This article is part of our DraftKings KBO series.
Saturday's KBO slate was a high-scoring one, as five of the eight teams whose games were included on DraftKings' slate scored at least seven runs. Good stacks weren't hard to find, though stacking the middle of the Heroes' lineup may have worked out best. Each of the team's fourth through seventh hitters grabbed at least three hits in their 12-7 victory over the Dinos, with Woo Hyun Song leading the way with four. On the opposite side of that contest, Eui Ji Yang had one of the performances of the day, launching two homers. Elsewhere, six Lions had multi-hit days in the team's 9-1 win over the Giants, while five different Landers homered in a 7-5 win over the Eagles.
We're back for a full, five-game slate Sunday, beginning at 4 a.m. ET. In contrast to Saturday's action, Sunday's games feature a large number of the league's best pitchers.
Pitchers
Wes Parsons ($10,200) was inconsistent at best at the start of his first KBO campaign, posting a 4.88 ERA, 1.75 WHIP and 25:19 K:BB over his first five starts. He's flipped the switch in an impressive way since then, recording five straight quality starts and cruising to a 2.75 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 51:10 K:BB. He's suddenly become one of the league's premier strikeout threats, whiffing at least nine batters in each of his last three outings to raise his strikeout rate to 29.5 percent, a mark that ties him for second among qualified starters. That gives him big fantasy upside on any given night, especially against a Heroes lineup which has the second-highest strikeout rate in the league.
Ryan Carpenter ($8,900) looked like possibly the signing of the season at the start of the year, cruising to a 1.27 ERA and 1.10 WHIP over his first six starts. He hit a rough patch over his next six outings, however, stumbling to a 4.86 ERA and 1.44 WHIP with just a single quality start. His last start against the Giants provides reason to believe that he's getting back on track, though, as he allowed just two runs on five hits in six innings of work. His walk rate has crept up and sits at 11.8 percent, but his 25.2 percent strikeout rate, the fifth-best mark among qualified starters, has generally been enough to overcome that. The fifth-ranked Landers lineup won't be pushovers, but it's not a unit that should scare you away from someone with Carpenter's ceiling.
Casey Kelly ($7,500) doesn't have the same strikeout upside as the aforementioned arms, but he should offer plenty of value at his rather inexpensive price, especially against a Tigers lineup that ranks last in scoring. He's struck out four or fewer batters in nine of his 12 starts this season but has still managed to keep runs off the board, posting a 3.39 ERA and 1.28 WHIP on the year. He looked to be hitting a rough patch at the start of May, struggling to a 5.63 ERA over his first four starts of the month, but he's turned things around over his last three, allowing a total of four runs. Throw in the fact that he'll be pitching at the league's most pitcher-friendly park, and it's hard to envision him having too much trouble against the Tigers here.
Top Targets
The Twins narrowly missed out on being one of the day's top stack recommendations, but I'm certainly interested in including some of their hitters against Tigers righty Myeong Jin Cha, a 26-year-old with a career 5.31 ERA in just 39 KBO innings. Leadoff man Chang Ki Hong ($4,900) may be the Twin to grab if you include just one. The 27-year-old had received just 56 career plate appearances prior to last season but has suddenly emerged as one of the league's best on-base threats, posting a .409 on-base percentage last season and a .469 mark this year, good for third among qualified hitters. He's also a threat on the basepaths and is tied for fourth with 13 steals.
Dan Straily has looked rather shaky lately, struggling to a 7.97 ERA over his last four starts, so I wouldn't rule out selecting some Lions against him. If you don't want to pay up for the team's most expensive bats given Straily's pedigree, Hae Min Park ($4,200) makes for a good mid-tier option. He's swung a hot bat over his last seven games, hitting .407/.448/.593. His .381 on-base percentage on the year isn't up there with the likes of Hong but should still give him plenty of chances to score should Straily struggle again. If the Lions need to manufacture a run, he can help there, too, as his 22 steals are good for second in the league.
