DFS KBO: Saturday Cheat Sheet

Friday's KBO slate looked to feature quite a few shaky starters, though the day wound up being quite low-scoring overall, with teams averaging 3.9 runs and none scoring more than seven. Good pitching didn't wind up being that hard to find, with the best coming from Casey Kelly, who pitched a two-hit shutout against the league-best Dinos lineup in the Twins' 4-0 win. Chris Flexen was nearly as good, shutting out a strong Wiz offense over seven innings, striking out nine while allowing just four hits and a walk as the Bears won by the same 4-0 score. Meanwhile, Adrian Sampson and Tae In Won played out a somewhat surprising pitchers' duel, both allowing two earned runs in six innings, with the Lions eventually winning 7-3 on pinch hitter Sang Su Kim's walkoff grand slam. Elsewhere, Hyung Woo Choi's homer helped the Tigers past the Wyverns, 5-3, while Min Ha Kim scored two runs and drove in two more as the Eagles upset the Heroes, 7-6.

Saturday's slate kicks off at 4 a.m. ET and will feature just four games, as neither half of the Dinos-Twins doubleheader will be included.

Pitchers

There are perhaps reasons not to like Jake Brigham ($10,000), as his battles with elbow issues throughout the early part of the season give cause to worry any time he goes through a shaky patch like he's gone through in his last two starts, in which he's allowed seven runs on 13 hits over nine innings while posting a 5:6 K:BB. There haven't been reports that his injury issues are back, however, and he'd been excellent over his previous eight starts, posting a 2.66 ERA, a 9.9 K/9 and a 1.16 WHIP while allowing more than two runs just once. With a matchup against the league-worst Eagles lineup, he should look more like he did during his hot streak than during his last two outings, assuming he is indeed still healthy.

In the middle tier, Duk Joo Ham ($7,500) is worth consideration even against a strong Wiz lineup. Ham comes with workload concerns, as he's a converted reliever who has averaged just 4.8 innings and 76.6 pitches since moving to the rotation at the start of September. While he has a lesser chance of earning a win than most pitchers of his talent level, he's quite likely to produce strong numbers on a per-inning basis. Over his five starts this season, he owns a 3.75 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP and a 23:8 K:BB in 24 innings.

In the budget tier, the inexperienced Seung Heon Lee ($6,600) looks like the best bet. The third-overall pick in the 2018 draft made just one disastrous start in his debut last season, but things have gone much better for him in four starts this year, as he owns a respectable 4.50 ERA and a strong 1.22 WHIP and 17:6 K:BB over 18 innings of work. The 21-year-old has also pitched very well in 16 innings in the Futures League, posting a 1.69 ERA, a 0.75 WHIP and a 17:2 K:BB. The sample size at both levels is quite small, but there's still enough here to make him look like an interesting option at his price point, especially against the eighth-ranked Lions lineup.

Top Targets

Ah Seop Son ($4,200) is currently all that stands between Mel Rojas Jr. and the Triple Crown, as his .360 batting average leads Rojas by 11 points. He raised that number a full 10 points in the last four games alone, an impressive feat at this point in the season, going 10-for-16 at the plate over that stretch. Zooming out over his last 13 games, he's hitting .462/.533/.731 while scoring 14 runs. He should stay hot in the league's most hitter-friendly park Saturday with the platoon advantage against David Buchanan, who's good but hardly unbeatable, posting a 4.03 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP over his last 12 outings.

The Wyverns easily could have been one of today's stack recommendations, as they'll face Tigers lefty Ki Hoon Kim, who owns a 5.63 ERA and a 1.72 WHIP while spending the majority of the season in relief. Veteran slugger Jeong Choi ($5,700) will get the platoon advantage against him and is worth consideration with or without his teammates. After struggling to a .374 OPS over an eight-game stretch, he grabbed three hits in his final game prior to paternity list and has reached base safely multiple times in all but one of his seven games since his return. That gives him a .385/.529/.769 slash line with three homers over his last eight contests.

Bargain Bats

Sticking with the Wyverns, Tae Gon Oh ($3,200) will also get the platoon advantage against Kim and looks like a strong budget choice for those willing to go cheap at first base. He hit a rather poor .220/.291/.280 in 40 games for the Wiz this season before being flipped to the Wyverns, where he's had far more success. In the same 40 games, he's hit .311/.347/.462 while also adding 11 steals, an unexpected but quite useful contribution for a first baseman.

While Seung Heon Lee was mentioned above as the best budget pitcher on the slate, he's hardly dominant enough that he should scare you away from the Lions' hitters should you elect not to select him yourself. Dong Yeop Kim ($3,100) remains the most underpriced hitter on DraftKings and is certainly worth consideration in any lineup that doesn't contain Lee. After hitting poorly enough that he was demoted twice early in the season, he's gone on to hit .376/.416/.613 over 52 games since returning from the Futures League in early August. He's only gotten better recently, hitting .417/.488/.639 in his last nine contests.

