DFS KBO: Tuesday Cheat Sheet

Sunday's KBO slate was full of strong pitching, and it played out as expected, with three teams getting shut out and one getting held to one run. Aaron Brooks allowed just one run in six innings while striking out eight, but it wasn't enough, as Won Tae Choi struck out six in seven scoreless frames to lead the Heroes to a 1-0 victory. Elsewhere, Chan Gyu Lim's eight strikeouts in seven scoreless innings helped the Twins to a 4-0 win over the Wyverns, while Drew Rucinski struck out six Bears in seven innings without allowing a run as the Dinos held onto their three-game lead atop the standings with a 5-0 win. On the offensive side, Min Woo Park's four-hit game, which included his third homer of the season, was the performance of the day. Tuesday's slate kicks off the ninth week of the 2020 season, with a matchup between the third-place Bears and second-place Heroes the clear highlight of the set. Tuesday's slate looks to be fairly light on trustworthy pitching, so it should make for a much more high-scoring day.

Pitchers

Ki Young Im ($7,800 DraftKings, $28 FanDuel as "Kia Starting P") would be the best pitcher on the day even if he didn't get to face the lowly Eagles. While he entered the season with an unimpressive 5.08 career ERA, he's breaking out in his age-27 campaign, cruising to a 2.91 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP through his first eight starts. Those numbers don't appear to be a fluke, as he's backed them up with an excellent combination of a 22.2 percent strikeout rate and a 4.0 percent walk rate. I expect him to be very highly-owned on DraftKings, where he's merely the third most expensive pitcher despite having the best numbers and the best matchup.

I don't typically love Mike Wright ($9,500 DraftKings, $28 FanDuel as "NC Starting P") at his very high price, but I'd be willing to pay up for him given the relative lack of alternatives and his matchup against the eighth-ranked Giants lineup. Wright's 3.60 ERA and 1.34 WHIP are both good numbers, though they may somewhat overstate his performances thus far. His underlying numbers aren't anything special, as a .281 BABIP and a 79.7 percent strand rate have help suppress his ERA. His 19.3 percent strikeout rate gives him a decent amount of upside, but it's by no means an elite mark, and his 10.8 percent walk rate is fairly poor. That doesn't add up to a pitcher who deserves to be the most expensive arm on the slate, but he's still someone I'd be happy to use against the Giants if I had the budget space.

Jong Hoon Park ($8,200 DraftKings, $21 FanDuel as "SK Starting P") doesn't seem worth considering at his inexplicably high DraftKings price, but he's an interesting play as the cheapest option on FanDuel. If you're considering him there, you'll have to look past his three most recent starts, as he's given up 18 runs in 14 innings over that stretch, including nine in three frames against a loaded Bears lineup his last time out. The underlying numbers behind his 5.81 ERA are enough to make him at least worthy of consideration as a budget play, however, as he's struck out 22.8 percent of opposing batters while walking a high but not unmanageable 9.5 percent. He's not remotely trustworthy, but as the cheapest possible option against the sixth-ranked Lions lineup, he's potentially worth a shot, even in the league's most hitter-friendly park.

Top Targets

The Twins get what looks to be a rather easy matchup against Wiz righty Min Soo Kim, who owns a 6.41 ERA and a 1.84 WHIP. With Roberto Ramos struggling to a .188/.308/.219 line since returning from ankle and back injuries, I'm hesitant to use him, but I'd be excited to select his teammate, Hyun Soo Kim ($5,300 DraftKings, $15 FanDuel). The veteran outfielder has cooled off slightly following a blistering start, though there's nothing wrong with his .320/.333/.500 slash line over his last 12 games. He's only homered five times this season, but he's kept his slugging percentage high thanks to his 17 doubles, the second-best mark in the league.

Sticking with the theme of selecting a foreign hitter's veteran sidekick, I'm a bit worried about Preston Tucker's 1-for-19 stretch over his last five games, but I'm a big fan of fellow Tiger Hyung Woo Choi ($4,700 DraftKings, $13 FanDuel). The 36-year-old has been among the hottest hitters in the league dating back to late May, as he's hit .365/.442/.649 with six homers and 21 RBI over his last 23 games. The Tigers have been shut out for two straight games, but their offense should come alive in a big way against Eagles righty Shi Hwan Jang, who owns a 6.21 ERA and a 2.07 WHIP through eight starts.

Bargain Bats

Kyoung Min Hur ($2,900 DraftKings, $8 FanDuel) moved up to the leadoff spot for the Bears' last three games and grabbed a pair of hits in all three contests. In six games since returning from a fractured finger, he's gone 9-for-24 (.375) with a pair of homers. His .845 OPS in 30 games overall would be a career high, though it's not out of line with his .835 mark from 2018. He'll be one of a small number of Bears to get the platoon advantage against Heroes lefty Seung Ho Lee, who's only allowed a pair of earned runs over his last three starts but who still owns an unremarkable 4.89 ERA and a 13.5 percent strikeout rate on the season.

While Jong Hoon Park was mentioned as a pitcher worth looking into on FanDuel due to his incredibly cheap price, his recent struggles mean you should certainly not shy away from using Lions against him, especially at hitter-friendly Daegu Samsung Lions Park. Ja Wook Koo ($4,700 DraftKings, $9 FanDuel) only counts as a bargain on FanDuel, but he's an interesting option on either site. A thigh injury has limited him to 28 games this season, but he's produced strong numbers when available, hitting .318/.375/.542 with five homers and six steals. His .917 OPS marks the fifth time in his six-year career that he's posted an OPS north of .900.

