KBO DFS: Spotlight Hitters DraftKings, FanDuel

What if they tried to play baseball and a football game broke out? The Bears and Twins tried to answer that last night, in an 18-10 Bears victory that was one of two games that mattered on the slate for KBO DFS. The whopping totals shockingly came with no home runs on either side. The Twins put up 10 runs on 15 hits and four walks, while the Bears drove starter Woo-chan Cha from the game by scoring 8 runs on him in the first inning. The huge 18 run total was supported by 20 hits and seven walks, with seemingly everyone in the lineup getting involved.

The Giants and Wiz also played a big game, in a 9-8 Wiz victory. This game featured fewer total runs, but saw key home runs from several big names, including the Giants’ Jun-woo Jeon and Dae-ho Lee, and the Wiz’ Jeong-dae Bae and Mel Rojas Jr., which became critical contributions to some GPP winning lineups.

On the pitching side of things popular option Drew Gagnon fell through on DraftKings, only coming up with six points and change, while the less popular but usually solid Woo-chan Cha went for -17. The dominant start on the night unsurprisingly came from Chang-mo Koo once again. Koo wiped out the Eagles, striking out nine over seven innings while giving up just a solo homer in the run column.

KBO DFS Picks: DraftKings + FanDuel Hitters

Totals are on the rise tonight, as we get into the back-end of some of these rotations. With only one overly lopsided line the slate looks rife with opportunity. Pitching looks sparse with only a few even mid-range starters taking the hill. Getting to the right arms is going to be absolutely critical tonight.

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 (4:00 A.M. EST), official lineups have not been released, so be sure to double-check status before you plug players into your lineup.

Hanwha Eagles @ NC Dinos – 9.5 run total (3.86/5.88) – Suggested Stack: Dinos 3-7

As expected, Dinos’ ace Chang-mo Koo had no problems tearing through the Eagles last night. The Dinos bats didn’t show up in the same way, costing KBO DFS owners who looked to this stack for some production. Losing star catcher Eui-ji Yang to the Injured List is a hit to this offense for the next week or so. The Dinos say Yang is just getting some rest and recuperation time, but that it’s in the form of an IL stint and not a weekend off is telling.

The Eagles get starter Jae-hak Lee here. Lee has had a mostly good season, with two short outings making his numbers look a bit worse than his overall performance has been. This could be a good pitching spot at not crazy ownership. The Eagles bats are buried in the top stack tool again tonight. Yong-kyu Lee ($8/$3,700) leads the way in my home run model for this team tonight and Jared Hoying ($9/$4,700) bookends the playable Eagles bats here from the sixth spot in the lineup. If you want to start up top with Su-kwang Noh ($6/$2,800) it’s not the worst move, but be aware he’s a guy who we’re counting on to steal a base when we play him, so far in 2020 he’s only been successful twice in six tries.

The Dinos bats dropped off last night and it’s not entirely because of the absence of Eui-ji Yang. This lineup has plenty of quality to carry on while the cleanup hitter is on the mend, so chalk last night’s three run performance up to baseball. With the second highest total on the slate, a half-run above the rest of the field, the Dinos look plenty strong again tonight. They do get import starter Warwick Saupold, which is the only thing keeping this one from being more lopsided in Vegas. Saupold had been trailing off before a six-inning two-run performance the last time around against Doosan. My money is on the Dinos lineup to win out here, but they’re just an also-ran option for KBO DFS owners in this spot, ranking third with appropriate ownership. Aaron Altherr ($16/$5,200) probably slots into the cleanup spot here tonight with Yang sitting. I like his bat along with most of our usual suspects. Hee-dong Kwon ($7/$2,600) isn’t someone we touch on frequently, but he’s been having a great year from down in the lineup and could move up here. Keep an eye on him either way. Tae-goon Kim ($5/$2,100) assumes the catching duties and will be hitting in the bottom-end of this lineup and is in play as a potentially contrarian option in a spot where the Dinos catcher is usually extremely popular.

Lotte Giants @ KT Wiz – 10.0 run total (5.41/4.81) – Suggested Stack: Giants 9-1-2-3-4

In a big game that got overshadowed by a massive game, these two went off last night in a 10-inning affair. The Giants did almost all of their damage in the first inning, putting seven runs on the KT starter and chasing him in the third with their eighth. The Wiz took until the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and force extra innings, where they scored on a disputed and reviewed tag to win the game.

