Welcome back to another edition of our MLB Value Plays 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 can provide to our readers.
Jaime Garcia (kind of) came through with a nice outing, going seven innings with no runs allowed, but only striking out two. Alex Avila came through with another value dong, which is a big plus. Again, more solid performances and we got a long ball, so we’ll call it a good week.
Value Homers: 6
Let’s get things started!
Check out today’s MLB Moonshot contest at DraftKings 
Pitcher
Jimmy Nelson (MIL): $7,900 vs. SFG
Typically, you don’t want to look for mid-tier pitching when they are going in a hitter’s park. Fortunately, Nelson plays half of his games there, so I would have to imagine that he will have a little more knowledge that he can use to his advantage. Those who used him Friday against the Dodgers can echo this sentiment.
The Giants just aren’t a great hitting team. They don’t go deep a lot, but they tend to pick you apart with singles and doubles. They also don’t strikeout. I think Nelson should be able to minimize the damage they do tonight, and he makes for one of my favorite tournament arms on a loaded slate.
Catcher
Jonathan Lucroy (TEX): $2,800 vs. NYM
It’s insane to me that we are talking about Jonathan Lucroy being below $3k against a less than stellar pitcher in Zack Wheeler. The Mets pitching staff is not looking very good, and Wheeler has to be considered somewhat of a disappointment this year.
There isn’t any stat that jumps off the page to me tonight when discussing Lucroy or Wheeler, but the reality of the situation is that we know Lucroy is a better hitter than what he has been showing. I will continue to go to the well tonight, expecting him to come through with a good game.
First Base
Tommy Joseph (PHI): $3,100 @ ATL
This is an absolutely ridiculous price for a guy who has a ton of power. We do want to put him mostly against left-handed pitching, but he really has been able to hold his own so far this year against righties. He’s never going to hit for average, but the long balls have been there.
Mike Foltynewicz is coming off a career game against Cincinnati at Great American Ballpark last week, leaving all of us scratching our heads. While he’s struggled more with left-handed bats this year, we have seen him cough up some good games to righties as well. I think this is the perfect recipe for tournament success tonight.
Second Base
Taylor Motter (SEA): $3,400 vs MIN
Motter is going to continue to see time on the field with yet another injury to Jean Segura. He hasn’t been able to hit for any kind of average this year, but he does show some upside for tournaments with his recent play and five home runs.
Adalberto Mejia is a below average righty who could find himself in a lot of trouble with this Mariners lineup tonight. His .358 wOBA and 39% fly ball rate could be troublesome if Motter is able to grab ahold of one tonight with any kind of hard contact. Motter also gives you the flexibility of being shortstop eligible.
Third Base
Evan Longoria (TB): $3,600 vs. CWS
Evan Longoria isn’t going to stay this bad for this long, will he? I guess an even better question would be will Mike Pelfrey be this good for much longer? Both questions have the same answer, and we just have to hope that they converge tonight.
It’s really pointless to look at Pelfrey’s 2017 stats, because unless he is for real [which I might consider if he comes through here], these will regress tremendously. We know that for the most part he has been a gas can for the last few seasons, and I have a hard time believing he’s turned things around now. Longoria has the tools to be a problem for him, so let’s roll with Longo tonight.
Shortstop
J.T. Riddle (MIA): $2,500 @ CHC
Honesty, all I can say here is that the value options are a joke. It’s possible that 90% of these guys are not in the big leagues right now. I didn’t like second base much either, so moving Motter to the shortstop position really wouldn’t help things. Tonight looks to be one of those nights where it will be beneficial to pay up for this position.
If you can’t, why not use low priced punt like Riddle? John Lackey hasn’t been good against lefties to the tune of a .368 wOBA, 37.8% fly ball rate and 36.6% hard contact. That’s enough to do something with, and it wouldn’t shock me to see Riddle put some points on the board tonight.
Outfield
Jeremy Hazelbaker (ARI): $3,400 vs. SD
This is the biggest question mark in this article. Yasmany Tomas was placed on the DL, and as a result, Hazelbaker got called back up. He was actually solid while with the Diamondbacks earlier this year, and if he’s in the lineup, he’s someone I want to look at long and hard.
Against left-handed bats, Luis Perdomo has allowed a .363 wOBA and 32.4% hard contact. He is a ground ball pitcher, and he benefits from pitching at Petco, which we know is one of the top pitching parks in the league. I think we’ll see him regress in a hitter’s park, and I think Hazelbaker is a sneaky punt option tonight.
Chris Young (BOS): $3,200 @ NYY
This has been the quietest that Chris Young has been throughout his Major League career. He has been known as a lefty-killer, but that just really hasn’t happened at all this year. Granted, it is early, but I would have expected that we would have been able to successfully use him about a half dozen times, and it hasn’t been there.
Tonight, he gets a resurgent C.C. Sabathia, who is pitching with more control than anything else at this point. While he might recently look pretty good, I think he’s due to get blown up. He’s allowed a 35% fly ball rate and 38.7% hard contact to righties, which bodes well for Young tonight.
Eric Young Jr. (LAA): $2,000 @ DET
Young has been a productive player for the Angels with Mike Trout hitting the DL. It’s tough to say if he will make the lineup tonight with a righty on the mound, but my thinking is that he is more than likely to just fall down the order.
Fulmer is an excellent pitcher, and nothing stands out negatively with him. Let’s be realistic though: he’s not likely to pitch a perfect game, which means hitters will get on base. If Young is able to, he stands a good chance of stealing a base, giving him a pretty safe floor in this matchup considering his price.
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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.