Stacks To Consider

Dinos vs. Dae Woo Kim: Sung Bum Na ($6,100 DraftKings, $18 FanDuel), Min Woo Park ($5,200 DraftKings, $12 FanDuel), Hee Dong Kwon ($2,900 DraftKings, $7 FanDuel)

What do you get when you cross the league's best lineup with a 35-year-old pitcher who's thrown just 28.1 career innings? Presumably quite a few runs. Kim's 4.60 ERA in 15.2 innings this season, all of which have come out of the bullpen, isn't the worst figure out there, but it certainly doesn't inspire confidence. He'd only made five appearances from 2011 to 2019, spending most of his time as a hitter. That explains why he's listed as a first baseman on DraftKings, though you won't get to be clever and use him as a third pitcher on this slate, as hitters don't get points for pitching stats on that website. With a career 9.53 ERA and a 2.05 WHIP in very limited action, Kim could allow some crooked numbers to the Dinos in this one, though he's quite likely to make a very short appearance, as he's yet to throw more than 30 pitches in a game this season. The Giants do have some quality arms at the back of their pen, but if the Dinos get to spend a few innings picking on long relievers, this could get ugly.

With Kim seemingly unlikely to go particularly deep in this game, I'm not particularly concerned about the platoon advantage here, but I'm still very happy to start this stack with the left-handed Na. It's a bit confusing that his FanDuel price has risen recently given that he's been in a bit of a slump, grabbing just three hits last week and hitting a modest .230/.288/.443 over his last 15 games. Still, this game seems like as good a time for a bounceback performance as any, as he's coming off two days' rest having sat out Sunday's contest. When he's on, Na is among the best hitters in the league, as he's tied for second in homers (13), tied for fourth in runs (37) and sits alone in fourth in RBI (41).

Park was a triple shy of the cycle in Sunday's win over the Bears, hitting a homer, a double and two singles. He'd been in a bit of a slump over his previous 13 games, struggling to a .217/.250/.261 slash line. When he's on, though, Park is among the best contact hitters in the KBO, posting a career .326 batting average. His .310 average this season should be expected to rise over the rest of the year, as his .313 BABIP is well below his previous full-season low of .357.

Kwon is yet another Dino having a breakout campaign, though it doesn't appear that DraftKings and FanDuel have caught on yet, given his very low price on both sites. The 29-year-old entered the year with decent but rather unremarkable numbers but spent most of the season batting in the bottom third of the Dinos' incredibly deep lineup. He's moved up to the number two spot for the last two games in the absence of Myung Gi Lee (knee) and made an immediate impact, hitting a homer in each contest. He's now hitting .330/.434/.565 with seven homers on the year and will be a steal as long as he remains this cheap.

Heroes vs. Hui Kwan Yu: Dong Won Park ($5,200 DraftKings, $9 FanDuel), Byung Ho Park ($4,300 DraftKings, $14 FanDuel), Jung Hoo Lee ($4,700 DraftKings, $14 FanDuel)

I recommend stacks against Yu more often than his mediocre 4.66 ERA would seem to suggest, but everything about his underlying numbers suggests that number is due to rise by quite a bit. It's very difficult to believe that a pitcher can sustain even a slightly better than average ERA while walking more batters than he strikes out, so Yu's combination of a 7.6 percent strikeout rate and an 8.1 percent walk rate seems very likely to come back to haunt him soon. He did manage a rather strong 3.25 ERA last season on the back of an only slightly better pairing of a 9.3 percent strikeout rate and a 6.1 percent walk rate, but it seems like there ought to be a lower limit to how poor those numbers can be while a pitcher remains relatively effective. The bill could come due against the fourth-ranked Heroes lineup in this one.

Dong Won Park has fallen off following a blistering start, hitting just .170/.339/.319 over his last 16 games, though he might be starting to climb out of the hole, as his .231/.412/.538 slash line last week was lopsided but strong. His season-long numbers remain excellent, as he leads all catchers with nine homers and 24 runs while ranking second in OPS (.922) and third in RBI (30). With the platoon advantage against an unreliable lefty and a spot in the heart of the order for a strong lineup, he's an excellent use of the catcher slot on DraftKings and a solid budget play as an infielder on FanDuel.

Byung Ho Park went hitless in his last two games, but that followed an eight-game stretch in which he'd hit a remarkable .417/.541/1.000 with four homers. His overall .221/.367/.455 slash line remains below his standards, and he's striking out far too often (a league-worst 31.8 percent), but the 33-year-old hasn't lost his power, as his 11 homers tie him for fifth in the league. Yu's surprisingly decent ERA isn't the product of home-run suppression, as his 1.0 HR/9 is right at league average, so Park should have a good chance to launch one out Tuesday.

In the absence of Ha Seong Kim (ankle), we'll need to turn to a lefty to round out this stack, but Lee is having such a good season that he's virtually matchup-proof. After hitting an excellent .359/.430/.598 in May, he's been even better in June, posting a .396/.444/.670 slash line. None of Lee's seven homers thus far have come against southpaws, but he's hitting .342 against them, so he should still be a fine play against Yu.