It’s a busy day today across baseball, and it might be a blessing and a curse that it begins at 12:35 PM on the east coast and the majority of the action will be wrapped up by dinner time. With most teams in action today, we have a meaty main slate on both DraftKings (nine games) and FanDuel (10) while Yahoo is running their main slate to include all 13 games of the day. 

Any well-balanced lineup must include some value options to offset either an expensive pitcher and/or some high-priced bats, so let’s take a look at some players to consider. 

 

 

DFS Value Pitchers

 

DraftKings - $6,100; FanDuel - $7,700; Yahoo - $39

While Trevor Rogers does provide some cost savings at Yahoo, it’s not nearly as stark as DK and FD and that is really where we plan to target him today. After a strong rookie season, Rogers has had an uneven beginning to 2022 as he couldn’t get out of the second inning against Philadelphia allowing seven runs in his second start of the season. Rogers bounced back against Atlanta in his last start though as he threw five shutout innings scattering four hits and two walks while striking out four and generating eight groundball outs. 

Rogers FIP of 3.16 is well below his 6.94 ERA and his .368 BABIP against should also begin to normalize. Washington’s lineup isn’t especially frightening and I like the left-hander today to continue to find his footing. 

 

 

DraftKings - $8,300; FanDuel - $8,100

While you certainly are going to find pitchers cheaper than Zack Wheeler today, none of them will have his pedigree. After a slightly delayed start to the season after he was limited with a shoulder injury in Spring Training, I’m not sure how heavily we should weigh these early season outings considering his track record. 

After throwing 65 and 66 pitches in his first two starts, Wheeler got up to 84 pitches and five innings in his last start but he did allow four runs on seven hits against Milwaukee while striking out five. Wheeler’s strand rate through three starts is just 53.1% and along with a .372 BABIP it is a large factor in his FIP (4.03) being less than half his ERA of 8.53. 

 

 

FanDuel - $7,000; Yahoo - $37

After limiting Tampa Bay to just one hit in four innings of work in his first start of the season while striking out seven, Garrett Whitlock gets another crack at it today against Toronto. The matchup isn’t the easiest, but the right-hander is talented and has a lot of potential this afternoon. In 13.2 innings this season, Whitlock has 18 strikeouts to go along with a 0.66 ERA. 

 

 

 

DFS Value Hitters

 

DraftKings - $2,900; FanDuel - $2,600; Yahoo - $17

Facing a right-hander today, Tyler Naquin figures to bat second for the Reds and take advantage of his splits advantage (.276 vs. .188 batting average on the season and .281 vs. .217 for his career. The majority of his career run production (45 of 51 home runs and 167 of 198 RBI) also comes against right-handers, so Naquin is in position to succeed tonight. On the season, Naquin is hitting .244 with one home run and seven RBI but his .295 xBA also says that he is a solid option against Nick Martinez and the Padres. 

 

 

DraftKings - $3,300; FanDuel - $2,800; Yahoo - $20

With the way Patrick Corbin has begun this season, it only makes sense to target the southpaw. It hasn’t mattered whether he has faced left-handers or right-handers, Corbin simply has been bad. 

Garrett Cooper is hitting a solid .275 with one home run and six RBI this season, but on a per at bat basis (13 HR/250 AB compared to 18/593), he has been a lot better against southpaws in his career. If you want to target the Marlins (4.42 implied run total) against Corbin, then Cooper fits nicely in that stack. 

 

 

DraftKings - $2,600; FanDuel - $2,200; Yahoo - $10

I will never stray from targeting Martín Pérez with a stack of opposing hitters, and the Astros’ lead-off hitter gives us a very fine place to start today. We get the platoon advantage and Chas McCormick is coming off a two-hit effort last night that also saw him go deep for the first time this season. With just three RBI and three runs scored on the year, McCormick hasn’t given us much in the way of counting stats, but he shouldn't have many problems against Perez, and with a .280 batting average, the outfielder should be right in the middle of any damage the Astros’ bats cause. 

 

 

DraftKings (2B) - $3,300; FanDuel (2B/SS) - $2,400; Yahoo (2B) - $12

The Yankees offense is in a great spot today against Baltimore left-hander Bruce Zimmermann and their 5.13 implied run total is a perfect example of that. Despite hitting just .212 on the season with one home run and six RBI, Gleyber Torres did have an extremely modest five game hit streak that ended last night. Both on the season (.313) and career (26 HR in 448 at bats compared to 49/1,176) the splits work in Torres’ advantage against left-handers and that puts him in prime position today. With a 22.1 degree launch angle so far this season, Torres is going for the long ball, and I like him to go deep tonight. 

 

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