KBO DFS: Spotlight Hitters DraftKings, FanDuel

Last night’s interesting slate saw several lopsided games that didn’t necessarily go in the direction that KBO DFS players were expecting. Strong pitching performances against the powerful Twins and Dinos threw a lot of lineups off kilter, and big outbursts by the Giants, Heroes, and Bears lineups were critical on the offensive side of the dish.

By far the biggest piece of news to come out of the KBO last night, however, was Kiwoom’s signing of former Chicago Cub Addison Russell. The shortstop won’t be in the lineup tonight but should be joining the team after he clears quarantine. This is the first in what are expected to be several new foreign player signings over the coming weeks. ESPN’s KBO insider, Daniel Kim, has previously reported that teams are telling him the lists of available players they are getting from agents this year is unlike anything they’ve previously seen, as capable high-end guys are looking for jobs. We’ll be keeping an eye on roster changes as things move forward.

KBO DFS Picks: DraftKings + FanDuel Hitters

A few totals are on the rise again tonight and there are some interesting pitching spots. It’s going to be tricky to land on the right bats here. There are one or two low-owned high quality small stacks that I like that could be sneaky here, and some of the big bats are in play as full stacks. Let’s get into it.

This is all assuming the world doesn’t end tomorrow in 2012 style, by the way.

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 – 11.0 run total (4.67/6.60) – Suggested Stack: Dinos 3-7

The Eagles shocked the world in taking a 4-3 win off the dominant Dinos last night. The lowly Hanwha team was able to ride a few early runs to victory in a game where the Dinos never found their bats.

The Eagles managed to score just enough by keeping the ball in play and advancing runners. They banged out nine hits over the course of the game but hit no home runs and no one in the lineup drove in or scored more than a lone run. The implied total goes up for this team tonight with a better match-up. The top half of this lineup could be in play tonight. They rank in the middle of stacks for a change, but I don’t like the popularity that we’re projecting above their probability of being the best option. At our current ownership projection, I would start everything Eagles with Tae-kyun Kim ($7/$2,900). Kim hits in the middle of this lineup and is a capable bat who consistently pulls some of the better rankings on this team in my home run model, despite showing some age so far this season. Moving up the lineup yields more popular targets like Yong-kyu Lee ($8/$3,400) and Soo-kwang Noh ($6/$2,500) as playable options here again, and cleanup hitter Jin-haeng Choi ($5/$3,000) is both cheap and unpopular, which in this case are positives.

The Dinos have had a flat week. With a cancelled game and a lack of the explosive games we’ve come to expect from this lineup, they’ve been a tough ride so far. This is no time to jump off, however. The team has the highest implied total on the night and what looks like a fantastic match-up. Eagles’ starter Min-woo Kim is homer-happy and the exact kind of pitcher we like to target with bats of this caliber. Unfortunately, everyone else is going this direction as well. The Dinos are the top ranked team in the stack tool for both sites, but also the most popular. Two key bats that don’t seem to be drawing the ownership shares they deserve on either site are Jin-sung Kang ($15/$5,000) and Suk-min Park ($10/$5,200) who have both proven capable of breaking slates already this season. Getting to a full Dinos stack is going to be popular so work them in and make sure to get different with your secondary stack. A three-man with these two and one of the more popular sluggers is a great angle here once again.

Lotte Giants @ KT Wiz – 10.5 run total (5.01/5.72) – Suggested Stack: Wiz 2-6

A dominant performance from Adrian Sampson and an 8 run outburst from the Giants was the story of last night’s game in an 8-0 Lotte victory. The import starter struck out seven Wiz batters while yielding only three hits and allowing no runs in his six innings.

Tonight’s game has the second highest run total on the slate and could be another great spot for KBO DFS picks. The Giants rank in the middle of the stack tool and their ownership doesn’t look too outlandish. This batting order has been a bit unpredictable lately, with guys bouncing up and down the order, so be sure to keep an eye on things before lock. Slugger Jun-woo Jeon ($12/$4,600) is going to hit second or third here as usual and the projections love him in either spot. Dixon Machado ($10/$4,500) has moved up in this lineup and has provided some quality in an RBI spot as well. Chi-hong An ($9/$3,300), meanwhile has dropped a few spots in the order but that is leading to him getting somewhat overlooked, he’s a good option.

The stack tool wasn’t bullish on the Wiz last night, but the match-up here is different with them facing Kyung-eun Noh. They rank near the top on both sites and are going just a touch under-played, so there could be opportunity here. The home run model loves Mel Rojas Jr. ($17/$5,600) and Baek-ho Kang ($16/$6,000) with a pitcher who tends to give up the long ball. Get on those two popular bats with a mix of lower-owned guys like Han-joon Yoo ($11/$3,600) and Yong-ho Jo ($8/$2,800) and your Wiz stack will be off and running.

Doosan Bears @ LG Twins – 10.0 run total (5.36/4.86) – Suggested Stack: Bears 1-5

Well the Bears showed up for the globally televised ESPN game last night and the Twins unfortunately did not. After these teams exploded for a combined 28 runs in game one of the series, the Bears put up another eight-last night, but ultimately the Twins let KBO DFS owners and viewers down by only stringing together two in a losing effort.

