Welcome back to another edition of our MLB Value Plays for 5/3/17 on DraftKings. We will be offering up a pitcher under $8k, as well as a hitter at each position, and three in the outfield, that are priced $3.5k or below. A new feature to my value play article this year, we will be keeping track of how many home runs we are able to provide to our readers.
Much like the week before, the plays here were mostly solid. Hector Santiago pitched a nice game against Texas until the bullpen got destroyed, and while there were no value home runs, we still got some good performances from our guys.
Value Homers: 3
Let’s get things started!
Check out today’s MLB Moonshot contest at DraftKings 
Pitcher
Drew Pomeranz (BOS): $8,100 vs. BAL
As sad as it is to say, we really haven’t seen anything good out of Pomeranz – yet. Sure, he did pitch a 10-strikeout game, but it came after a five-run first inning. His best game of the year so far has been against these Orioles. The Orioles are striking out at over a 26% clip against southpaws and aren’t hitting them well either. I’ll gladly take the risk of Pomeranz tonight in hoping that we will finally see him get his first very good game of the year.
Catcher
Yasmani Grandal (LAD): $2,800 vs. SF
Jeff Samadzija is AWFUL against lefties. Don’t believe me? Let’s see what the stats say: .507 wOBA, 38.5% fly ball rate, 33.3% FB/HR ratio and 40% hard hit rate. That paints a picture of a pitcher who is in a lot of trouble. Sure, the potential for these statistics to regress is present, but I’m not buying that right now. Grandal is in a good position to come through in a big way for us tonight, and can be played in either format.
First Base
Josh Bell (PIT): $3,300 @ CIN
Not only does Josh Bell get the benefit of playing in the Great American Smallpark, but he gets the added benefit of doing so against Rookie Davis. Rookie is just not good. A .553 wOBA, 37.5% fly ball rate and 30% hard contact rate just isn’t going to cut it in a park like that. I think the Pirates are in position to put up another 10+ runs, and Bell could very well be one of the main components to that.
Second Base
Danny Espinosa (LAA): $2,700 @ SEA
The 2017 version of Danny Espinosa isn’t as good as the 2016 version. The average is laughable, but he still has enough power upside for us to consider. Hishahi Iwakuma has some pretty profound struggles against those from the left side of the plate, and that is where Espinosa will be hitting from tonight. You can’t consider him as anything more than a tournament punt, but he could work out for you tonight.
Third Base
Marwin Gonzalez (HOU): $3,000 vs. TEX
Marwin is carrying a hot stick right now, and he’ll take on Nick Martinez tonight. For those of you just starting to play MLB DFS, Nick Martinez is not a good pitcher. His 2017 data might trick you into thinking he is, but I assure you, he is not. Gonzalez and the Astros are a top stack for me tonight, and the price on him is very nice considering what he could do. His two home run performance last night is evidence of that.
Shortstop
Tim Beckham (TB): $2,900 @ MIA
Adam Conley qualifies as not a horrible pitcher, but certainly not a good one either. I guess you can say the same thing about Tim Beckham, though through the early part of the season he is looking much better than before. He’s got some sneaky power and Conley will likely give up one dong here. My bet is that it will be to Beckham.
Outfield
Delino DeShields (TEX): $3,500 @ HOU
It’s looking like the TEX/HOU game will be one that we can stack again tonight. Charlie Morton will be on the mound for the Astros, and he is giving up a .445 wOBA and a 46.2% hard hit rate to righties this year. He isn’t giving up a ton of fly balls, but DeShields doesn’t need to go deep to have a good game. I like him in tournaments tonight.
Kole Calhoun (LAA): $3,400 @ SEA
I would say that Kole Calhoun is my favorite value play tonight. He’s finally starting to head in the right direction, and I could see him having a nice game tonight against Iwakuma. The price makes him usable in all formats, as he is just so very cheap. I don’t see high ownership of him, which could make him a good tournament play as well.
Michael Conforto (NYM): $3,500 @ ATL
Conforto is playing very, very well right now, which obviously makes this the best time to buy in on him. The price on the Mets is very low once again, and Bartolo Colon is a pitcher with a declining skill set. I think they could be a team that will have a big score on the board tonight, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Conforto was behind a lot of it.
Check out today’s MLB Moonshot contest at DraftKings
Nicholas Volinchak is a correspondent at FantasyPros. You can find more of Nicholas’ baseball work at Research Fantasy. To read more from Nicholas, follow him @researchandwin.
