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It was a mixed bag of results for me yesterday, but I had enough Aaron Nola and Jeffrey Springs on the hill to offset some terrible performances by the White Sox and Cardinals. You only needed a few Dodgers, but cash lines were low enough that you also didn't need full stacks of any team really. We even got that Evan Longoria home run off Ashcraft that I predicted, huzzah!
Today's games are really chopped up on FanDuel, but DraftKings split them pretty cleanly with an 8-game early slate and 6-game main slate. FanDuel and DraftKings share the same main slate, which makes it much easier to cover, however, I will still toss in a few picks from the early games because I love you guys and I know many of you will be playing those slates, too.
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. Saturday's main slate locks at 7:15 EST on 6/25/2022, while the early slates start at 1:05 EST. The lineup picks will range from some elite high-priced players to mid-priced options, and value plays. I'll give you a few of my top pitching options and then some infielders, outfielders, and teams to stack! You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports here. It's also essential to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. Now that we got all of that out of the way, it's onto the picks!
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DraftKings, FanDuel Pitchers - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Chris Bassitt @ Miami ($8,800 DK, $9,800 FD)
I'm not going to waste more than a sentence here telling you that Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes are fantastic pitchers to spend up for on the early slate. But, they both have tough match-ups with Houston and Toronto, too, so if you are looking to pay down a bit into the next tier of pitchers I have a few guys who I really like here. Let's start with Mr. Bassitt.
Bassitt is one of the more underrated pitchers in baseball and he's been a huge offseason addition for this Mets rotation that has missed deGrom all year and Scherzer for the last month. His ERA sits at 4.03 but is inflated mainly due to three poor starts in which he allowed a combined 20 earned runs. That means he's allowed just 17 earned runs in his other 11 starts combined!
He's becoming a pretty solid strikeout pitcher as he sports a 26% strikeout rate this season and he just whiffed nine Marlins in his last start. As a -150 road favorite, I expect Bassitt to pitch well enough and deep enough into this one to qualify for a win if his offense can get him some runs and I have to think he's a lock for 5-7 strikeouts as well.
Josiah Gray @ Texas ($8,200 DK, $9,100 FD)
This is a much riskier pitcher and match-up than Bassitt, but I'm willing to consider Gray at this price point on the early slate. While there is plenty to get nervous about (12.7% barrel rate, 50% fly ball rate), there are also some aspects of Gray's game that can't be ignored either (25% strikeout rate backed by a 12% SwStr%).
Over his last four starts, Gray has allowed just two earned runs (on two solo homers). The walks are still a bit of a concern, but the potential for strikeouts is there. He's had his pitch count extended a bit as well as he's thrown 101 and 117 pitches in his last two starts. If he can avoid the walks today, a home run here or there won't hurt too badly and I do think he has 7-9 strikeout upside against a free-swinging Texas club.
Logan Gilbert @ Los Angeles Angels ($9,900 DK, $10,100 FD)
There is some solid pitching on the main slate, too, but if I can go with just one guy on a one-pitcher site like FanDuel, it's going to be Gilbert. While Max Fried is tasked with slowing down an elite offense like the Dodgers and Logan Webb has to deal with the pesky Reds hitters, Gilbert gets an Angels offense that has the worst strikeout rate in the majors against RHP over the last two weeks (over 30%). This Angels team had only two extra-base hits last night (a triple and a home run both hit by Mike Trout) and if Gilbert can pitch around Trout/Ohtani, the rest of this lineup has been lifeless for weeks. I usually try to avoid using a pitcher against the same team that they just faced, but we have a number of pitchers who are in that position today, and sometimes you can't avoid it. Gilbert is a stud who has finished six innings or more in each of his last seven starts. He qualified for the QS in each of those outings and piled up four wins. He's a good young pitcher and I'm going to keep picking on the Angels while they continue to struggle.
Also consider: Gerrit Cole or Corbin Burnes (early), Max Fried or Logan Webb (main)
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Javier Baez - 2B, DET vs. Zach Davies ($4,200 DK, $3,100 FD)
Let's start with some low-hanging fruit for the main slate. After two months of sucking, Baez has remembered how to hit a baseball! And man, is he hitting it a long way. He hit a grand slam off Merrill Kelly last night which was good for his fourth long ball in his last six games. He is about as red-hot as any hitter right now and has 20+ FanDuel points in five of his last six games. Davies is absolute garbage and while I am not saying to stack the Tigers (I am definitely NOT saying that), I am absolutely saying you should lock and load Baez at this price and at a position that is usually pretty thin when it comes to power-hitting options.