Tonight’s game is critical early season showdown. If the Bears complete the three-game sweep they will come out of the weekend tied with the rival Twins for second in KBO standings. The Bears lineup is looking like a high quality option again tonight, particularly on FanDuel where they rank third in the stacks tool but are about half as owned as they should be. Kun-woo Park ($12/$3,500) landed third in this lineup last night with a few moving parts shuffling around. I like his bat in that spot again tonight, and he makes a great building block. Getting to the rest of the quality bats in the Bears’ lineup is easy, and a straight-line stack of the top of the lineup is firmly in play. Jose Miguel Fernandez ($17/$5,900) continues to be expensive but is worth the salary stretch. Using Fernandez, Park, and Soo-bin Jung ($7/$2,500) could be a low-owned three-man approach to DraftKings tonight.

The Twins really let KBO DFS owners down last night and they plummet in stack rankings tonight, drawing import starter Raul Alcantara, who has been pitching well so far in 2020. The team ownership for the Twins in the stack tool is tricky, most of it is driven by the still nearly 50% number on Bob Ramos ($17/$5,200) who is no longer the amazing bargain play he once was. The rest of this lineup is not going to be that popular, so they may be in a better spot than it seems, despite the low ranking. If you believe the career history on these bats and want to play the leverage game you could do worse than the Twins here. Eun-sung Chae ($13/$2,900), Y.T. Park ($8/$2,000), Hyun-soo Kim ($15/$5,200), and even usually popular catcher Kang-nam Yoo ($10/$3,900) will all be low-owned for those who don’t mind a bit of risk.

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SK Wyverns @ Kiwoom Heroes – 9.0 run total (3.97/5.24) – Suggested Stack: Heroes 2-3-4

The Heroes celebrated Byung-ho Park’s return to this lineup and the signing of slugging shortstop Addison Russell by mashing four home runs last night. Park didn’t get involved himself, going 0-4 in the game as he continues to struggle to make contact this year. The rest of this lineup went off, in a 9-3 victory that was a key to accessing the top of GPP standings.

The Wyverns are going to have a tough hill to climb against starter Eric Jokisch who has been dominating the KBO so far. The American starter doesn’t rack up quite as many strikeouts as some of the league’s other elite options, but he ranks a respectable 12^th in strikeout-to-walk rate among qualified starters and has pitched to a strong 3.27 FIP (1.68 earned run average). This has the Wyverns near the bottom of stack rankings on both sites. If you want to be contrarian and get weird with things you can run out a three man with Jong-wook Ko ($7/$4,100) bolted to the Jamie Romak ($13/$4,600) and Jeong Choi ($15/$5,000) who are the obvious quality bats here but won’t have overwhelming popularity because of the spot. I would avoid deploying either of the two latter bats as a one-off, however.

With the Wyverns looking to counter the pitching match-up with an import starter of their own in Ricardo Pinto, the Heroes run total is slightly suppressed tonight, pushing them down stack rankings. On FanDuel only Byung-ho Park ($13/$4,500) is pulling much ownership. Whether he deserves it and can live up to his big projection in Awesemo’s numbers tonight is another story. It’s an easy enough pivot to leave BH Park out of some of your Heroes stacks and focus on some of the other quality here. A combination of Ha-seong Kim ($15/$5,600), Dong-won Park ($10/$5,400), Jung-hoo Lee ($14/$4,900) is a much less popular angle to the top of this lineup. Don’t leave Park out of things entirely, but make sure to mix and match enough to keep unique if you’re looking to the Heroes as a sneaky option tonight.

Samsung Lions @ Kia Tigers –9.0 run total (4.05 /5.15) – Suggested Stack: Tigers 3-4-5

The Lions and Tigers played a mostly uneventful game that the Tigers took 6-3 in a win that featured all of their scoring in the first two innings. All of the damage was done on a home run and single by first baseman Min-sang Yoo, who drove in all five of the Tigers’ runs.

The Lions are once again among the lowest ranked teams in the stack tool tonight. Taking on KBO-strong starter Hyun-jong Yang has their implied total as one of the lowest on the slate, nearly a full run lower than the average total. There’s not much to like here. Won-seok Lee ($8/$3,800) and Heon-gon Kim ($7/$3,600) are two quality bats in the middle of this lineup, the ownership on the latter provides some flexibility to play these two with another popular Lions bat if you must.

The Tigers provide a bit more of a playable implied total and are in a better spot, but they aren’t exactly lighting up the rankings or projections tonight either. Falling in the bottom half of the stack tool with around the right amount of ownership, it’s just not my kind of spot. There are quality bats here though, and the home run model likes some of our usual favorites like Hyun-woo Choi ($10/$5,100) and Ji-wan Na ($9/$3,800). Preston Tucker ($17/$5,600) has gone up in price but continues to produce for KBO DFS players. At under 5% projected ownership on both sites he’s an ideal third banana to add to this stack. Reserve them for limited deployments across your lineups, but that little three-man could be sneaky tonight.