This article is part of our DraftKings KBO series.
The weather held up Friday, but we still couldn't get a full KBO slate, as two games were cancelled after a pair of Dinos tested positive for COVID-19. The Dinos-Heroes game was unsurprisingly postponed as a result, as was the game between the Twins and Bears, since the Bears had just played the Dinos earlier in the week. Both matchups are seemingly at risk for another cancellation Saturday, though neither game has officially been axed as of writing. Those aren't the only games with question marks as of writing, as rain could potentially wash away the Eagles-Landers and Wiz-Tigers contests. With so much uncertainty throughout the slate, I'll be recommending players from all five games here, but you'll definitely want to double-check what the day will actually look like before contests start. Most of the pitchers whose scheduled starts were postponed Friday are set to start again Saturday, so portions of this article will be directly borrowed from yesterday's column.
Pitchers
There enough playable options Saturday that you certainly don't have to pay up for Odrisamer Despaigne ($9,800), but his high price is well worth considering against a Tigers lineup that's only scoring a hundredth of a run per game more than the last-ranked Eagles unit. Despaigne wasn't much more than an innings eater last season, as he led the league by tossing 207.2 frames but posted a mediocre 4.33 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. He's been something else entirely this season, with his ERA and WHIP dropping to 2.42 and 1.27, respectively, backed by a huge jump in his strikeout rate from 16.4 percent to 23.9 percent. He's coming off an unimpressive outing his last time on the hill against the Heroes, giving up three runs while failing to complete the fifth inning, but I'm willing to forgive one bad outing given how dominant he's been throughout the year.
For an alternative expensive option, consider Wes Parsons ($9,300). He's been somewhat shaky recently, but his overall body of work justifies his high price. He owns a 10:9 K:BB over his last two outings, which bookend a brief trip to the injured list with elbow issues, though his six runs allowed in 11 innings over that stretch is far from terrible. He was among the league's best starters in the six outings prior to that brief blip, tossing six straight quality starts while posting a 2.75 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 12.8 K/9. That kind of performance gives him a very high ceiling, even against a Heroes lineup that ranks fourth in scoring.
20-year-old southpaw Won Seok Oh ($6,000) isn't the most consistent option at this early stage of his career, but anyone who's shown anything is worth a look at this kind of price against the last-ranked Eagles lineup. Oh, who was one of the top picks in last year's draft, clears that low bar. His 4.54 ERA isn't terrible, and he's struck out a roughly average 17.7 percent of opposing batters. His 13.0 percent walk rate is far too high, inflating his WHIP to 1.59, but that's all baked into his low price. He isn't in one of his best stretches of the season, struggling to a 5.40 ERA over his last four starts, but that follows a five-outing stretch in which he recorded a 1.42 ERA. A date with the Eagles should help him look more like he did during that hot streak.
Top Targets
Jae Hwan Kim ($5,700) earned a recommendation here yesterday before the Bears-Twins game was cancelled, and he's only gotten more interesting Saturday with the Twins switching starters from Casey Kelly to Min Ho Lee, who owns a mediocre 4.63 ERA. Kim is in the midst of his best year since his MVP campaign back in 2018. His .271/.400/.508 slash line represents his best marks since that season in the latter two categories, and he's on pace for 31 homers, narrowly beating his 30 from last season. He missed the last two games in June and the first three in July with a knee issue but recorded multi-hit games in his first two games back in the lineup this week.
Hitters up and down the Lions' lineup get a whole lot more exciting at home, and that's especially true for Jose Pirela ($5,900). While there's little difference between his .319 average at home and his .312 mark on the road, there's a huge gap between his .620 home slugging percentage and his .468 away mark. 14 of his 19 homers, a total which is good for third in the league, have come at home. That makes him well worth his high price Saturday, even against Se Woong Park, who owns a respectable 4.11 ERA on the season but has allowed a league-high 12 home runs.