Stacks to Consider

Heroes vs. Joo Hong Park: Ha Seong Kim ($5,800), Addison Russell ($5,100), Jeong Hyeop Heo ($2,600)

I could probably just write Park's ERA (9.39) and WHIP (1.83) here and leave it at that to explain why stacking the Heroes looks like a great idea, though a deeper dive doesn't do him any favors. He's actually pitched well enough in his five relief appearances this season, allowing two earned runs in 5.2 innings, but he's been awful as a starter, posting a 13.03 ERA and a 2.38 WHIP while striking out six and walking eight over 9.2 frames. It's not as if he's had success in the past, either, as he recorded a 7.98 ERA in 2018 and an 8.68 ERA in 2018. The samples in all three seasons for the 21-year-old lefty have been quite small, but when he's consistently been this bad, it's hard to envision him suddenly turning things around.

While the left-handed Park lasted just two innings in his previous appearance and could well exit just as early in this game, we may as well lead with the Heroes' top righty here. Kim fits that description and is one of the best right-handed bats in the league, though he won't be for long, as he'll reportedly be heading to MLB next season. He looks capable of making the step up, as his .310/.403/.530 slash line is quite good for any position, let alone shortstop. He's swung quite a hot bat lately as well, posting a .431/.484/.724 slash line over his last 15 games.

Russell has been a disappointment this season, and his high price tag is hard to justify given his poor .261/.328/.336 season slash line. He's homered just once in 59 games. Former MLB players do deserve the benefit of the doubt if they struggle over a small sample at a lower level, especially during a year in which the pandemic presumably makes it difficult to settle into a new country. That benefit of the doubt should possibly be expiring sometime soon, as 59 games isn't a tiny sample, but he's thankfully finally starting to show signs of life, grabbing at least one hit in six of his last seven starts. I still wish he's cheaper, but I'm willing to pay up for him given the matchup.

I've gone with Heo to round out this trio of righties primarily for budget reasons, so those with the extra space could consider Byung Ho Park ($4,500), who returned from a broken finger Friday despite previous reports indicating he'd miss the remainder of the regular season. The 30-year-old outfielder didn't accomplish much in 101 plate appearances over the last two seasons, but his .268/.356/.412 line is perfectly respectable, especially at his price. He's been particularly hot over his last seven games, hitting .292/.452/.917 with four homers.

Tigers vs. Soo Min Jung: Preston Tucker ($5,000), Hyung Woo Choi ($4,600), Won Joon Choi ($3,400)

The 30-year-old Jung will be making his season debut as well as his Wyverns debut, as he spent the previous four seasons with the Dinos. Things went quite poorly for him in all four of those campaigns, as illustrated in his ERAs: 6.19, 6.75, 6.05 and finally 16.39. That latter figure came in just 9.1 innings last season, but it's not hard to see why he stopped earning opportunities. The Tigers haven't had an offensive explosion in quite some time, as they haven't scored more than six runs in any of their last 10 games and have done so just once in their last 18, but a matchup against a righty with a career 6.91 ERA and 1.84 WHIP should give them quite a good chance to do so.

Tucker had recorded just four hits over his previous seven games heading into Friday's contest, but he broke out of the slump with a pair of hits. While he no longer owns the four-digit OPS that he had as late into the season as mid-July, it's hard to complain about his .963 mark, the product of a .304/.404/.558 slash line. It's a big step up from his already solid .860 OPS from his KBO debut last season and a much bigger jump than the league's overall 37-point rise.

Hyung Woo Choi is now ahead of Tucker in OPS after an extended hot streak and is actually ahead of every qualified hitter not named Mel Rojas Jr. His .995 mark, which comes with a .347/.429/.566 slash line, puts him within striking distance of a four-digit OPS for the fifth time in his career and the first time since 2017, quite a feat for a 36-year-old. He's hitting .389/.448/.672 over his last 46 contests, though he's been on another level entirely over his last six, hitting .435/.458/1.000 with four homers and 10 RBI.

The gap between the aforementioned pair and the rest of the Tigers' hitters is what keeps their lineup stuck in seventh in scoring. Won Joon Choi is a decent enough cheap option, however. He'll get the platoon advantage just like the above hitters and has locked down the leadoff role, giving him plenty of chances to get knocked in by the team's best bats. He's done well enough on the year despite homering just once, hitting .314/.368/.399 overall. He's been significantly better for almost two months, however, hitting .356/.424/.452 over his last 46 games.