Rhys Hoskins - 1B, PHI vs. Blake Snell ($4,700 DK, $3,600 FD)
Hoskins has some pretty incredible splits against LHP this season with a .427 wOBA and a .353 ISO through his first 82 plate appearances. Meanwhile, Blake Snell is not the ace that he once was and certainly not a pitcher that I am going to avoid with hitters. His fastball does sit around 95 MPH, but it lacks movement and when he's missing with his secondary pitches, he usually ends up throwing it down the middle of the plate far too often. I'm not sure I will make a full Phillies stack, but I will have Hoskins in some lineups and even the slumping Nick Castellanos as he's simply too good, too cheap, (and matches up too well) in this spot.
Oneil Cruz - SS, PIT vs. Corey Kluber ($3,500 DK, $3,300 FD)
The big discount on Cruz is officially gone, but I think he's properly priced for his tools and I'm likely going back to him in this match-up today after being off him against the lefty Springs last night. I'd love to see him slide back into the leadoff spot, where his on-base skills and speed would be best utilized. In five starts since coming up, he's managed to score fantasy points in every game, even when he went 0-5 against the Cubs on Wednesday night. He's simply way too toolsy to ignore while he's still priced in the mid-tier. When he is making contact, he's hammering the baseball.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Darin Ruf - 1B/OF, SFG vs. Mike Minor ($3,000 DK, $2,600 FD)
This might seem like a no-brainer, but maybe some of you still doubt the greatness of one Darin Ruf against LHP. He's one of those guys we have to play when he faces a lefty and while I used to be a big Mike Minor fan, it's pretty clear that he's no longer a very good pitcher at this stage of his career. He's allowing a .404 wOBA and .333 ISO to righties so far this year and there's a pretty good chance he could get pummeled by these Giants bats tonight. Ruf is going to hit clean-up for this offense and is dirt cheap, dual-eligible at first base and outfield, and he also happens to profile pretty well against Minor's pitch mix which is mainly just fastball, slider, and change-up so far this season. Minor's offspeed stuff is getting hammered so far and he doesn't throw hard enough to be able to lean on his fastball either.
Edward Olivares - OF, KCR vs. Jared Koenig ($3,200 DK, $2,000 FD)
The Royals righty returned in a big way last night with two solo blasts off Cole Irvin. I was sleeping on him and the Royals stupidly hit him 8th which took some of us off him. At least DK adjusted his price immediately, while he is still free on FanDuel at min-price. He has another good match-up against a lefty tonight in Koenig and I would expect they slide him up in the lineup, too. He feels like a free square on FanDuel, I would just slot him in and take the savings!
Tyrone Taylor - OF, MIL vs. Yusei Kikuchi ($2,900, $2,300 FD)
I promise I am not chasing last night's results here with this pick, too. While Taylor homered last night, he's a cheap play that I have been using throughout the first half of the season in good spots. He will see lefty Yusei Kikuchi on the hill here today and we know that he's been struggling quite a bit of late. Taylor has three long balls in his last five games and provides some nice value on both sites. Kikuchi is prone to giving up dingers, too, let's not forget.
Aaron Judge - OF, NYY vs. Cristian Javier ($6,400 DK, $4,000 FD)
I went out on a limb yesterday and recommended Yordan Alvarez against Severino and it ended up being his fellow lefty Kyle Tucker who hit the three-run home run I was looking for! Today, it's Judge who I am recommending and I know I just said yesterday that "anyone can pick Judge, Goldy, Buxton every day," but I think Judge will be badly overlooked here based on his price (6400 on DK is crazy) and the perceived tough match-up against Javier.
Let me just tell you this. Javier is a flyball pitcher who throws mainly two pitches - a fastball and a slider. If you missed it from earlier this year, the rule for Aaron Judge this season is that you HAVE to play him against these types of right-handed pitchers, regardless of how good you think the pitcher is! Judge has an amazing .461 wOBA and .383 ISO against righties this season and if he barrels up a ball at Yankee Stadium, it's likely headed for the seats.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Here are my top stacks for tonight (in the order in which I like them)
- Giants on MAIN SLATE (5.0 implied run total) vs. Mike Minor (5.88 xFIP)
- Royals on EARLY SLATE (5.5 implied run total) vs. Jared Koenig (7.71 xFIP)
I am picking on two lefties who have been really hittable so far this season. The sample sizes for both are small since Minor missed a large chunk of the season due to an injury and Koenig has only made a handful of starts as a rookie. But these are the two best spots (one of each slate) that I see on the board today and I want to attack these two with right-handed hitters. Both teams are relatively cheap to stack, too, which gives you an opportunity to work in those high-priced one-offs.
I hope I gave you a head start on your research today and I wish you the best of luck! If you ever have questions about DFS or fantasy baseball, my DMs are always open and I appreciate you taking the time to read my picks today.
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