This article is part of our DraftKings KBO series.
Saturday's KBO slate looked to be one in which quality pitching would be easy to find, and that indeed prove true. Chang Mo Koo held the Heroes to one run in six innings (though given his absurd May, that outing actually raised his ERA), while Drew Gagnon gave up just one earned run in 6.1 frames against the Bears. The best pitching, however, was found in a duel between the Wiz's Je Seong Bae and the Giants' Dan Straily. Bae threw eight scoreless innings to Straily's seven, but the Giants won on a walk-off single by pinch hitter Lo Han Kang. Pitching may be harder to find Sunday, with most teams moving towards the back of their rotations. Additionally, be aware that unlike previous Sundays, all five games will start at 4:00 a.m. EDT, rather than 1:00 a.m.
Pitchers
Odrisamer Despaigne ($8,300 DraftKings, $28 FanDuel as "KT Starting P") looks like the clear top starter Sunday, just as he did ahead of his previous start. Of course, that start didn't go remotely well, as he was lit up by the Bears for 10 runs on 15 hits in five innings. That shouldn't necessarily scare us away from him in this one, though, as he still owns a solid 3.89 ERA and 1.22 WHIP even after that awful outing, backing those numbers up with a 19.4 percent strikeout rate and 3.2 percent walk rate. He'll face the ninth-ranked Giants lineup this time around, a unit that's a far cry
Saturday's KBO slate looked to be one in which quality pitching would be easy to find, and that indeed prove true. Chang Mo Koo held the Heroes to one run in six innings (though given his absurd May, that outing actually raised his ERA), while Drew Gagnon gave up just one earned run in 6.1 frames against the Bears. The best pitching, however, was found in a duel between the Wiz's Je Seong Bae and the Giants' Dan Straily. Bae threw eight scoreless innings to Straily's seven, but the Giants won on a walk-off single by pinch hitter Lo Han Kang. Pitching may be harder to find Sunday, with most teams moving towards the back of their rotations. Additionally, be aware that unlike previous Sundays, all five games will start at 4:00 a.m. EDT, rather than 1:00 a.m.
Pitchers
Odrisamer Despaigne ($8,300 DraftKings, $28 FanDuel as "KT Starting P") looks like the clear top starter Sunday, just as he did ahead of his previous start. Of course, that start didn't go remotely well, as he was lit up by the Bears for 10 runs on 15 hits in five innings. That shouldn't necessarily scare us away from him in this one, though, as he still owns a solid 3.89 ERA and 1.22 WHIP even after that awful outing, backing those numbers up with a 19.4 percent strikeout rate and 3.2 percent walk rate. He'll face the ninth-ranked Giants lineup this time around, a unit that's a far cry from the Bears' second-ranked group.
David Buchanan ($7,100 DraftKings, $26 FanDuel) has exclusively faced the league's top four teams in his five starts this season. He's allowed 16 earned runs in those five starts, giving him a mediocre 4.50 ERA, but 15 of those runs came in just a pair of outings. In his last two starts, which have come against the league's top two lineups, the Dinos and Bears, he's allowed a combined one run over 14 innings. He'll carry that momentum into Sunday's start against a Wyverns side that has been playing much better but which still sits eighth in scoring.
Ki Young Im ($7,600 DraftKings, $25 FanDuel) comes with plenty of risk, but he's worth a look as a mid-priced option on both sites. His numbers this season are quite strong across the board, as he's backed up his 3.67 ERA and 1.19 WHIP with a 21.8 percent strikeout rate and 3.6 percent walk rate. Some of the risk comes from the fact that he didn't pitch at anywhere near this level in his past two seasons, as he had a 6.26 ERA and 1.70 WHIP in 2018 and a 5.73 ERA and 1.77 WHIP last year. Risk also comes from facing the Bears' second-ranked lineup. Still, his current numbers are strong enough that he's worth a look despite those factors.
Top Targets
Roberto Ramos ($4,200 DraftKings, $17 FanDuel) still arguably fits in the bargain category on DraftKings, where he's still cheaper than 10 other first basemen even as his price keeps rising. His FanDuel price is a far more accurate representation of his abilities, as he leads the league in homers (11) and sits second among qualified hitters with a 1.217 OPS. He'll now get the platoon advantage against Heroes righty Hyun Hee Han, who posted good numbers as a reliever last season but who's struggled to a 5.60 ERA and 1.65 WHIP through his first five starts this year.
MLB hopeful Ha Seong Kim ($5,900 DraftKings, $15 FanDuel) has rebounded from an awful start to the season that saw him hit .143/.234/.238 through his first 11 games. He's riding a seven-game hitting streak and has hit .358/.494/.642 over his last 17 contests. The 24-year-old is easily the most expensive shortstop on DraftKings, but he's also easily the best, scoring 2.6 more points per game than anyone else. He should bat second and get the platoon advantage against Twins lefty Woo Chan Cha, who has a poor 5.00 ERA through his first five starts.
Bargain Bats
Ho Ryung Kim ($3,300 DraftKings, $8 FanDuel) was inserted as the Tigers' leadoff man Tuesday for his season debut and immediately made manager Matt Williams look like a genius. He's held onto the role all week, homering twice and stealing a pair of bases while hitting .333. The 28-year-old doesn't have much of a track record, posting a career .253/.319/.356 slash line, and his 10 strikeouts in five games are certainly a worry, but he's worth consideration at his low price as long as he stays hot. He'll get the platoon advantage against Bears lefty Hui Kwan Yu, who's headed towards his second straight season with a strikeout rate under 10 percent, making his solid 3.86 ERA hard to believe.