Bargain Bats
Investing on both sides of the game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, the most hitter-friendly venue in the KBO, seems like a good idea even with the Lions trotting out Tae In Won and his 2.59 ERA, as his 4.29 ERA over his last seven outings looks nothing like his 1.00 mark over his first seven. As usual, Ah Seop Son ($3,000) provides the Giants' most cost-efficient option against a righty. His recovery from a poor start has been quite impressive. Through 45 games, he was hitting just .261/.343/.288, but he's rebounded to hit .408/.483/.524 over his last 26 contests. That's helped him deservedly move back into the second spot in the order, so he should be in the middle of whatever the Giants manage against Won.
Yoo Seom Han ($3,600) remains one of the league's most interesting inexpensive outfielders and is worth a look whenever the Landers face an unintimidating righty. Min Woo Kim falls into that category, as his 4.06 ERA is perfectly fine but shouldn't scare anyone away from selecting some Landers bats. Han didn't do much during his first 47 games, hitting a modest .244/.339/.394 with five homers, but he's turned things on over the last month. He's cleared the fence eight times in 24 games over that stretch, driving in 23 runs while hitting .314/.438/.700 and walking as many times as he's struck out.
Stacks to Consider
Twins vs. Young Ha Lee: Hyun Soo Kim ($4,500), Chang Ki Hong ($4,400), Eun Seong Chae ($4,300)
As was the case Friday, Saturday's slate is full of decent or better starters, but Lee stands on his own at the bottom of the pack as a clear outlier. After struggling to a 5.52 ERA and 1.77 WHIP in 19 starts last season, he moved to the bullpen and cruised to a 1.04 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 23 relief appearances. The Bears moved him back to the rotation this year in hopes that he'd maintain some of those improvements, but a move back to the pen could be coming soon. He hasn't been close to good enough through seven starts, posting an awful 9.82 ERA and 2.18 WHIP. Those numbers come with a similarly terrible combination of a 9.7 percent strikeout rate and 14.9 percent walk rate, so there's little reason to believe things will turn around soon.
The stack listed here features three mid-priced outfielders, each of whom has dropped by $100 from their price on Friday's slate. Kim earns a spot despite the fact that he's gone hitless in five straight games, as there's no better way to break out of a slump than by getting the platoon advantage against a starter with an ERA north of 9.00. It's not often that you'll see a player with a career OPS of .896 this affordable, and that lengthy track record should outweigh a poor five-game stretch. Hong will also get the platoon advantage against Lee and has remained one of the league's best leadoff men throughout the season. He's currently riding a 16-game hitting streak, slashing .452/.547/.565 over that stretch. Chae won't get the platoon advantage, but he's been too hot lately to ignore. He's homered five times and driven in 18 runs over his last 14 games, hitting .385/.426/.712 over that stretch while striking out just four times.
Wiz vs. Eui Lee Lee: Baek Ho Kang ($5,300), Jae Gyun Hwang ($5,000), Sung Woo Jang ($4,500)
Every pitcher on this slate except Young Ha Lee has at least something that makes them interesting, so we'll turn to the league's second-ranked offense against a pitcher who's been fairly inconsistent for our second stack recommendation here. Eui Lee Lee comes with plenty of promise, as a 4.18 ERA is a very respectable mark for a 19-year-old rookie, while his 25.1 percent strikeout rate is strong regardless of age. He doesn't have particularly good control at this stage of his career, however, walking 13.1 percent of opposing batters, and that's led to a handful of poor starts. He didn't give up more than three earned runs in any of his first six starts, but he's since allowed four or more in four of his last seven outings, posting a 4.66 ERA over that stretch. The Wiz got to see him as recently as late June and scored four runs in five frames, and a similar result could be coming Saturday.
Prioritizing the Wiz's right-handed bats makes sense against the young lefty, but it's hard to recommend a Wiz stack without including Kang. Kang does have a platoon split, but it's not as though his .395/.490/.556 line against lefties this season is anything close to disappointing, so I'd be very comfortable selecting him here. Hwang will get the platoon advantage against Lee and is in the middle of an excellent run which has seen him record seven multi-hit games in his last nine. He's hit .395 with three homers, 12 runs and 14 RBI over that stretch. Jang is a tier below the league's best backstops, but his .756 OPS on the season is very respectable for the position. He's been particularly hot thus far in July, homering three times in six games while hitting .400.
