RADIO
Welcome RotoBallers to my first KBO DFS column. Baseball is officially back! It's been more than a month since Spring Training was canceled and the KBO is finally here to cure your baseball blues. After a long hiatus, DraftKings and FanDuel finally have live baseball contests set to go. Tuesday is opening day for the KBO and I'll be providing the insight and picks to help you build winning lineups for this DFS sport.
A quick overview of scoring shows that 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 their 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 very different.
Today, I'll be providing my KBO DFS lineup picks and analysis for this five-game slate on DraftKings and FanDuel that locks at 1:00 AM on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Both DraftKings and FanDuel have large contests for opening day with a top prize of $20K to first. Make sure you are also following me @Grownfool on Twitter!
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KBO DFS Pitchers
Strikeout rates are much lower in KBO. An average MLB K% would be among the league leaders in KBO. The lower strikeout numbers make innings and wins much more important for KBO DFS. Most of the league leaders in innings pitched last season were foreign pitchers.
Some foreign pitchers could have their innings limited as not all of them are stretched out. After pre-season games were canceled in mid-March, most foreign pitchers returned home and had to quarantine for 14 days upon return.
Hyun-Jong Yang - Kia Starting P ($10000 DraftKings / $22 FanDuel)
Yang won the 2017 KBO MVP and is one of the best pitchers in the league. Yang is the most likely of today's starters to pitch deep into the game. Last season, more than half of Yang's starts were seven innings or more. The Heroes were the best team in the league versus lefties so it's a tough matchup for Yang. In three starts against the Heroes last season, Yang had one win, one eight-inning no decision with zero runs, and gave up seven runs in the other.
Drew Rucinski - NC Starting P ($9100 DraftKings / $25 FanDuel)
Only two of the foreign starters pitching today went five innings in their exhibition start and Rucinski was one of them. Last season Rucinski was below the KBO average in SO/9 but did strike out six in his exhibition start. NC Dinos should be favored today and Rucinski is in a good spot to get the win.
Raul Alcantara - Doosan Starting P ($8600 DraftKings / $27 FanDuel)
Alcantara is the other opening day starter who pitched five innings in their exhibition start and has a very similar profile to Rucinski. Alcantara has an even lower SO/9 than Rucinski and is near the bottom of the KBO among starters in strikeouts. Jamsil Stadium is the home park of both the Doosan Bears and the LG Twins. It's also the most pitcher-friendly park in the league. The expansive outfield serves to depress home runs.
Other starters worth a look for GPPs are:
- Woo-Chan Cha ($6200 DraftKings / $22 FanDuel)
- Nick Kingham ($9000 DraftKings / $29 FanDuel)
KBO Top Hitter Stacks
KBO de-juiced the ball last season and power numbers declined. Building stacks around power hitters will be the key to success in KBO DFS. The best stacks are less likely to be straight 1-4 hitters and more likely to be something less traditional like skipping over multiple hitters in the order.
NC Dinos
The opposing pitcher for the Dinos is Jung-Hyun Baek who gave up 17 HRs last season including two multi-HR games. Baek is a lefty and the middle of the order for the Dinos, Eui-ji Yang and Suk-Min Park, both crush left-handers. Park-Min Woo bats leadoff for the Dinos and is a stolen base threat even against lefties. The rest of the top of the order is likely to be Sung-Bum Na and Aaron Altherr.
- Eui-ji Yang - C ($4500 DraftKings / $12 FanDuel)
- Suk-Min Park - 3B ($4500 DraftKings / $11 FanDuel)
- Min-Woo Park - 2B ($4700 DraftKings / $12 FanDuel)
Kt Wiz
Dan Strailly makes his KBO debut for the Lotte Giants. When Strailly last appeared in MLB, it was not uncommon for him to give up three or four HRs in a game. Straily didn't allow a HR in his four-inning exhibition game appearance but did walk four and gave up four hits. Baek Ho-Kang, Mel Rojas, Jr, and Jae-Gyun Hwang are the middle of the order power bats for the wiz. Woo-Jun Sim and Min-Hyoek Kim should hit 1-2 in the order and both are stolen base threats.
- Baek-Ho Kang - OF ($5500 DraftKings / $12 FanDuel)
- Mel Rojas Jr. - OF ($5300 DraftKings / $16 FanDuel)
- Jae-Gyun Hwang - 3B ($4700 DraftKings / $12 FanDuel)
Other stacks to consider:
- Lotte Giants
- Hanwha Eagles
Conclusion
- There is a ton of uncertainty on this first slate. No one will know the exact starting lineups until the late evening hours on the east coast, so expect the more well-known players (often the ex-MLB players) to be more popular tonight.
- Go easy on this first slate and have some fun with it. There's going to be a learning curve here for everyone with a new sport like this and you don't want to play more bankroll than you're comfortable with on players you've never heard of before.
- Use familiar MLB DFS strategies like stacking and picking on bad pitchers. Once we get to know these teams better and get more data on hitters and pitchers we should be able to have a better indication of who we want to target on a nightly basis.
- Good luck and have some fun! Just be thankful that baseball, in some form, is back!
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