KBO DFS: Spotlight Hitters DraftKings, FanDuel

And boom goes the Dino-mite. The explosive Dinos offensive delivered for KBO DFS players again last night, pounding the Eagles for 13 runs last night. The Dinos got a two-homer game from Sung-bum Na, and a couple other dingers. Eagles’ starter Shi-hwan Jang pitched perfectly to form, hysterically tacking another two wild pitches on to his total in just 3 innings. Across the rest of the league the highest scores were half the Dinos’ total, but key performances in the Giants game, and the two-homer game of soon to be 100% owned Bob Ramos were critical.

KBO DFS Picks: DraftKings + FanDuel Hitters

Saturday baseball for KBO DFS fans means split starting times. This time around we get two games at 1:00am EST and the rest at 4:00am. Both sites are offering full five-game slates with late swap, so being on top of changes between the early and late games could be a key advantage once again.

Run totals are way down for tonight, with a lot of team’s top starter on the hill. If we’re going to see a paucity of runs and fantasy points, it will be more important than most nights to be on the absolute right bats that others are missing. Fortunately, the broad slate of pitching options should help us out when we’re making KBO DFS picks.

The bulk of this analysis comes directly from reviewing Awesemo’s KBO DFS projections and the top stacks tool. Check out the rest of our KBO content, Awesemo’s projections, rankings, and ownership on the site for all your KBO DFS needs.

As usual, I’m going to look game by game, calling out a hitter or two from each team, and giving some top stacking options as we go. Pricing and popularity will be considered, more so as KBO DFS trends begin to emerge over the coming weeks. The numbers included with Suggested Stack are the projected lineup positions I would target for stacking that team, but do not restrict yourself exclusively to those spots. For example, if it says Wyverns 3-6 it means 3,4,5,6 in the projected lineup. If it says 1-2-3-5 it means those guys. If it means a two-man it will say so. I’m also going to start trying to include positions more, hopefully it helps speed up the process of finding guys as you build lineups.

With lock still hours away (1:00am), official lineups have not been released, so be sure to double-check status before you plug players into your lineup.

Kia Tigers @ Doosan Bears – 9.0 run total (4.26/4.93) – Suggested Stack: Tigers 3-4-5 (DK) / Bears 3-6 (FD)

Kia made Young-ha Lee look pretty good last night, with the starter racking up seven strikeouts and not allowing a run over six. The Bears took advantage, banging out four late runs for a 5-1 victory. The matchup of import starters Drew Gagnon and Chris Flexen has the game total down by two full runs. Naturally this has both teams pushed down the top stack rankings tonight. The pitching matchup is creating some opportunity to get to these high-end lineups on both sites, if you’re not risk averse. The Tigers are third from the bottom in the stack rankings for both sites but looking at DraftKings they have a seven percent probability of being the top stack, while the third-ranked team has only eleven. It’s not a gigantic gulf between the two, and the Tigers are only pulling around two percent ownership. Just know that you’re taking a good lineup in a bad spot if you do it. On DraftKings Hyun-woo Choi ($11/$5.3k) is the highest owned Tiger at less than six percent. On FanDuel he’s at 10%. All the other bats are essentially untouched. Choi has fantastic on-base skills, walking around 17% of the time while only striking out 12%, and can hit one out at any time. His career WRC+ is nearly 50% above league average. Click in a few pieces around him in the order, the two obvious bats on either side of Choi (Tucker and Na) make the most sense, but don’t be shy about Min-sang Yoo ($7/$3.3k) from the six spot, or leadoff hitter Ho-ryeong Kim ($8/$3.1k) to get your construction even further afield.

