DFS KBO: Saturday Cheat Sheet

An exciting day of KBO action saw two teams win walkoff victories Friday, with Se Hyuk Park's homer leading the Bears to a 2-1 win over the Eagles and Jae Gyun Hwang's single sending the Wiz home as 3-2 victors over the Heroes. The nature of those endings meant that the wins didn't go to starting pitchers, but the Bears' Raul Alcantara and the Wiz's Odrisamer Despaigne still produced the two strongest pitching performances of the day, with Alcantara striking out nine and allowing one run in seven innings while Despaigne struck out seven while also allowing just a single run in seven frames. Elsewhere, three hits from Sun Bin Kim and a quality start from Drew Gagnon helped the Tigers to their third win over the Dinos in as many games this season, while the Lions scored eight runs (though just three were earned) off Tyler Wilson in their victory over the Twins to pull just half a game behind them for the final playoff spot. Saturday's slate contains a fairly high number of reliable arms but has a decent dose of prime stack targets as well.

Pitchers

Chris Flexen ($8,300 DraftKings, $27 FanDuel as "Doosan Starting P") began the season quite strong before making a few mediocre starts that were followed by a brief absence due to a hamstring issue. He didn't look great in his first outing back from the injury, either, but he looks healthy now, as he cruised to a 15:1 K:BB in 11 innings over his last two starts. Including both his strong and weak stretches, he now owns a 3.46 ERA on the season, backed up by a 22.9 percent strikeout rate and a 7.8 percent walk rate. He couldn't have asked for an easier assignment than the one he'll be tasked with Saturday as he takes on the Eagles and their league-worst lineup.

Drew Rucinski ($9,100 DraftKings, $29 FanDuel as "NC Starting P") may not quite deserve his excellent 2.38 ERA, as it's taken a .274 BABIP and an 85.1 percent strand rate to get him there, but he's still been one of the better pitchers in the league through 10 starts. His 23.4 percent strikeout rate and 6.9 percent walk rate are both very strong numbers. He's coming off an outing in which he shut out the excellent Bears lineup over seven innings and should face a much easier test against a Tigers' offense which ranks a modest seventh in runs per game.

Chan Gyu Lim ($8,200 DraftKings, $28 FanDuel as "LG Starting P") faces a streaking Lions team which has won nine of its last 11 games, scoring 6.3 runs per game over that stretch, but he has enough on his resume to inspire a fair amount of confidence that he can shut them down. He'd been rather mediocre in his first seven KBO seasons, but he owns a solid 3.99 ERA through eight starts this year, backing that number up with a strong combination of a 24.3 percent and a 5.8 percent walk rate. He's coming off two of his best starts of the year, striking out 16 and walking three while allowing just one run in 13 innings.

Top Targets

Jeong Choi ($5,500 DraftKings, $15 FanDuel) shows up here for the second straight day, as it's certainly not his fault that the Wyverns have been in an extended slump. He's homered twice in his last three games, giving him 345 for his career, just six shy of second on the KBO's all-time home run leaderboard. His hot stretch extends far longer than that, however, as he's hitting .333/.460/.658 over his last 33 games. He'll have a chance to add yet another homer against Jun Won Seo, whose 3.88 ERA isn't backed up by his 11.2 percent strikeout rate and his 1.3 HR/9.

Ah Seop Son ($4,100 DraftKings, $13 FanDuel) is more of a mid-priced option than a true top-shelf target, but he'd be worth a look even at a considerably higher price in this one. The 32-year-old had hit .295 or better in 10 straight seasons heading into this year, but he's on another level this season, striking out a career-low 8.6 percent of the time en route to a .352/.431/.480 slash line. He doesn't have much power, homering just three times, but he's a very good bet to reach base multiple times with the platoon advantage against Wyverns righty Joo Han Kim, who's allowed seven runs in 11 innings while posting a 2:6 K:BB.

Bargain Bats

If the Dinos were playing Hyun Jong Yang last season, when he finished third in MVP voting on the back of a 2.29 ERA, I'd avoid their lineup entirely. Saturday's game takes place in 2020, however, and he hasn't been nearly the same pitcher, struggling to a 4.67 ERA. While Yang deserves some respect for his past success, Hee Dong Kwon ($2,700 DraftKings, $9 FanDuel) still looks like a strong value play against him. The outfielder had been a mediocre hitter at best for most of his career, but he's breaking out in his age-29 season, hitting an excellent .315/.422/.554 with eight homers, seven of which have come in his last 25 games. That's been enough to move him up to the number two spot in the league's best lineup, making him an excellent bargain even against a pitcher like Yang.

