Saturday's schedule shades to the earlier side, which leaves two equal-sized slates of seven games beginning at 1:10 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. EDT. The latter offers a slightly larger prize pool, so the article focus will be there. There's a good combination of strong pitching - at least at the top of the pool - along with some positive hitting environments with the Rockies, A's and Phillies all at home.
Pitchers
DraftKings made some relatively drastic salary decisions at the elite side of the pitchers, making it interesting as to which ace to roster - or whether to do so at all. Cristopher Sanchez ($11,700) is the fairly obvious choice when considering skills and a matchup against the Mets, yet is valued aggressively ahead of Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($10,800) and Paul Skenes ($8,900). The latter has struggled with inconsistency the last month and will be at Coors Field, but is still worth considering based on his salary being at its lowest this season.
The middle tiers offer upside with significant risk due to inconsistency. Taj Bradley ($7,600) lists the third-highest strikeout efficiency of the slate's pitchers, though has also delivered under 10 DK points from three of his last four outings. His K rate illustrates his upside, and he's also helped by an Arizona lineup carrying the league's third-lowest wOBA the last month. Emerson Hancock ($8,100) has been slightly more reliable than Bradley while facing Boston isn't intimidating.
The bottom of the pool is tough despite some skilled players relative to salaries. J.T. Ginn ($6,900) represents the best option with a matchup versus a strikeout-prone Angels' lineup, but he's also struggled at home.
See which projected starters are going and when with RotoWire's Probable Pitchers page!
Top Hitters
The Dodgers are a viable stacking option every night and will be going up against Trevor Rogers, yet their valuations could make it difficult given the pitcher market. A viable mini-combo is Tommy Edman ($3,500) and Andy Pages ($5,500), who are likely to hit one-two in the order with a southpaw on the mound.
The same analysis is true for the A's. Walbert Urena is set to start for the Angels on Saturday and is in line for some serious regression. There's not the same obvious value option, but Zack Gelof ($5,300) has moved into the leadoff role while Nick Kurtz ($6,600) is a regular elite DK selection.
Value Bats
Trevor Larnach ($3,500) has taken over as the Twins' leadoff bat against right-handers the last few games. He's responded with a pair of homers in the last four and draws a matchup against Zac Gallen, who's served up 1.55 HR/9 on the season with only a 14.8 percent strikeout rate.
Connelly Early has conceded 1.67 HR/9 this year with multiple long balls from four of his last six appearances. The Mariners are an ideal lineup to face him from a value perspective as J.P. Crawford ($3,900) and Rob Refsnyder ($2,000) are the likely candidates to lead off. Refsnyder has endured a miserable campaign, yet has historically hit southpaws well.
Stacks to Consider
Pirates at Rockies (Tomoyuki Sugano): Spencer Horwitz ($5,100), Brandon Lowe ($6,300), Bryan Reynolds ($5,700)
The Pirates' order is depleted, but has still managed to perform relatively well the last couple weeks. Coors Field is the obvious additional factor in their favor on Saturday and Sugano carries terrible 13.1 K, 6.1 K-BB and 1.60 HR/9 rates on the season. Put another way, he has a 1.42 WHIP and 4.65 ERA at Coors and checks every box we look for when stacking against pitchers.
Astros vs. Guardians (Joey Cantillo): Jeremy Pena ($4,500), Christian Walker ($4,100), Yordan Alvarez ($6,200)
Cantillo isn't the worst hurler in any of the given metrics cited throughout this article, but he's below-average across-the-board. That's enough to put the Astros on the radar as their lineup has started to click with key players returning and performing as expected. The cost to roster the top-third of the lineup also isn't prohibitive, an added bonus to what is a favorable spot to rack up some runs.
Check out our DraftKings MLB Lineup Optimizer to discover more expert recommendations, customize the player pool, set exposure percentage and mass-enter DFS lineups.