The Giants get a gas-can starter in 18-year-old Hyeong-jun So. So ranks next to last among qualified KBO starters with a 6.34 earned run average, which is only slightly worse than his fourth-to-last ranked 5.77 FIP. The kid has allowed six home runs in his 38.1 innings and has looked over-matched in all but one of his seven starts. The Giants bats are in a prime spot here and are pumped up to nearly the top of the stack tool. Hoon Jung ($9/$3,900) was back up to second in the lineup and we’re projecting him there again, with Ah-seop Son ($13/$3,900) taking the leadoff spot again, making a terrific one-two at the top of your stack. Jung’s low ownership will help offset the popularity of Son and some of the other early bats. Similarly, low-owned playable options on both sites include slugger Dae-ho Lee ($10/$4,200) and Byung-hun Min ($9/$3,500) who is a good wraparound option from the bottom of this lineup.

The Wiz were looking solid in last night’s stack rankings, tonight is a different story. With Adrian Sampson on the hill and not getting a good line from odds-makers, the Wiz are pushed way down to the bottom half tonight, although their team ownership is currently running about half of their probability of being the top stack, which is something we always consider targeting. Sampson is probably better than his numbers have been for KBO DFS owners so far, but in his four starts he’s given up more earned runs (17) than he’s struck batters out (13), but his 4.14 FIP does definitely look a lot more to expectation than his warped 7.78 ERA. The Wiz could provide some sneaky quality here in a limited deployment, but it’s not a killer spot either. I still like Jeong-dae Bae ($9/$2,700) leading off and riding the lineup and positioning straight down to Jae-gyun Hwang ($8/$5,000) is a serviceable approach here. Awesemo Slack chat regular and frequent visitor to the top of KBO DFS GPP standings “Gottagetthiswiiiin” (and a few more iiiiiis?) pointed out to me that catcher Sung-woo Jang ($10/$3,500) has been posting strong numbers for a catcher who frequently goes overlooked late in this lineup. These are the benefits of joining up at the site that go beyond just the published content.

Doosan Bears @ LG Twins – 10.5 run total (4.77/5.96) – Suggested Stack: Twins 2-3-4-5-7

When I said yesterday that this would be a good series, I wasn’t exactly picturing a 28-run first game, but wow. These two teams absolutely exploded last night and did it without hitting any home runs, which I find fascinating. The Bears chased the Twins starter with eight in the first then chased the immediate reliever with five more in the second. The Twins, meanwhile, scored in every inning but the sixth and ninth in what ended as an 18-10 Bears win.

The match-up tonight is a stiff one for the Bears again with Casey Kelly pitching for the Twins, but Cha didn’t give them a bit of trouble so they could keep the momentum going here. Kelly is keeping the implied total for the Bears down, forcing them lower in the stack rankings. On FanDuel they look appealing even from the middle of that list, given the ownership to probability of success imbalance. The top of the lineup is where to look, and there’s enough of a paucity of ownership on huge bats like Jose Miguel Fernandez ($17/$5,800) at under eight percent on both sites, that you can get to any combination you like here. Jae-hwan Kim ($17/$5,100) is the other big spend up in this batting order and he is pulling similar ownership, giving you two great starting points. Build in the rest of the order around them and consider mixing in some Se-hyuk Park ($7/$2,800) and Soo-bin Jung ($7/$2,300) in limited fashion for added differential.

The Twins are once again the big bats on the slate and in the stack rankings. Their projected team ownership tonight is getting ugly, so it’s difficult to fully endorse going all-in on this spot because you’re going to end up with a lot of duplicated options. Still, the spot should be very good, and they are likely to see bullpen arms early here. On DraftKings if we’re looking for players under 20% exposure, we’re limited to Y.T. Park ($8/$2,100) whose rock bottom pricing is inappropriate for anyone in this spot in this lineup, let alone the KBO’s all-time hits leader. At age 41, Park is still tremendous, posting a .316/.361/.404 line. He’s never going to hit you home runs, but he’s got a nose for contact, moves runners and drives them in. At 10% ownership on DraftKings, this is the type of bat we need to work in with the more popular fellas. Ji-hwan Oh ($9/$3,100) offers similarly low-owned quality from a late lineup spot here too. If you don’t care about ownership, I think there’s some guy named Bob Ramos ($17/$5,200) on this team, have you heard of him?