Kyoung Min Hur ($3,400 DraftKings, $8 FanDuel) didn't make it into the Bears stack listed below, but he's worth a look either as part of it or on his own. In 10 games since returning from a fractured finger, he's hitting .333/.395/.513 with a pair of homers. He's made excellent contact all season, striking out in just 7.1 percent of his plate appearances en route to a .318 batting average overall, the second-best mark of his nine-year career. He won't get the platoon advantage in this one against right Min Woo Kim (discussed below), but Kim has had a poor enough season that Hur looks like a strong budget option even without it.

Stacks To Consider

Twins vs. Yoon Dong Heo: Roberto Ramos ($5,300 DraftKings, $17 FanDuel), Eun Sung Chae ($3,100 DraftKings, $13 FanDuel), Kang Nam Yoo ($4,500 DraftKings, $10 FanDuel)

Heo owns a strong 3.60 ERA and hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of his first four starts, but it's hard to imagine a line more primed for regression. He's managed to strand a rather unsustainable 88.0 percent of opposing runners thus far, regularly escaping jams despite a poor 1.75 WHIP. His combination of a 7.6 percent strikeout rate and a 14.1 percent walk rate indicates how much trouble he's had putting hitters away. While he hasn't been punished for that thus far, the bill should come due any day now, even against a Twins team that has struggled of late.

Ramos struggled to an awful .175/.292/.225 slash line in his first 11 games back from ankle and back injuries, prompting doubts as to whether he was truly healthy. He's turned things around in his last two games, however, going 4-for-7 at the plate and finally homering Friday for the first time since June 11. When at his best, Ramos is an MVP candidate, as he's still hitting .335/.417/.640 on the season even after his recent slump. While it would have been nice if his poor stretch had meaningfully reduced his price, I'm willing to bet that he's fully bounced back, as Heo's poor numbers offset the fact that Ramos will have the platoon disadvantage.

I won't completely ignore the platoon disadvantage here, however, as I've paired Ramos with two right-handed bats rather than the left-handed Hyun Soo Kim. Chae was hitting a strong .300/.352/.433 in 39 games before suffering an ankle injury in late June. He's yet to get going again in four games since his return, grabbing just a single hit, but a game against Heo seems to be as good a time as any for his bat to wake up.

Like many of his teammates, Yoo has been slumping lately, hitting .172/.200/.241 over a nine-game stretch heading into Friday's game. He went 2-for-4 with a homer in the series opener, however, indicating that he may be putting his struggles behind him. Even after his recent struggles, Yoo still stands among the top offensive catchers in the league, ranking second at the position in RBI (34) and third among regular catchers in OPS (.796).

Bears vs. Min Woo Kim: Jose Fernandez ($6,000 DraftKings, $17 FanDuel), Jae Hwan Kim ($5,600 DraftKings, $17 FanDuel), Jae Il Oh ($4,200 DraftKings, $15 FanDuel)

The Bears bats were strangely quiet Friday in their 2-1 win, but it's unlikely that trend continues in the second game of this series. Min Woo Kim's strikeout rate has jumped from 14.6 percent last season to an impressive 23.9 percent this year, but that's about it for positive things to say about his numbers. He's struggled to a 5.16 ERA, primarily because he's allowed nine homers, tied for the second-highest total in the league. His 1.8 HR/9 this year is a hair worse than his 1.7 HR/9 mark from 2018, a season in which he posted a 6.52 ERA. With a career ERA of 6.61 in the middle of his sixth KBO season, there's little reason to believe his numbers will suddenly improve.

A homer-prone righty on the mound for the Eagles means we'll want to load up on the Bears' best left-handed bats here. Fernandez leads that group despite going hitless in his last two games, a very rare occurrence for the league's hits leader. Even after two poor games, Fernandez still leads the league with a .386 batting average and has struck out in just 5.5 percent of his at-bats, the lowest mark among qualified hitters. He's shown decent power this year as well, as his eight homers in 51 games is over halfway to his total of 15 in 144 games last year.

Jae Hwan Kim has been both very hot and very cold at times this season, but he's in one of the former stretches right now and is worthy of inclusion nearly every game. In his last 14 games, he's hit .388/.538/.612 while driving in an impressive 18 runs. His role as the cleanup hitter in one of the league's top lineups has helped him to a league-leading 49 RBI despite an extended slump from late May to mid-June in which he hit .141/.233/.281 over 17 games. He should have a chance to add a few more RBI to his tally in this one.

Oh rounds out this stack of excellent left-handed hitters. He's missed time in both May and June this season due to side issues, but he sure looks healthy now, as he's gone 15-for-30 at the plate over his last seven games. In 37 games overall this season, he's hitting an excellent .372/.434/.606 with six homers. He slots in right between Fernandez and Kim out of the number three spot and should be a big part of whatever rallies the Bears manage in this game.