1-5

The total in this one comes down by a run but most of it comes out of the Lions’ end taking on the top pitcher of the night in Drew Rucinski. There’s not a ton to love about the Lions stack in projections and they rank near the bottom of stacks on both sites. This is a contrarian play only and it’s not one I particularly like. No one will be on it so if you go here play the obvious bats with Ja-wook Koo ($11/$4,000), Dong-yeop Kim ($8/$3,000) and Won-seok Lee ($9/$3,800).

The Dinos maintain most of their implied team total from the game last night that ended in a 6-5 10^th inning victory. They rank in the top three stacks on both sites and make strong option once again for KBO DFS if you can work with their pricing. Eui-ji Yang is not in our projected lineup tonight, the catcher took a bump last night and seems likely to rest and heal today. We’ve moved Aaron Altherr ($17/$5,800) up in the lineup to fill in and he looks fantastic again tonight. Pairing him with Sung-bum Na ($16/$5,500) and building from there makes all the sense with this stack and there are options up and down this lineup. Even backup catcher Tae-goon Kim ($6/$2,600) makes a reasonable catcher pivot on DraftKings just by virtue of being in this lineup, but don’t go crazy with him there’s a reason he’s a backup catcher, those guys typically aren’t known for their bats.

Kiwoom Heroes @ Doosan Bears – 10.5 run total (5.28/5.44) – Suggested Stack(s): Bears 1-2-3-4-6

When you call a game “flat dead” you pretty much expect to see a gigantic score in the box the next day, but this one played around expectation last night in a 6-1 Bears victory. The Heroes get a better spot here and the game total goes up a full two runs to 10.5. The Heroes rank in the top three stacks and look like a quality play again. The top of this lineup is very popular but that’s where most of the quality is. Byung-ho Park ($12/$4,800) is a great power option at his price on both sites. Jung-hoo Lee ($16/$5,100) and Ha-seong Kim ($17/$6,200) are among the best options in the KBO at their positions and backup catcher Ji-young Lee ($7/$2,800) can deliver some salary and positional relief from later in the lineup as a back-end attachment to stacks.

It took the Bears nearly six full innings, but they finally got to Eric Jokisch last night, putting all six runs on his tab in that inning. The matchup with Won-tae Choi tonight has the Bears pushed down toward the bottom-middle of the stack tool but they could be sneaky quality here with a low team ownership number and still a reasonable chance at being the top stack even from that low in the rankings. Things are relatively evenly distributed in KBO DFS play tonight and things could break in any direction. On a day like that when you can grab a team you know is generally one of the best offenses in the league without many people on them, it’s the type of play we’re looking for. Jae-won Oh ($7/$2,500) hits seventh in this lineup and pops up in optimizers given his low pricing and second base eligibility. He’s a tricky player for those utilities because we don’t want him in great amounts, and he occupies a spot that has a lot of quality in the KBO on his own team and in other stacks we may want to use with the Bears. Because of this it is critical to make sure you’re properly limiting your exposures on Oh so that you will be able to get to the best builds. Those should include Jae-il Oh ($14/$4,100) who is still still too cheap. Jae-hwan Kim ($17/$5,200) looks great right behind him in the lineup and if you can afford to just roll four of the top five hitters here it’s an angle I like to take. The redundant positioning is getting irritating on DraftKings however, with four of the top five hitters qualifying at first base two of the at second and the others in the outfield it can be an exercise in mental gymnastics to click these guys together, but it’s worth your exploration.