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SK Wyverns @ Kiwoom Heroes – 10.0 run total (4.76/5.46) – Suggested Stack: Heroes 1-3-4

A low scoring pitching affair last night was mostly irrelevant to KBO DFS players on the hitting side of things. A 3 run game with no home runs will have that impact on fantasy scoring.

In a battle of two young starters Vegas is favoring the Heroes, who send Young-gun Jo to the mound again tonight. Our favorite KBO name has had a bumpy go of it since his five inning first start, not managing to get out of the third in either of his subsequent outings. This could be a spot to mash in some Wyverns bats for a change. They rank in the middle of the top stack tool and the ownership differential isn’t crazy, so don’t go wild, but they’re more in play today. The obvious Jeong Choi ($15/$5,400) and Jamie Romak ($13/$5,000) are both pulling quality projections from Awesemo and strong ratings in my home run model. The low prices on the next few bats make this an excellent stack for working as your secondary option with some of the more expensive bats from other teams. Get to Eui-yoon Jeong ($7/$2,700) and Kang-min Kim ($7/$3,400) for some savings as you swap options around with these guys. This full stack might be a less frequently owned approach than a three-man, making it interesting to consider.

The Wyverns “not awful” starter managed to not be awful and hold down the Heroes over six not particularly dazzling innings in which he struck out four and gave up no runs. The Heroes look to overcome their power outage tonight facing Geon-wook Lee. Lee will look good to people skimming the surface, but his 4.78 FIP is approaching two runs higher than his ERA, showing that the good is unlikely to hold. The Heroes are still missing Byung-ho Park, but there are options to like here. Ha-seong Kim ($15/$6,000) is one of the more expensive players on the slate but is a high-end stick in the middle of this lineup. Building around him and projected three-hitter Jung-hoo Lee ($14/$5,400) is your starting point for this stack, and they are not the two highest owned options, which should help you build unique lineups. A three-man with those two and leadoff hitter Keong-chang Seo ($11/$4,500) could be a good look among options with this team.

Samsung Lions @ Kia Tigers –9.0 run total (4.42/4.78) – Suggested Stack: Tigers 2-3-4

Quality cat fight. In what looked like it would be a pitcher’s duel going in last night both import starters flagged a bit, neither making it through six innings. David Buchanan’s stuff was really purring, posting a quality line in striking out seven and giving up just two earned in his five innings, with all three Kia runs coming in his last frame when he coughed up the lead. Kia starter Drew Gagnon missed a quality start by a whisker, giving up a run before coming out in the sixth. Bats were clawing for runs all night, with Kia ultimately scratching out a 5-4 victory.

Meow, tonight we get another good pitching match-up. The Lions draw Ki-young Im who has been dealing in his seven starts this year. Im’s 22.1% strikeout rate ranks 10^th among qualified KBO starters this year and I think the Lions are going to have issues putting runs on the board. Sang-su Kim ($8/$4,900) draws a playable projection and won’t be too popular as a starting point atop this lineup. The ninth hitter, Hae-min Park ($7/$3,000) is one of the higher projected bats in this lineup despite potentially giving up a plate appearance for that spot in the order, which is telling about the quality of the match-up. He makes a playable wrap-around and a less-likely angle in on a stack with the more popular bats up top.

The line is close in this one and both teams are implied for under five runs, but the Tigers are the favorite and make the better play for KBO DFS owners. Samsung starter Tae-in Won has been very good so far this season himself, but there is opportunity beyond the box here. His 4.26 FIP is nearly two full runs higher than his 2.30 ERA, so the high-end run he has been on is probably not entirely sustainable. 4.26 is still a good number, however, so we don’t want to go overboard thinking this is a bad pitcher. Deploy the Tigers conservatively tonight. Hyung-woo Choi ($10/$5,100) is the only player on this team pulling more than 20% ownership on either site. Everyone in the lineup is under 10% ownership on DraftKings. The Tigers rank near the bottom of the stack tool tonight, but if you can get to under-owned quality it’s always a consideration. There’s nothing wrong with looking to the obvious here (Tucker, Na) and Joo-chan Kim ($3,900) is going almost completely untouched where he’s available on DraftKings.