Dong Won Park ($4,300 DraftKings, $10 FanDuel) only fits in this category on FanDuel, but he's worth strong consideration at a shallow catcher position on DraftKings as well. He's been the best catcher in the league this season, leading all qualified players at the position with his 1.077 OPS. Additionally, he's tied for fifth among all players with seven homers and sits third with 28 RBI. He had a solid season at the plate last year but has reached an entirely new level this campaign, as his .681 slugging percentage is far above his previous career high of .445. Like his teammate Ha Seong Kim, discussed above, he'll get the platoon advantage against the unimposing Woo Chan Cha.
Stacks to Consider
Dinos vs. Ee Whan Kim: Sung Bum Na ($5,700 DraftKings, $17 FanDuel), Jin Sung Kang ($3,900 DraftKings, $10 FanDuel), Jin Hyuk No ($3,600 DraftKings, $9 FanDuel)
The Dinos show up here for the third day in a row, but it's not hard to see why. When you get the league's best offense against the league's worst pitching staff, you get results like we've seen in the first two games of this series, which the Dinos have won by scores of 13-2 and 14-2. There's very little reason to believe things will be any different against Kim on Sunday. The 19-year-old has struggled greatly in four starts and one relief appearance this season, posting a 6.00 ERA and 1.76 WHIP. His 15:14 K:BB is quite poor, but it's actually an improvement on his 15:21 K:BB from his rookie season last year. The Dinos have averaged 10.8 runs per game over their last six contests, and that number looks like it might be their floor in this one.
Na's price keeps climbing on both sites, but it's hard to argue that it's anywhere close to too high. He's looked very healthy after missing most of last season due to a knee injury, posting a career-best 1.110 OPS, good for fifth among qualified hitters. His 10 homers are good for second place, while his 27 runs tie him for first. As the No. 3 hitter in the league's best lineup who will get the platoon advantage against the day's worst starter, there's rarely been a more obvious play than this one.
Kang has also seen his price rise, but it seemingly hasn't risen nearly far enough. After accomplishing very little in a very small role in his first four seasons in the league, he's stormed out of the gate this season, taking advantage of unexpected playing time due to Chang Min Mo's shoulder injury to post a ridiculous .459/.529/.838 slash line, first among qualified hitters in all three slash-stat categories. An unsustainable .439 BABIP has undoubtedly helped him, but he deserves plenty of credit for his .343 ISO and 10.8 percent strikeout rate. He won't get the platoon advantage against Kim, but that shouldn't keep you away from him given his absurd start and cheap price.
Virtually every member of the Dinos' lineup is worth a look in this one, so I'll use this space to highlight a cheaper, less-heralded option. No bats in the back half of the loaded Dinos lineup, but he's produced numbers that would fit near the top of the lineup for most squads. The 30-year-old is having a career year, posting personal bests in all three components of his .319/.392/.538 slash line. He was merely above-average last season, his only year where he even counted as being in that category, but you won't have to pay up for him as if he's anything more than that.
Wiz vs. Se Woong Park: Mel Rojas ($6,700 DraftKings, $16 FanDuel), Yong Ho Jo ($3,000 DraftKings, $8 FanDuel), Jeong Dae Bae ($2,800 DraftKings, $10 FanDuel)
The Wiz's bats may have gone silent against Dan Straily in their 1-0 loss on Saturday, but they'll face a much easier task against Park in the series finale. The 24-year-old has struggled to a 6.38 ERA this season, closer to his 4.20 ERA from last year than his 9.92 mark from 2018, but quite poor nonetheless. His underlying numbers don't offer much reason to believe he'll be significantly better going forward, as he's recorded a 1.75 WHIP, 14.9 percent strikeout rate and 9.7 percent walk rate.
Nearly every Wiz stack should start with the switch-hitting Rojas, even at his incredibly high DraftKings price. His hitless day Saturday was just his third of the season, bringing his slash line down to a still-incredible .398/.444/.726. He's all over the leaderboards this season, ranking third in OPS (1.169), third in runs (24), third in homers (nine) and second in RBI (29). He'd hit five homers and driven in 14 runs over a five-game stretch heading into Saturday's contest and could get right back to that level of performance with Park on the mound.
Jo is quite cheap for someone who's the No. 3 hitter on the league's third-best offense. The 30-year-old didn't have much of a track record prior to this season, but he's been on fire out of the gate this year, hitting .380/.457/.443. That line has certainly been propped up by a .423 BABIP, but he's seeing the ball very well, posting an 11:9 BB:K. He's yet to homer in his 198-game KBO career, but his lineup position and platoon advantage against one of the day's weakest starters makes him worthy of consideration at his very cheap price.
Unlike Rojas and Jo, Bae won't get the platoon advantage, but he's quite similar to Jo in that he's very cheap and occupies a key spot (second) in one of the league's best lineups. The 24-year-old had never recorded an OPS above .595 in four very small-sample seasons prior to this year, but he appears to be breaking out in this campaign, hitting an excellent .359/.405/.534. An unsustainable .439 BABIP is again part of the picture here, but Bae can fall quite far and still be worth his inexpensive price.
