MLB DFS: Saturday, June 22 brings us multi-slate action with game sets at 2:15 PM, 4:05 PM, 7:15 PM and 9:05 PM EST on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel, and FantasyDraft. Before you lock in your fantasy baseball lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s MLB rankings and projections. Not a member? Sign up HERE and use Promo Code: MLBSTACKS for 50% off any one month subscription.
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Greetings Gamers! We have a variety of slates on Saturday with things spread out, so there should be something for everyone and fortunately no real weather of any concern.
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Early Slate
Minnesota Twins at LHP Danny Duffy – 5.5 implied runs
This is not the easiest of matchups despite the lofty implied run total as LHP Danny Duffy has been reasonably good at not imploding this season with a 4.64 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and just six homeruns allowed across 54.1 innings. Fortunately we know where the fantasy goodness will likely be congregating and we can focus on Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron, Miguel Sano and for some differentiation, Max Kepler has solid power in lefty/lefty matchups.
Afternoon Slate
Toronto Blue Jays at LHP Brian Johnson – 4.8 implied runs
Keep an eye on how many pitches are expected from LHP Brian Johnson, but it should be in the 60-70 range as it sounds like despite a relief appearance after his last start, he may be filling things out at the back-end of the BoSox rotation. This is good news for the batters swinging the stick from the right-side of the plate as Johnson’s offerings are going to look like beachballs compared to fell southpaw and Friday night starter Chris Sale. The Red Sox relievers are relatively fresh after an off day on Thursday and only Matt Barnes and Marcus Walden seeing action on Wednesday – so closing the loop, we want to make sure that Johnson should see four innings of work, otherwise if everyone gets an inning or two, it will be a tougher row to hoe for the Jays.
On DraftKings, where pitcher pricing seems to be a little tighter than it was during the MicroMillions promotions, we can look for savings opportunities with Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Randal Grichuk, Teoscar Hernandez and Danny Jansen. On FanDuel we can add in Lourdes Gurriel as the second best option of this group and on Yahoo the preferred order of preference considering price, position eligibility and projected production would be Vladimir Gurrero Jr, Randal Grichuck, Danny Jansen, Teoscar Hernadez and Lourdes Gurriel.
Main Slate
Los Angeles Dodgers vs RHP Peter Lambert – 5.1 implied runs
Going a little off-the-board with the Nationals vs RHP Michael Foltynewicz – 5.6 implied runs and New York Yankees vs LHP Wade Miley – 5.7 implied runs likely getting more attention that the Dodgers, we may have our contrarian stack… well at least as contrarian as one can get with just ten teams in action on a featured game set.
RHP Peter Lambert has decent pitches, but nothing particularly dominant and he looks to get by with a slightly unique delivery and placement strategy, though he posted just a 7.5 K/9 across his 508.0 MiLB innings with a 3.92 ERA and 1.246 WHIP. Granted, that was with 115.2 innings in the Pacific Coast League which favors hitters.
Lefties are of course his weakness and the Dodgers have plenty of them starting with Joc Pederson, Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger. For savings/differentiation we can look to Alex Verdugo and Matthew Beaty though they along with Joc Pederson are always a pinch hit risk… Jake McGee is the only left-handed reliever in the Rockies bullpen, so they should be relatively safe outside of a double-switch.
Late Slate
Texas Rangers vs RHP Odrisamer Despaigne – 6.5 implied runs
Yeah, we won’t be the only ones flocking to this game… but it is just too good of a matchup to pass up with a 90 degree temperature at first pitch and RHP Odrisamer Despaigne getting another chance to stick in the ChiSox rotation.
There is really nothing redeeming about Despaigne who has allowed a 5.25 ERA, 5.65 xFIP, 10.9 BB%, 33.1 FB% and 29.8 HH% with only a 13.5 K% against the last 238 left-handed hitters faced… against 256 righties in the same timeframe it is not much better with a 5.59 ERA, 5.25 xFIP, 9.0 BB%, 37.3 FB%, 35.1 HH% and 16.0 K%.
Shin-Soo Choo, Nomar Mazara, Willie Calhoun, Asdrubal Cabrera, Rougned Odor and Ronald Guzman should supply the pop with Delino DeShields scoring runs if he can just get on base and then whomever is behind the dish is also worth consideration.
As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.
Good Luck Gamers! ~ EMac
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