RADIO
We head into Thursday night with an 11 game slate on tap. We have Coors field in play as well as a few other really nice offensive spots to target. There are some top-end arms as well, but tonight may not be the night to pay for those arms, rather save some money for more bats.
When looking at the slate the top-priced arms, Aaron Nola and Patrick Corbin, face off and may not be the way to go at pitcher. Coors is always a great place to target bats, and tonight the Giants are very affordable, making Coors very much in play, and will not be hard to build a lineup around. There are a lot of interesting ways to go on tonight's slate, so make sure to also listen to MLB DFS Quick Hits to get a rundown of the entire player pool.
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings on 9/1/2020. The lineup picks will range from some of the elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for sites like FanDuel, and other sports too. If you have any questions or comments, contact me on Twitter @bdentrek.
DraftKings DFS Starting Pitchers
Framber Valdez - P, HOU vs TEX ($8,100)
Sunday was supposed to be Framber day, but that was postponed when a member of the A's tested positive for COVID. Now, we get to use Valdez in potentially an even better matchup. Valdez has been great this season with a 2.35 ERA, 2.83 xFIP, and a 26% strikeout rate through his first six starts. He has now gone at least six innings five straight starts and before his last outing where he gave up four runs, had given up one or fewer in four straight starts. He has struck out five or more in five straight starts and eight or more in three of five. He has scored at least 20.7 DK points in five straight starts. Tonight he faces a Rangers team who has struck out 24.6% of the time versus LHP while hitting .236 with a .145 ISO. Valdez can be your SP1 tonight if looking to spend up on bats.
Ian Anderson - P, ATL at BOS ($6,800)
Anderson is coming off his outstanding debut, where he struck out six over six innings versus the beat-up Yankees. Tonight he heads into Fenway Park for a matchup with the offensively challenged Red Sox. In the minors, Anderson was a heavy strikeout arm who was able to keep the ball in the ballpark on his way to really strong ratios. He faces a Red Sox team tonight who lost Mitch Moreland (one of their better options vs RHP) and maybe without injured J.D. Martinez. They are striking out nearly 25% of the time vs RHP while only hitting .249. Anderson will likely be popular tonight so you may want to pivot Kevin Gausman in Coors, or just eat the chalk and differentiate your lineup elsewhere.
DraftKings DFS Infielders
Jacob Stallings - C, PIT vs Jon Lester ($2,700)
Entering last night's game, Stallings had hit safely in eight of his last nine games. Over those nine games, he was hitting .464 with a .477 wOBA. He had scored six or more points in six of those nine games as well and has been a cash game catching punt for a while now. On Monday, he extended his current hit streak to five games adding a double and scoring another nine DK points. Tonight he faces the lefty Lester who is allowing RHH to hit .267 with a .500 SLG so far this season.
Luke Voit - 1B, NYY vs Trevor Richards ($4,400)
To the shock of basically no one, Voit went deep again on Monday night. He now has 13 home runs on the season and continues to lead the Yankees offense this season. Going into Monday night's action, Voit has been doing some serious damage to RHP, hitting a nice .329 with .355 ISO and a 50% hard-hit rate. He faces Trevor Richards tonight who has not made it through five innings in a start this season and is allowing RHH to hit .364 with a .436 SLG. Brandon Belt is a strong play as well and should help lower the ownership on Voit.
Jeff McNeil - 2B/OF, NYM at Asher Wojciechowski ($3,400)
To say McNeil is not living up to preseason hype would be an understatement. Good thing, we still have half the season to go. He has hit safely in four straight games and five of his last six games. On Monday he went 2-4 with two doubles. He may be waking up and his current price tag will not last for long. He faces Woj tonight who is allowing LHH to SLG .480 while allowing 2 HR/9. If you want a "safer" option for $1,000 more then you can play his teammate Robinson Cano.
Austin Riley - 3B, ATL at Ryan Weber ($3,400)
I wrote up Riley in the Monday Values article and Riley produced with two more hits and 17 more DK points. He continues to rake of late, now hitting safely in nine of his last ten games. He has scored eight or more DK points in seven of those ten games and he has another great matchup tonight to keep the heater going. Weber is allowing RHH to hit .313, with a .500 SLG, and a 44.2% hard-hit rate. Continue to plug Riley into your cash lineups for savings and in your GPPs Braves stacks.
Brandon Crawford - SS at Jon Gray ($3,900)
Almost all the Giants are cheap, well Coors cheap tonight. Crawford has hit safely in four of his last five games, including three multi-hit games. It goes deeper than just five games. Over his last 19 games (since 8/10) he is hitting .333 with a .416 wOBA, and a .233 ISO. He heads into Coors looking to stay hot and is way too cheap for his matchup vs Gray tonight who is allowing a 41.6% hard-hit rate to LHH this season.
DraftKings DFS Outfielders
Kyle Tucker - OF, HOU vs Luis Garcia ($4,500)
Tucker is one of the hottest hitters in baseball and he will look to stay hot vs Garcia and then Jordan Lyles. Over the last two weeks, Tucker is hitting .415 with a .591 wOBA and a .634 ISO. He is also barreling the ball 13.9% of the time and has a 58.3% hard-hit rate over that span. He will be hitting in the middle of the Astros lineup and will look to continue his ridiculous hot streak tonight vs a bad Rangers pitching staff.
Nick Markakis - OF, ATL at Ryan Weber ($3,600)
Similar to his teammate Riley, Markakis has been swinging it really well and is too cheap for his matchup tonight vs Weber. Over his last 10 games, he is hitting .389 with a .444 wOBA, and a 40.6% hard-hit rate. He is hitting in the middle of the Braves lineup and makes for a strong value tonight vs Weber.
Tyler Naquin - OF, CLE at Matt Harvey ($2,600)
Naquin put up a goose egg on Monday night as strong value, but we will go right back to the well tonight as he faces the Dark Knight in Kansas City. Before Monday night Naquin was on a six-game hitting streak where he was hitting .348 with a .475 ISO. He was also barreling the ball 11.8% of the time with a 47.1% hard-hit rate. He had scored seven or more DK points in eight of nine games before Monday night and there is no reason not to go back to the value well. There is a lot of value on tonight's slate and Naquin is a strong option in the outfield.
DraftKings DFS Stacks
- San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies (Jon Gray, RHP)
- Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox (Ryan Weber, RHP)
- Houston Astros vs Texas Rangers (Luis Garcia, RHP)
- New York Mets at Baltimore Orioles (Asher Wojciechowski, RHP)
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!
