Stay cool today by enjoying the air conditioning and watching some baseball. We are looking at the earliest slate of games available.
On DraftKings, that DFS slate begins at 12:05 p.m. ET and includes eight games. FanDuel doesn’t have a matching slate. However, they have an all-day slate that includes all of the day’s games.
Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/21)
MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Saturday (6/21) | FantasyPros
| PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| Sonny Gray |
$10,400 |
$10,300 |
| Jose Berrios |
$8,300 |
$9,000 |
| Eury Perez |
$5,900 |
$6,900 |
- The priciest option on either slate is Sonny Gray. He is the most expensive he has been all season on DraftKings, but there is also a reason for that. This slate isn’t full of high-end starting pitcher options. Gray has a matchup against the Cincinnati Reds, who have a top-10 strikeout rate (23.1%). Gray has also been much better at home this season with a 2.85 home ERA versus a 5.88 ERA on the road.
- Jose Berrios is a mid-priced option. He has a matchup against the Chicago White Sox. They have an even worse strikeout rate than the Reds (23.7%). Berrios has scored between 2.5 and 33.1 fantasy points in his last four starts, showing the variance he offers.
- There is no stat I can cite from this season as a reason to play Eury Perez. What I can say is that his $5,900 price tag on DraftKings is likely the cheapest it has been in his entire career. In his last start, he threw 79 pitches. If he can get up to 90 pitches with even 60% of what he showed in 2023, his $5,900 cost is a steal.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
St. Louis Cardinals Projected Lineup (6/21)
Stay cool today by enjoying the air conditioning and watching some baseball. We are looking at the earliest slate of games available.
On DraftKings, that DFS slate begins at 12:05 p.m. ET and includes eight games. FanDuel doesn’t have a matching slate. However, they have an all-day slate that includes all of the day’s games.
Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (6/21)
MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Saturday (6/21) | FantasyPros
| PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| Sonny Gray |
$10,400 |
$10,300 |
| Jose Berrios |
$8,300 |
$9,000 |
| Eury Perez |
$5,900 |
$6,900 |
- The priciest option on either slate is Sonny Gray. He is the most expensive he has been all season on DraftKings, but there is also a reason for that. This slate isn’t full of high-end starting pitcher options. Gray has a matchup against the Cincinnati Reds, who have a top-10 strikeout rate (23.1%). Gray has also been much better at home this season with a 2.85 home ERA versus a 5.88 ERA on the road.
- Jose Berrios is a mid-priced option. He has a matchup against the Chicago White Sox. They have an even worse strikeout rate than the Reds (23.7%). Berrios has scored between 2.5 and 33.1 fantasy points in his last four starts, showing the variance he offers.
- There is no stat I can cite from this season as a reason to play Eury Perez. What I can say is that his $5,900 price tag on DraftKings is likely the cheapest it has been in his entire career. In his last start, he threw 79 pitches. If he can get up to 90 pitches with even 60% of what he showed in 2023, his $5,900 cost is a steal.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
St. Louis Cardinals Projected Lineup (6/21)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| 2B/3B/SS/OF (FD) |
Brendan Donovan |
$3,600 |
$3,200 |
| SS |
Masyn Winn |
$3,900 |
$3,000 |
| OF/1B (FD) |
Alec Burleson |
$3,700 |
$3,000 |
| 1B/C (FD) |
Willson Contreras |
$4,100 |
$3,400 |
| 2B/3B (FD) |
Nolan Gorman |
$3,500 |
$2,700 |
| 3B |
Nolan Arenado |
$3,900 |
$2,800 |
| OF |
Jordan Walker |
$2,900 |
$2,600 |
| C |
Pedro Pages |
$2,800 |
$2,500 |
| OF |
Victor Scott |
$3,200 |
$2,700 |
- The St. Louis Cardinals are just outside the top 10 in wRC+ against left-handed pitchers. Their 101 mark in that category ranks 11th. Their ranking may rise with a matchup against Wade Miley. While Miley has a 6.75 ERA, his fly ball tendencies show how his ERA could be worse. For example, in his last start, he gave up 10 fly balls, with two leaving the yard for home runs. He was fortunate that both were solo home runs. In his only home start in the tough pitching venue that is Great American Ball Park, he gave up four earned runs in only two innings.
- Let’s start with some of the players who have a track record against Miley. Nolan Arenado has gone 10-for-29 against Miley in his career. Only two of those hits were of the extra-base variety, with one being a home run. While his batting average has dipped to a career-low mark of .247, he still has nine home runs and 38 RBI this season.