With a similar pitching matchup, the Bears are in much the same spot here. We can get to them with the understanding that they’re looking at a rare implied total under five today. They rank around the middle of the stack tool and the ownership on DraftKings is around even, which makes them playable but not special. On FanDuel, however, the Bears have double the chance at being the top stack as the amount of ownership they’re drawing. This could be a great opportunity for KBO DFS owners if the Bears are able to get over on Gagnon, who has only made two quality starts in five tries so far. Gagnon has been racking up the strikeouts, and those two QS were both stellar, so this is a risky spot. If you’re rolling with the Bears risk you can snap together whatever construction you like best on FanDuel. Jae-il Oh ($16/$3.5k) and Jae-hwan Kim ($17/$5.7k) would be my favorite starting point, and you can look down as far as Jae-won Oh ($7/$2.0k) at the six spot, or play up to the top here.

NC Dinos @ Hanwha Eagles – 8.5 run total (5.63/3.12) – Suggested Stack: Dinos 2-6

The second of the one o’clock games has Dinos ace Chang-mo Koo looking to continue his dominance against the lowly Eagles offense. This is a killer spot for Koo, and he’s going to be extremely popular. I’m not sure there’s enough juice in the Eagles’ offense to justify going against him. But first, the other side. The Dinos bats are a step above the rest of the options for KBO DFS players. Facing Chad Bell, who is still rounding into form after missing the start of the year, shouldn’t be much of a roadblock. Despite the import starter on the hill, the Dinos have an implied run total over five and half, and they rank second in the top stacks. The ownership edge we were looking at on DraftKings last night has largely faded away, but this still looks like a strong spot. Catcher Eui-ji Yang ($14/$5.9k) buries the popularity needle most nights, but he’s possibly the best hitter in the KBO. As teammate Drew Rucinski put it during last night’s ESPN broadcast, “he hasn’t even gotten going yet, just wait til you see how scary good he can be.” On DraftKings, much like with Bob Ramos from the Twins, Yang has become a do-or-don’t decision every day. Playing both has you eating so much chalk I can taste it, but on the nights they both homer and drive in a few you’ll be cooked if you don’t play it. Tonight, I’m going to include Yang. Myung-gi Lee ($9/$2.9k) is an inexpensive bat that is yet to truly get going atop this lineup and makes a solid low-owned angle in your stack.

Don’t tell the guys in my dynasty league, but if you’re in a fantasy draft with long-term prospect keepers you could do a lot worse than picking Chang-mo Koo, this kid is going to the Show. On the year Koo has four wins and five quality starts in five tries. He’s been absolutely dealing, allowing only two earned runs and 12 hits in his 35 innings, and posting a pretty 38:9 K:BB ratio. This is true to form for his young career so far. All this is to say I don’t like anything about the Eagles and their three-run implied total tonight, and neither should most KBO DFS players. Even if you want to be the most contrarian person around, there’s not much to see here. If someone said I had to have one of the Eagles in my lineup “or else,” I would consider a Sung-yeol Lee ($9/$3.4k) one-off or just call their bluff.

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KT Wiz @ Lotte Giants – 9.5 run total (4.57/5.14) – Suggested Stack: Giants 1-2-3-4-6

Another matchup of good starting pitchers and another game with a total that comes down by two full runs. These two teams played a quality 6-4 ballgame yesterday that was largely decided in the seventh. Several of our favorite Giants had games in a spot that seemed appealing against the Wiz’ bullpen, and the Wiz got another homer from Mel Rojas Jr. The Wiz get Dan Straily tonight. Straily has looked strong his last two times out, after a minor five-run blip against the Tigers two weeks ago. Mel Rojas Jr. ($16/$6.5k), Kyung-soo Park ($9/$3.6k), and Jae-gyun Hwang ($12/$5.2k) make an interesting looking three-man in Awesemo’s projections if you want to play Wiz, but it’s not my stack of choice.

