Corey Pieper | Sun, Apr 12th 2026, 8:53am EDT

MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Sunday (4/12)

Today’s a very busy Sunday slate. As is typical on Sunday, it’s chock full of day games, so the games begin at 1:35 p.m. ET. DraftKings’ MLB DFS main slate is a big one with 11 games. FanDuel offers the same 11-game slate.

Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (4/12)


PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
Freddy Peralta	$8,900	$8,700
Taj Bradley	$7,200	$9,000
Andrew Abbott	$6,700	$7,900

Some of baseball’s best pitchers are options on this slate, including Tarik Skubal and Sandy Alcantara. While still pricy, I’m looking at Freddy Peralta as a bit more affordable option (especially on FanDuel). Peralta’s ERA is inflated to 4.80, but his ERA indicators are better than last season, when his ERA was 2.70. He’s been done in early with only a 65% strand rate. He’s still striking out batters 29.7% of the time, and gets a matchup with the strikeout-prone Athletics today.
Taj Bradley being this affordable on DraftKings is a bit surprising. I was expecting that he and Jose Soriano would be comparably priced, but Bradley is considerably lower on that site. The difficult matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays could partly explain the difference. The Blue Jays are striking out only 18% of the time, but Bradley has been striking out batters at a 31% rate. His new splitter is leading the way with an astounding 56% whiff rate.
Andrew Abbott‘s strikeouts are down, which has brought his price down with it. Through three starts, his strikeout rate is a career low 15.3%. Instead, he has gotten groundballs at a career best 56.4%. A matchup with the Angels could see him start to turn that strikeout rate around. The Angels are striking out 34% of the time against left-handed pitchers.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

Chicago Cubs Projected Lineup (4/12)

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
2B/SS	Nico Hoerner	$4,600	$3,500
1B	Michael Busch	$4,700	$3,100
3B	Alex Bregman	$4,400	$2,900
OF	Ian Happ	$4,000	$3,600
OF	Seiya Suzuki	$4,400	$3,400
OF	Pete Crow-Armstrong	$5,700	$3,300
C	Carson Kelly	$3,200	$2,600
C	Moises Ballesteros	$3,200	$2,500
SS	Dansby Swanson	$3,400	$2,600

The Chicago Cubs are facing right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler today. We saw Chandler’s upside at the end of the 2025 season, but he has struggled mightily to throw strikes in 2026. He is currently walking 25% of the batters he faces. While that won’t last, the Cubs are a patient team that can put a lot of runners aboard and roll up big innings.
Ian Happ has an interesting profile to begin the 2026 season. He is currently sporting a scary 40% strikeout rate. However, he has hit four home runs and has a 22.7% barrel rate. While he isn’t making much contact, he is optimizing the balls he is hitting.
Even though he is barely batting above the Mendoza Line, it really hasn’t impacted Alex Bregman‘s price tag. That’s because his underlying data still shows a strong option. His hard-hit rate is actually stronger than ever at 52.3%. He also has a career-best barrel rate so far. If you look at FanGraphs, they show his soft contact rate at only 2%. We just need a few more of those hard-hit balls to turn into hits. He is more affordably priced on FanDuel.
While not off to the scorching start he had last season, Carson Kelly is hitting the ball hard as ever. He is in the top five percentiles in baseball in both average exit velocity and hard-hit rate. Right now, he has only turned that into two doubles, but a home run could come today.

Kansas City Royals Projected Lineup (4/12)

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
3B/2B/OF	Maikel Garcia	$4,900	$3,200
SS	Bobby Witt Jr.	$6,100	$3,500
1B	Vinnie Pasquantino	$4,200	$2,800
C/1B	Salvador Perez	$3,600	$2,800
C	Carter Jensen	$4,100	$2,800
2B/3B/OF	Jonathan India	$3,500	$3,100
OF/1B	Jac Caglianone	$3,300	$2,700
OF/2B	Isaac Collins	$2,700	$2,700
OF	Kyle Isbel	$3,100	$3,500

The Chicago White Sox have not officially announced a starting pitcher for today, but the belief is that Jonathan Cannon will be recalled from Triple-A. Last season, Cannon had a 5.13 FIP with only an 18.5% strikeout rate. So far through two minor league starts, he has an 8.31 ERA with a pair of home runs allowed in 8.2 innings.
A good starting point for a Royals stack is Carter Jensen. He is playing against right-handed pitchers like Cannon. Because of some missed games, he has even a smaller sample size than most batters, but he is currently sporting a barrel rate of 18%. It’s helped him hit four home runs in the young season.
People are frustrated with Jac Caglianone not hitting any home runs, but they’re coming when he optimizes his launch angle. Right now, he has a three-degree launch angle leading to a 46% groundball rate. That’s masking his nearly 54% hard-hit rate.
Salvador Perez‘s price has fallen to a new season low on DraftKings. That’s an opportunity for DFS players to take advantage. He already has six barrels on the season. The only difference in his traditional batted ball profile is that he isn’t pulling the ball the way he typically does. That will correct itself for a player with his track record. It may even start correcting today.

Core Studs

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
1B	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	$5,500	$3,500
OF	James Wood	$5,400	$3,600
SS	Willy Adames	$4,200	$2,800

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is already at four extra-base hits early in the season, including a home run. His Baseball Savant page shows his usual amount of hard-hit balls, but his launch angle is only at three degrees to begin the season. Today’s matchup is against Taj Bradley. Bradley is off to a strong start to the season, but Guerrero has gone 7-for-14 against him in his career with a home run.
James Wood is a streaky hitter who is on a streak to take advantage of right now. Last night, his streak of multiple hits in four straight games ended, but he still went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI. He has gone over 20 DraftKings points in four of his last six games.
The Giants have opened as one of the colder offenses in all of baseball, with a team wRC+ of 85. Not Willy Adames, though. He already has 10 extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs. He continues to raise his launch angle to the point that he is now hitting 73.2% of his batted balls in the air.

Value Plays/Punts

POS	PLAYER	DraftKings Salary	FanDuel Salary
C/1B	Victor Caratini	$3,000	$2,600
OF	Jordan Walker	$3,200	$3,500
3B/SS/2B	Max Muncy	$3,700	$3,100

Victor Caratini is not the everyday catcher for the Twins, so make sure that he is in the lineup. If he is, his career success against Max Scherzer can’t be ignored — 10-for-22 against Scherzer with a pair of home runs.
While Jordan Walker‘s price has risen a bit, it’s still hard not to recommend him at the current levels, especially on DraftKings. The batted ball data is still ideal with top five percentile marks across the board.
Yes, this is the “other” Max Muncy. He’s doing some interesting things in his own right with a 95.3 miles per hour (MPH) average exit velocity and 98% hard-hit rate. However, be aware that he does have that matchup with Freddy Peralta.

Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props

Manny Machado (3B – SD): 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBIs — Higher

Manny Machado has cleared 1.5 combined hits + runs + RBIs in four of his last six games. He also has a matchup with left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland. Machado has gone 17-for-54 with seven doubles in his career against Freeland.

James Wood (OF, DH – WSH): 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBIs — Higher

James Wood has exceeded 1.5 combined hits + runs + RBIs in six straight games. His matchup today is against Brandon Woodruff.

Noah Cameron (SP – KC): 4.5 Strikeouts — Higher

Noah Cameron is typically not thought of for his strikeouts. However, he has five strikeouts in each start this season. He has a matchup against a White Sox squad striking out 33% of the time against left-handed pitchers this season.

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