Bargain Bats
Ryon Healy's ($4,000) bat may finally be coming alive. His .248/.288/.333 slash line was poor for anyone but fell far short of the lofty expectations placed on foreign hitters. He's still been below those expectations over his last 26 contests, but his .274/.337/.421 over that stretch is at least competent. We should expect those numbers to continue to improve given his respectable .748 OPS in 405 games at the MLB level, but even continuing to produce at that level would make him a fine mid-tier option at either corner position. That's especially true Sunday, as he'll get the platoon advantage against Landers lefty Jeong Bin Kim, a 27-year-old with a career 5.56 ERA in just 56.2 KBO innings.
Eric Jokisch was a potentially notable absence from today's pitcher section, though it's hard to recommend any pitcher against the top-ranked Dinos lineup. Even pitchers as good as Jokisch can struggle against that unit, as he's allowed seven runs in 13 innings while posting a 6:4 K:BB in two starts against them this year. He's a good enough pitcher that I wouldn't pay up for the Dino's top bats here, but Hui Dong Kwon ($2,600) is a very interesting option. Anyone who comes this cheap while batting second in the order for the league's best lineup is automatically interesting, even if they're not as talented of a hitter as Kwon is. Given that he owns an .865 OPS on the season even while a .224 BABIP suppresses his .240 batting average, however, he'd be worth including even if he was considerably more pricy.
Stacks to Consider
Wiz vs. Min Gyu Kim: Baek Ho Kang ($6,100), Jae Gyun Hwang ($5,000), Yong Ho Cho ($3,800)
There are a fair number of appealing stack options Sunday, but the second-ranked Wiz offense seems like a nice place to start. The might wind up being just a bullpen day for the Bears, as Kim has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen this season. He hasn't thrown more than 3.1 innings in any of his 14 appearances and hasn't thrown more than two since late April. If the Wiz get to face the Bears' long relievers as early as the third or fourth inning, that will make them very interesting fantasy options, but they'll be just as interesting even if Kim is asked to pitch deeper into the game, as he's recorded an 8.10 ERA and 1.80 WHIP on the year.
The stack listed here features the likely top three hitters in the Wiz lineup. Kang is deservedly the most expensive hitter on the slate and is well worth paying up for almost every night. His batting average dipped back below .400 after he went hitless in the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, but there's certainly nothing wrong with any element of his .396/.478/.559 slash line. Hwang is one of the top options at the fairly thin third base slot. The former San Francisco Giant has swung a hot bat since his return from a broken nose at the start of June, hitting .310/.385/.500 over 15 games. He's homered three times in his last six games. Cho has still yet to hit a homer in 361 career games at the KBO level, but he's an affordable option who sets the table well for the likes of Kang and Hwang, getting on base at .396 clip.
Giants vs. Seung Min Lee: Dae Ho Lee ($5,300), Dixon Machado ($5,100), Ah Seop Son ($3,400)
Seung Min Lee may be just 20 years old, but he doesn't necessarily have all that much potential. The lefty was merely a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft and showed very little in five starts and two relief appearances as a rookie last year, walking more batters than he struck out en route to a 6.84 ERA and 2.01 WHIP, numbers that are hardly surprising considering that his fastball averaged just 82.2 mph. He's gained a tick of velocity this year and is at least striking out more batters than he's walked this season, but he's not having much more success keeping runs off the board, struggling to a 6.75 ERA through seven starts. The Giants get an extra benefit here as the top of their lineup is heavily right-handed, but they'd be one of the day's top stacks even if that weren't true.
The group listed here features the players who hit in the first three spots in the order in both of the Giants' last two games. Veteran slugger Dae Ho Lee has gone just 1-for-8 in two games since returning from a side injury, but his .317/.394/.507 season slash line makes him a strong choice at first base. Machado is unusual among the league's foreign hitters in that he's a glove-first player, but he's useful enough with the bat, especially at shortstop, which doesn't offer many strong options. He finished with a .778 OPS in his KBO debut last year and has a slightly better .789 mark thus far this season. Son is included here despite the fact that he bats left-handed, both in an effort to keep the stack affordable and because he's been very hot lately. He has a hit in 12 of his last 13 games, hitting .415/.483/.547 over that stretch.
