In Monday’s article, I really liked stacking value bats against Ian Kennedy and the shaky Royals bullpen. The Rangers beat their implied total versus KC and you probably did alright on DraftKings. Tonight though, the heavily-favored Astros host Mr. Kennedy and the top four bats in the lineup are all over $5,000. On top of that, three of tonight’s eight starting pitchers are over $10,000. You’re going to find it tough to get exposure to those guys when dealing with just four games and salaries like that. Therefore, uncovering some salary saving plays is a must. Ready? Let’s go!
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Pitcher
Jaime Barria (LAA): $7,400 vs. TOR
Barria (-148) was priced above $9,000 in his last two starts, so he comes cheap. He’s had excellent control of the strike zone in the last month (17:3 K:BB) and he gets a nice matchup at home versus the Jays who struggle against the slider. Barria hurls his slide-piece about a third of the time in his pitch mix and it’s been working well. I expect that trend to continue along with extra swing-and-miss upside tonight to go along with his current 12% Swinging Strike rate. I’m using one starting pitcher from the Dodgers @ Mets game in my lineup tonight, Barria will be the wingman in all formats.
Catcher
Brian McCann (HOU): $3,200 vs. KC
McCann crushes Ian Kennedy. He’s hitting .333 off of him and has gone deep three times in those 24 at bats. Kennedy is giving up a lot of hard-hit line drives this season, frequently with runners on. Houston is loaded and McCann is cheap tonight with high hard hit and flyball rates the last two weeks. I can see a scenario where he rips a 2 or 3-run bomb or maybe clears the bases with a double to the gap. Then again…any of the Astros could I guess.
First Base
Luis Valbuena (LAA): $3,200 vs. TOR (also 3B eligible)
I have a soft spot in my heart for Luis V. Not the fashion icon, the Angles platoon master. He won me a late slate GPP back when I first started playing on DraftKings in 2013. Favoritism and biases aside, Valbuena crushed righties, and although his numbers are slightly lower than career norms, he’s still a salary cap friendly platoon guy. I love the roster flexibility with him on DK when a RHP is on the mound. His sneaky pop is real, going deep twice on Thursday against these same Blue Jays. He’ll probably slot in my cash games at the hot corner, and my GPP lineups today at 1B.
Second Base/Shortstop
Eduardo Nunez/Brock Holt (BOS): $3,400/$3,500 vs. SEA (both 2B/SS eligible)
This is a combo play because both guys are eligible at both spots. Nunez will likely get the six spot in the lineup for $100 less than Holt, who should hit right behind him. Nunez should cost less due to his current performance. He does offer a little more speed upside than Holt, but he hasn’t been running much because he’s not getting on base a lot. Therefore, Holt is the better play, he’s sporting a .346 wOBA and 117 wRC+ on the season as a whole and he’s coming off two multi-hit efforts in a lineup that’s actually projected to score more runs than the Astros if you can believe that. These Boston middle-infielders are a cheaper way to get exposure to a high-powered offense at a much more affordable price than the pricey Houston bats.
Third Base
Mike Moustakas (KC): $3,700 @ HOU
It’ll be hot in Houston and there’s a projected 12-15 mph wind projected between first pitch and game time. If the roof is open at Minute Maid, the balls could fly. The Astros will likely do most of the damage, but there are a couple dangerous KC bats in play as well. Anytime Moose is below $4,000, I’m instantly interested. His high hard-hit rate and spiked exit velocities the past two weeks are a nice combo with the weather factors tonight.
Outfield
Josh Reddick/Tony Kemp (HOU): $3,400/$3,500 vs. KC
Here are the best low-end options in the Houston lineup. Reddick will likely bat sixth and has the platoon advantage versus Ian Kennedy and Kemp will get the misfortune of batting ninth. That said, the Astros are implied to score over 5 runs and hitting last in this lineup is still a blessing. No surprise the run total is so high here considering Kennedy and the Royals atrocious bullpen are in town. Kansas City dealt their closer recently, the only real stable bullpen arm they had, so there’s a solid chance they see a lot of work today with ideal home run conditions and Kennedy getting lit up.
Kole Calhoun (LAA): $3,000 vs. TOR
I thought Calhoun was dead. I literally haven’t heard his name in any game highlights until the last week. He was enduring one of the worst slumps of anyone in the big leagues to start 2018, then he got hurt. Since coming back, he’s been a little better, but mostly he’s snapped out of it in the last week with a couple homers, one coming on Thursday night against Toronto to join in the fun with teammate Luis Valbuena. Much like Valbuena, his career platoon splits against righties are better than the 2018 numbers. However, he really dragged those down the first two months of the season.
Jackie Bradley Jr. (BOS): $3,000 vs. SEA
I promise I’m not just picking all the cheap guys in all the high run total lineups. I actually was surprised at the last two weeks of batted ball data from JBJ. He’s not only sporting high hard hit and flyball rates well above his career marks, he’s also smacking some lasers with fantastic exit velocities, something I didn’t expect when looking through his profile. He’ll bat ninth, but remember what I said about Tony Kemp? Exactly, there will be runs!
Joc Pederson (LAD): $3,800@ NYM
Dig out your cassette players, it’s time for Joc Jams! I’m giving you a bonus play because I feel like all I did was talk about BoSox, Astros and Halos. Joc’s been absolutely raking from the leadoff spot, much like he did the last time he was put in that role a couple years back. You should stay away if you’re rolling out Jacob deGrom, but if not, he’s in play in all formats with eight home runs in the month of June so far. Since the calendar flipped from May, he’s hitting the snot of the baseball with freakish hard hit and flyball rates backed up by elite level exit velocities and batted ball distances.
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Josh Dalley is a DFS correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, follow him on Twitter @JoshDalley72.