- The other Cardinal who has had extensive success against Miley in his career is Willson Contreras, who is 9-for-26 against Miley in his career with four doubles and a home run. He has an OPS of .817 against left-handed pitchers this season.
- If you’re looking for another Cardinal to stack in your lineup, go with Ivan Herrera. He has multiple hits in his last three games. Plus, five of his eight home runs have come against left-handed pitchers, so he has a 1.189 OPS against them.
New York Yankees Projected Lineup (6/21)
| POS |
PLAYER |
DraftKings Salary |
FanDuel Salary |
| OF |
Trent Grisham |
$4,000 |
$3,300 |
| OF |
Aaron Judge |
$6,900 |
$4,900 |
| OF/1B (FD) |
Cody Bellinger |
$4,700 |
$3,200 |
| OF |
Giancarlo Stanton |
$4,200 |
$3,000 |
| 3B/2B (FD) |
Jazz Chisholm |
$5,300 |
$3,300 |
| 1B/C |
Ben Rice |
$4,100 |
$2,900 |
| SS |
Anthony Volpe |
$4,300 |
$2,800 |
| C |
Austin Wells |
$4,400 |
$2,800 |
| 2B/3B/1B (FD) |
DJ LeMahieu |
$3,300 |
$2,600 |
- Zach Eflin travels to Yankee Stadium to take on the New York Yankees today. There are some concerning signs in his profile, including a career-low strikeout rate, and his highest fly ball rate since his rookie season. The Yankees are a top-five offense in hard-hit rate, meaning that home runs could be flying out.
- When the calendar turned to June, the strikeouts spiked for Aaron Judge. He has the highest strikeout rate among qualified batters (4o.8%). Yet, he still has an incredibly impressive 145 wRC+. When he has made contact, he is still hitting home runs with six this month already.
- Giancarlo Stanton has yet to hit a home run in his short time off the injured list (IL). It’s not because he isn’t hitting the ball as hard as ever (72% hard-hit rate). He just needs to start elevating the ball like we’ve seen in the past. That could come as soon as today.
- There is one batter in the Yankees lineup who has a better hard-hit rate in June than both Judge and Stanton. It’s not someone you would guess. It’s the cheapest option in their lineup, DJ LeMahieu (47% hard-hit rate). His issue is that nearly 65% of his batted balls this month have been on the ground.
Core Studs
- Ronald Acuna Jr. came back from his ACL injury on May 23rd. Since then, no batter has a higher wRC+ or OPS than him. He only has one at-bat against Eury Perez in his career, but it was a home run.
- Byron Buxton is showing why he is one of the best players on the planet when healthy. He has 15 home runs on the season and four in the past four games. His OPS this season against left-handed pitchers is 1.085. Today, he faces left-handed starting pitcher Jose Quintana.
- Bo Bichette is quietly having a bounce-back season with 10 home runs and a .278 batting average. Three of his home runs have come in June alone. He has also been better at home (.914 OPS) versus on the road (.566 OPS).
Value Plays/Punts
- It’s not often I get to recommend Andrew Benintendi, but he has an impressive resume against Jose Berrios, going 10-for-32. Four of those were extra-base hits, including a home run.
- Alejandro Kirk broke out of an 0-for-16 mini-slump on Thursday with two home runs. He also has a .313 batting average to go along with it. He’s been better against right-handed pitching with an .805 OPS
- At the end of April, Trevor Story had five home runs, six stolen bases and a .704 OPS. He cratered in May with only two home runs, three stolen bases and a .432 OPS. June has been better, with three home runs, two stolen bases and an .828 OPS.
Saturday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
It was a great first game of June for Kerry Carpenter. In that game, he hit three home runs with 5 RBI. Since then, he has five hits the rest of the month. Because of that, he hasn’t cleared a combined 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI in 14 of his past 15 games.
Merrill Kelly has allowed exactly four earned runs in three of his last five starts. Those are the only games he has exceeded this mark in his last 13 games. Today, he gets the Colorado Rockies.
Kelly faced them just over a month ago and allowed zero earned runs over seven innings with 11 strikeouts.
Brandon Walter has made three starts. He has recorded more than 4.5 strikeouts in each of those games. Today, he gets the Los Angeles Angels, who are striking out at nearly a 25% rate over the past two weeks.
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