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 will be keeping track of how many home runs we can provide to our readers.
The 5th of July was the last time this article came out, and it was pretty disappointing. Trevor Bauer managed a decent outing, as did Hunter Pence, but pretty much everyone else didn’t cut the mustard. You’ll have that in baseball, and we just look forward to today being much better.
Value Homers This Season: 9
Check out today’s MLB Moonshot contest at DraftKings 
Pitcher
Kenta Maeda (LAD): $7,800 @ CWS
The value picks at pitcher tonight aren’t there. In fact, that’s how it has been almost every night since baseball came back. Kenta Maeda isn’t someone I want to normally put on my roster, but tonight presents an interesting opportunity. I typically like to use righties against the White Sox, so we have our first plus there. Maeda has shown some upside this year, despite having some pretty ugly downside as well. I’m willing to take the risk here as there just really aren’t a lot of other options out there.
Catcher
Jonathan Lucroy (TEX): $3,300 @ BAL
I don’t think anyone thought Lucroy was going to struggle the way he has this year. There is still plenty of time to turn things around, and one of those opportunities presents itself tonight. Kevin Gausman has been all over the place this year but has ended up on the wrong side of the box score far more often than not. He’s giving up a .381 wOBA, 32.3% fly ball rate and 33% hard contact that certainly shows a pitcher who could give up a big game tonight. I’m expecting Lucroy to come through.
First Base
Victor Martinez (DET): $3,200 @ KC
Jason Hammel will take the mound tonight for the Kansas City Royals against a Tigers team that has been scoring runs left and right. Even though Hammel’s numbers don’t really indicate someone who is likely to get blown up, I’m going to ride the hot hand here. Martinez has been one of the hotter members of the Tigers, and I could see him taking advantage of an almost 50% fly ball rate that Hammel is sporting. While a lot of those could drop at the warning track, I do think we could see one get into the stands.
Second Base
Logan Forsythe (LAD): $3,600 @ CWS
I know I set my bar at $3,500, but honestly, everything below that number is rough, so I’ll cheat up a little to Forsythe. He’ll be taking on Carlos Rodon, who is really just getting his feet wet this season after coming off the DL. There is nothing inherently poor about Rodon’s numbers. In fact, most of the reason we see Forsythe on this list is because of his ability to hit left-handed pitching. The Dodgers can put runs up on the board in a hurry, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Forsythe being a big part of that.
Third Base
Joey Gallo (TEX): $3,500 @ BAL
Since everyone at the third base position tonight is either in a bad matchup or not currently playing in the big leagues, let’s go back to the Rangers and talk about Joey Gallo, who has a ton of upside against Kevin Gausman tonight. We talked a bit about Gausman already. He’s bad against hitters from both sides of the plate, giving up a .390 wOBA, 40% fly ball rate and 36.5% hard contact. Gallo could get some extra base hits here, and that makes him a solid tournament option.
Shortstop
Kike Hernandez (LAD): $3,100 @ CWS
Remember what I said above about everything at second base being pretty poor? Well, you can copy that sentiment down to the shortstop position tonight as well. That leaves us going back to the Dodgers. Kike is on the team because of his ability to hit lefties, despite having a horrible batting average. I do think Rodon is likely to make some mistakes here tonight, and that could leave Kike in a position to cash in.
Outfield
Joey Rickard (BAL): $3,300 vs. TEX
I don’t like Martin Perez, so he feels like a natural target tonight. He has not been giving up a ton of fly balls to righties, but outside of that, he has allowed a .362 wOBA and 37.7% hard contact to righties this year. Rickard should almost certainly lead off tonight, and that makes him a valuable commodity. I think the Orioles should be in a good position to score some runs tonight, and Rickard is cheap exposure.
Mikie Mahtook (DET): $3,300 @ KC
There’s no doubt about it: Mahtook isn’t someone that seems to make many daily fantasy lineups. That doesn’t mean we can’t go there tonight, though. I really do believe that we will see the Tigers break the five-run mark tonight with upside for more, and I think Mahtook could be a big part of that. I am not sold on Hammel at all, so the Tigers are all in play.
Scott Schebler (ARI): $3,200 vs. ARI
Zack Greinke is one of the top, if not the best, pitchers on the slate tonight. That doesn’t mean that he will get through this thing unscathed, though. I think it’s likely that someone can take advantage of his 37% fly ball and hard contact. I’m going to put my money on Schebler tonight. He is dirt cheap and could very well be able to grab ahold of one. Do not be surprised if he goes 0-3 in the process of that attempt. He is worth a look in tournaments only.
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.