The Giants are over-owned tonight. This is a team I like to angle into when the ownership looks off, and there was opportunity here that way last night, but that situation is completely reversed today. The Giants are somehow pulling 17% ownership on FanDuel despite landing in the lower-middle of stack rankings. On DraftKings that number is only around 12% but it’s still a fair chunk higher than their success probability. Somehow, though, on DK, Dae-ho Lee ($10/$4.0k) is one of the lesser-owned bats. Feel free to use him as a quality one-off any time he’s trending that low. The other bats that I like in this lineup are crazy popular on both sites. Jun-woo Jeon ($13/$4.2k) was my pick from this team in the home run options piece and going all the way up to Byung-hun Min ($9/$3.9k) doesn’t look bad going only by the raw projection. If he’s hitting sixth, youngster Dong-hee Han ($5/$2.1k) is nearly min-price, essentially unowned, which makes him the best bet to make a Giants stack different. Seven hitter Bong-gi Shin’s career numbers don’t hold up to scrutiny, I would cut off before getting to him despite the low ownership.

LG Twins @ Kiwoom Heroes – 11 run total (5.89/5.34) – Suggested Stack: Twins 2-3-4-6-7 (Chae injury status dependent)

The big bad Twins and Bobby Ramos are back on top of the stack tool where they belong. Overall last night wasn’t great for them, with Ramos doing most of their damage off his two-homer night, and the Twins dropped a 6-3 game. With the highest run total on the slate by a run and a half this one looks important for KBO DFS picks tonight. An important thing to keep an eye on here is the status of column favorite Eun-sung Chae, who left last night’s game with a knee injury of unknown severity (thanks for the heads up, NewsGod). If Chae isn’t starting this lineup is diminished. Seung-ho Lee was better last year than what his numbers show so far this season, but he’s a contact pitcher so there could be plenty of opportunity here. At this point the Bob Ramos decision is up to you. He’s approaching 60% ownership, but you know what he offers. Looking down the lineup I can make a case for a stack of Min-sung Kim ($9/$4.0k), Y.T Park ($11/$2.3k), Keun-woo Jeong ($7/$3.3k), and Kang-nam Yoo ($8/$3.3k) that leaves Ramos off the top as a different approach to this lineup. Know that there is always more opportunity and, naturally, higher raw point projections toward the top of the lineup of course.

Much tougher spot for the Heroes tonight, with Tyler Wilson on the mound for the Twins, but Kiwoom ranks toward the top of the stacks tool thanks to the quality in the lineup. The top of the Heroes lineup looks like the spot for KBO DFS owners who want to go this route today. Building down from leadoff hitter Keon-chang Seo ($11/$3.5k) through the cleanup spot is going to be a popular build, so maybe picking three of those four as a small stack or popping in two bats from later in the order, like Hye-sung Kim ($6/$2.1k), is a good way to go.

Samsung Lions @ SK Wyverns – 9.0 run total (4.64/4.55) – Suggested Stack: Lions 2-4-5-6-7

Well, the Wyverns power didn’t end up coming through last night, and they’re bumped back to normal levels in my homer model today. These two teams played a relatively flat game last night and with one of several nine-run implied totals on the night they don’t really stand out here. The Lions rank fourth in the stacks tool with around the right amount of ownership. On FanDuel the tremendous salary value we’ve been seeing recently from this team is still intact, making them a more interesting option on that site. Facing capable veteran Jong-hoon Park may not be their best spot though, and I’m not on the Lions as much despite them being favored here. If you’re looking to the Lions for your KBO DFS picks, think about two-hitter Chan-do Park ($6/$2.5k) or seven-hitter Hak-ju Lee ($6/$3.6k) as ways to get different stacking with the more popular plays.

The Wyverns plummet to next-to-last in the stack rankings tonight, but they’re still drawing popularity. This looks like a good spot to get away from this time around. The only two bats that get a good raw points projection from Awesemo are the obvious Jamie Romak ($11/$5.6k) and Jeong Choi ($14/$4.9k), but we know raw projections aren’t the end-goal with baseball constructions. Include Soo-kwang Noh ($6/$3.3k) up top as a table-setter, or Eui-yoon Jeong ($7/$2.8k) if you want to build out Wyverns tonight. I’m not going to be on either side of this one very much.