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Welcome back, RotoBallers, to another KBO DFS column. If you haven't signed up for the RotoBaller Premium Slack chat, it's a great space to chat during the day about the lineups. You can also follow me and the other Rotoballer writers on Twitter. In particular, @efhatch1990dfs has his personal KBO DFS Cheat Sheets which you will now be able to find on RotoBaller.
New to KBO? Don't worry, we got you covered! DraftKings and FanDuel will use the same scoring system that they do for MLB, however, the roster builds are much different on FanDuel. You must roster two infielders, two outfielders, and two utility players along with a pitcher for a total of only seven players on FanDuel. DraftKings has kept its normal MLB structure with two starting pitchers and an entire eight-hitter lineup for a total of ten players.
Building lineups on each site is going to be a good bit different on most nights, but I've tried to give you enough options and thoughts behind each option so that you can make the best decision based on your build preference. Today, I'll be providing my KBO DFS lineup picks and analysis for this five-game slate on DraftKings and FanDuel that locks at 5:30 AM on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. You can check our daily KBO Betting Picks as well, which Steve usually posts around 8 PM.
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DISCLAIMER: This article will take a different approach since every single game tomorrow has the potential to be rained out as of this writing. Below, I will breakdown my thoughts on each game - who I think will win and who I would be interested in playing. I'm not going to focus much on salaries and types of builds because this could easily wind up being a slate where only one or two games are actually played.
My advice would be to keep an eye on the weather, see which games are most likely to play as we get closer to gametime, and then look at my thoughts on players and games to roster the guys that seem to be the best fits in the games that will play. This could very well mean you have a lot of money leftover if few games are played and that's OK in that situation.
Hanwha @ Samsung
40% chance of rain at 4 am (pre-game) and a 54% chance of rain during the middle of the game
I know Hanwha broke their losing streak against NC recently, but we're still not stacking them for DFS purposes since they're still not a good offense. So I'll focus just on Samsung here.
Pitcher Yoon-dong Heo is in play because he's facing Hanwha, but I'm not overly excited. He's gone five innings and allowed three earned runs in each of his last two starts. He has eight walks and only four strikeouts on the season, which is not a recipe for fantasy success, and Hanwha has hit .265 versus left-handers in June, but that was actually over .300 as a team before they got only three hits off of Chang-Mo Koo, who is the best pitcher in the league.
The Samsung offense is definitely in play against Shi-Hwan Jang, who has a 6.89 ERA and 2.11 WHIP in seven starts. He's also given up 46 hits and five home runs in 32.2 innings, but that does come with 37 strikeouts and Samsung has been prone to striking out lately. If you're going to stack some Samsung bats, you may want to start with Won-Seok Lee (.342 and 13 RBIs in June), Sang-Su Kim (.338 with 15 runs in June), and Tyler Saladino (.327 with 3 HRs and 16 R in June). Others to consider are Hak-Ju Lee and Ja-Wook Koo, who both have 3 HR in June, or Hae-Min Park, who's hitting .404 in June with three HRs. He had been on a cold streak but hit a pinch-hit HR last night so maybe he's back to seeing the ball well again.
Kia @ Lotte
No rain pre-game and a 64% chance of rain during the middle of the game
With no rain in the forecast pre-game, this one may have the best chance to play if the expected rain is delayed a few hours. That's good news for Dan Straily, who is probably the best pitcher on the slate and gets a Kia team that struggles on the road, hitting .252 in June with 65 strikeouts to only 28 walks, which amounts to strikeouts in 18% of team's away at-bats this month. Straily himself has been masterful since settling into the KBO, allowing four earned runs combined in his last five starts, which totals 33.2 innings. He's also struck out 37 and walked seven over that same span.
If you really want to bet against what is likely to be chalk, the one Kia bat you can confidently play is Hyung-Woo Choi, who went 2-3 with a HR and 3 RBI yesterday and is hitting .417 on the road in June with 2 HR and 8 RBI.
On the other end, Min-Woo Lee has really struggled for Kia in his last three starts, giving up 15 earned runs on 21 hits in 15 innings, while striking out only seven. Lotte has the second-fewest strikeouts in the league and has hit .288 as a team in the month of June and .313 at home over that same span. All of which has me more inclined to feature Lotte hitters in my lineup, starting with Ah-Seop Son (.416 in June with 15 RBI and 14 R), Dixon Machado (.365 in June with 11 RBI, 12 R and 3 SB), and Jun-Woo Jeon (.282 in June with 4 HR, 11 RBI, 12 R). If you need some extra options, Dae-Ho Lee (6 HR in June) and Heo Il (.286 with 9 RBI) could be playable as well.
NC @ KT
74% chance of rain at 4 am (pre-game) and a 60% chance of rain during the middle of the game
The amount of rain prior to the game, as well as during the game, makes me incredibly pessimistic that this game will play. However, if it does, the Dinos find themselves in a great spot. We keep talking about how they're struggling a bit as an offense, but they're still hitting .299 in June with 25 home runs, which is the highest team batting average and second-highest team home run total of the month to go along with the second-most team RBIs. In short, they're still the best offense in the league.
