The action is divided on Thursday across the sites into some interesting slates but the main slate, and the one for this Value Vault piece, is the one that starts at 1:10 pm ET with the Cardinals and Brewers game. Yahoo has an all day slate and this piece will focus on the players on that slate from the early games only. There doesn’t appear to be any weather concerns on the early part of the day in terms of delays or PPD chances.

All Sites

Kyle Freeland, LHP COL ($5,000 DK / $6,600 FD / $31 Y!)

Okay. So have I lost my mind? Freeland? Are we serious? Yes, I’m quite serious given his record against the Dodgers this year. While the game is in Colorado and that generally means good things for the bats, it’s not like Dodger Stadium isn’t a hitter’s haven either and yet, Freeland has managed to strike out 17 Dodgers this year without walking one in 19 innings facing them. He’s also posted a 2.84 ERA against them and just a .211 BAA which are both well below his seasonal marks and his 0.79 WHIP is just under half what his season mark is there too. In three of his last five starts he’s also gone at least six innings and given up just four total earned runs for a 1.71 ERA in those starts.

David Peralta, OF ARI ($3,400 DK / $2,700 FD / $11 Y!)

Clearly it hasn’t been a great season for either him nor the Diamondbacks but that doesn’t preclude him from being playable every so often in DFS. This is one of those every-so-often times. He’s 6-for-9 with a homer off of Charlie Morton in past meetings and he’s still hitting in the middle of the Diamondbacks which adds a bit more value if some guys get on in front of him.

 

Yahoo

Mark Canha, OF OAK ($14) - There’s risk here, as he’s not been great over the last 10 games or so in terms of power and average but a match-up against Kikuchi might be exactly what he needs. He’s faced the Seattle lefty 15 times before and taken him deep twice for a .474 wOBA and even with his struggles recently, he still has a .321 wOBA versus lefty pitchers this year. He is kind of an all or nothing play right now but there is some speed upside too with 12 steals on the year.

Matt Olson, 1B OAK ($19) - Olson is tied for the most homers off of left-handed pitchers in a season as a left-handed hitter in the history of baseball. You read that right. In the history of MLB he, Barry Bonds, and Griffey Jr. twice, have had 21 homers in a season off of lefty pitchers. He’s hit four homers in the last 10 games and six this year against Seattle pitchers and two off of Kikuchi in previous meetings. He’s the fifth priciest first baseman (of the early games) on Yahoo.

 

DraftKings

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B STL ($4,100) - Goldy has a .389 wOBA in 17 career meetings with Houser and that includes two homers. This year off of RHPs, he’s launched 21 homers and produced 64 RBI and has been a .291 hitter away from Busch stadium.

Matt Chapman, 3B OAK ($4,200) - Are we tired of A’s yet? Well it’s hard not to play them against a, to paraphrase a term from Howard, tomato can of a pitcher. Chapman is 5-for-15 with two homers off of Kikuchi with a .412 wOBA. He’s also hit 14 homers off of lefties this year and the Mariners’ starter hasn’t been great against RHHs with a .358 wOBA and more than an .830 OPS. He’s the 10th-highest priced third baseman today on DK and that’s too low for a guy of his caliber who’s also hit three homers in the last 10 games.

 

FanDuel

Jarred Kelenic, OF SEA ($3,000) - Kelenic has been on a tear in September with a .283/.348/.650 slash line, six homers, 15 RBI, 12 runs, and a few steals. Even with all of his struggles early, he still has a .302 wOBA and 11 homers off of righties this year and it’s Chris Bassitt’s first start back since being hit in the face with a liner about a month ago. One last tidbit is this: he’s hitting better on the road than at home in all facets and the wind is blowing out at Oakland today.

Tommy Edman, 2B STL ($3,000) - Edman is 3-for-10 off of Houser in their careers but the big edge goes to Edman this year as Houser is allowing a .330 wOBA to lefty hitters this year and with Edman being a switch-hitter, he’ll hit lefty today. Edman also brings speed to the value vault with 29 steams on the year and he’s really been swiping them with regularity recently with three in the last 10 games while hitting .295.