Now they'll get to face Min-Soo Kim, who has only three starts on the year, has never thrown more than five innings, and comes in with a 7.97 ERA and 2.02 WHIP. If you're putting Dinos into your lineup, there's no reason to stray from the usual suspects: Jin-sun Kang (.348 with 4 HR and 16 RBI in June), Sung-Bum Na (.316 with 5 HR and 17 RBI), and Myung-Gi Lee (.452 with 14 R and 2 SB). You can also play Eui-Ji Yang, who came off the injured list to go 2-3 with a HR last night, Aaron Altherr, hitting .290 with 4 HR in June, or even Hee-Dong Kwon, who is now hitting 6th and batting .341 in June.
On the other side, KT has a better than expected match-up against Mike Wright. The Wiz have struck out in almost 20% of their June at-bats, but Wright has only struck out 37 in 45 innings, so he might not make them pay for that tendency. His 3.80 ERA is also heavily influenced by his early-season success as he's allowed nine runs over his last 11 innings and only one quality start in his last four outings. His only multi-home run game allowed was his first-ever KBO start, so I wouldn't look for the Wiz to tag him, but there are some hitters, particularly the lefties, that can do some damage to one bad pitch. If you're looking to run a short stack look for Baek-h0 Kang (.378 in June with 5 HR and 10 RBI), Melvin Rojas (.355 in June with 8 HR and 20 RBI), or Jeong-dae Bae (.320 in June with 2 HR, 11 R and 2 SB).
Doosan @ SK
71% chance of rain at 4 am (pre-game) and a 63% chance of rain during the middle of the game
Much like the game above, the high percent chance of rain before and during makes me incredibly skeptical that this game will be played. If it does, Doosan is potentially the best stack on the slate. They crush the ball on the road and are facing a pitcher in Jong-hoon Park who has been fairly mediocre of late. While he has 23 strikeouts over his last four games, he's also allowed 14 ER on 20 hits with 10 walks over those 23 innings. Park has only allowed four home runs, but Doosan showed last week in their series against LG that they can put up huge offensive days without having to hit many out of the park.
If you stack Doosan, it's hard to do so without restoring Kun-Woo Park, who went 3-4 last night and is hitting .480 with 2 HR, 17 R, and 13 RBI on the road in the month of June. Other names to keep in mind are Jae-Il Oh (.423 on the road in June with 2 HR, 8 R and 7 RBI), Hae-Sung Kuk (.381 on the road in June with a HR and 7 RBI), or Jose Fernandez (.316 on the road in June with 3 HR,15 R, and 10 RBI). You can even pivot to Joo-wan Choi (.352 on the road in June) or Jae-hwan Kim (5 HR on the road in June).
As for SK, I'd advise staying away. The offense isn't particularly strong and Hui-kwan Yu has been solid this year. After posting a 3.52 ERA last year, he's pitched to a 3.68 ERA this year with half of his starts as quality starts. He also went 7 innings in his last outing against SK, allowing only one run and striking out five, which was his most in any outing this year. He's not going to put up a bunch of strikeouts, but he can limit big innings and should be pitching with a lead.
Kiwoom @ LG
74% chance of rain at 4 am (pre-game) and 56% chance of rain during the middle of the game
This makes it three games in a row that I don't have much confidence in playing. Of those three, this one has the lowest chance of rain during the game, so if the rain comes early, we may have a shot. If that happens, Tyler Wilson finds himself in a decent spot pitching in a pitcher's park against the team with the most strikeouts in the league. His strikeout numbers have dipped of late with only 20 combined in his last five starts, but he's kept the ball in the park, which is really the main way Kiwoom hurts pitchers. If you take their power away, it's an offense that's hitting .265 in the month of June. As a result, I wouldn't really be advising a stack of Kiwoom bats, but if you wanted to put one of their left-handed hitters in as a one-off in GPPs hoping for a longball, I can't see a lot of people being on them.
On the other end, LG gets an average matchup against Seung-ho Lee, who has been strong of late, allowing three earned runs total in his last three starts. The 21-year-old's strikeout numbers are low, so he's not going to rack up many fantasy points, but LG is coming into this game incredibly beat up after losing Yong-talk Park last night on top of a prior injury to Eun-Sung Chae. Roberto Ramos is still around, and maybe hurt himself, but he's facing a left-hander in a pitcher's park, so he wouldn't be my first choice. As a result, I think Seung-ho Lee could be an interesting cash game punt option in SP2 slot on DK. If you feel the need to roster an LG bat, you can play Kang-nam Yoo (.377 in June) as a one-off or check the lineup and try to slide one of the injury replacements in a GPP lineup for differentiation, but I can't imagine a huge day here.
Good luck in your DFS contests everyone. Be sure to stop back every day for some more KBO DFS analysis here at RotoBaller!
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