KBO DFS: Saturday Cheat Sheet

Friday's KBO action offered an increasingly rare commodity: a full, five-game slate with zero rainouts. With a high number of top starters taking the mound, scoring was generally low, with six teams scoring three or fewer runs. Three sides did manage to reach double digits, though. The expected pitchers' duel between Dan Straily and Aaron Brooks did indeed come to pass, with Straily striking out 10 in six innings but earning the loss after allowing three runs (two earned), as Brooks lasted eight innings while allowing just a single run despite striking out a modest four. In a surprising turn, though, the Tigers' 3-2 win wasn't actually the lowest-scoring game of the night, as the Eagles defeated the Twins 2-1 behind an outstanding performance from Shi Hwan Jang, who struck out eight batters over seven scoreless innings while allowing just a single hit, making Casey Kelly's seven-inning, one-run showing look practically mediocre. On the offensive side, the Dinos, Wiz and Heroes all scored at least 10 runs, creating several prime stack opportunities. Jae Gyun Hwang had the best game of the night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a pair of homers, while Addison Russell cleared the fence for the first time in his KBO career. 

Unfortunately, we may not get another five-game slate Saturday, as rain appears to be a factor in the northern part of the country, with the Eagles-Twins game in Seoul and the Wyverns-Wiz game in Suwon looking threatened as of writing.

Pitchers

Jake Brigham ($9,700) comes with plenty of risk, as elbow issues have limited him to just six starts this season and led to him being scratched from his previous scheduled outing. He's been cleared to pitch Saturday, though, and while he lasted just five innings and 82 pitches in both of his last two outings, he's a good bet to produce a strong performance on a per-inning basis. His 3.54 ERA this season is strong, though he was even better last season, posting a 2.96 ERA, good for seventh among all qualified starters. The sixth-ranked Lions lineup, which is currently lacking a foreign hitter as the team waits for Daniel Palka to arrive, shouldn't provide too much of a challenge.

Ki Young Im ($9,100) struggled to ERAs of 6.26 and 5.73 over the last two seasons, but he's been an entirely different pitcher through 12 starts this year, posting a 3.84 ERA. His strikeout rate has jumped by over four percentage points, sitting at 20.5 percent, while he's cut his walk rate to 5.7 percent. Like Brigham, he's battled injuries recently, skipping a start due to shoulder inflammation, but this will be his second start back in the rotation. He hasn't been at his best over his last three outings, struggling to a 6.75 ERA, but his early-season dominance keeps him an interesting option here, especially against the Giants' eighth-ranked offense.

For a cheaper option, consider Se Woong Park ($7,000), who faces Im and the seventh-ranked Tigers lineup on the opposite side of that contest. Park's 5.05 ERA through 13 starts is rather uninspiring, but his 18.1 percent strikeout rate and 8.7 percent walk rate are perfectly adequate numbers. His high 1.5 HR/9 has done him in thus far, though that number can vary quite a lot in shorter samples; he recorded a 4.20 ERA last season with a lower strikeout rate but a 0.5 HR/9. His ERA is held back by a 6.08 mark over his first eight starts, as he hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of his last five starts, cruising to a 3.46 ERA over that stretch.

Top Targets

There's rarely a bad time to select Jose Fernandez ($6,100), but now seems to be as good a time as ever. The Cuban designated hitter is hitting .365 with a tiny 5.8 percent strikeout rate this season, somehow managing to improve on his .344 batting average and 8.4 percent strikeout rate from his KBO debut last season. He's added a surprising amount of power, however, as his total of 14 homers is already one shy of his mark from last season. Six of those homers have come in his last 18 games, with one coming in each of his last two contests. He'll get the platoon advantage against Dinos righty Mike Wright, whose decent 4.04 ERA comes with a 1.41 WHIP and an 11.1 percent walk rate.

Dong Min Han ($4,100) has been one of the KBO's best power hitters this season, though he's only hit 10 homers as a bruised shin has limited him to just 32 games. He's hitting a homer once every 12.2 plate appearances, a number slightly better than home run leader Mel Rojas Jr.'s 12.4 mark. Over his last 11 games, which covers the majority of Han's time since returning from the shin injury, he's hitting .257/.366/.600 with four homers. He'll get the platoon advantage Saturday against Wiz righty Hyeong Jun So, who's struggled to a 5.90 ERA in his rookie season.

Bargain Bats

If there were multiple Eagles worth selecting, they likely would have been a stack recommendation against Twins lefty Yun Sik Kim, a rookie who owns a 6.75 ERA and is set to make just his second career start. That's unfortunately not the case, but Brandon Barnes ($3,000) remains one of the day's biggest bargains. He hasn't exactly dominated the KBO through his first 10 games, though his .243/.349/.405 slash line is decent enough for his price. He primarily earns a spot here because every player deemed worthy of one of a KBO team's precious few foreign player spots deserves the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. $3,000 is simply far too cheap for a former major leaguer just 10 games into his KBO career.

Like Barnes, Addison Russell ($3,300) is dramatically underpriced for the expected level of performance for a foreign hitter, though the effect is arguably far more pronounced in his case. Barnes struggled to a 68 wRC+ in his 484 MLB games, while Russell posted a far more respectable 87 wRC+ in 615 contests. He's also hit the ground running to a far greater extent than Barnes has, going 5-for-14 with a homer and five RBI through his first three games. He'll face Lions right David Buchanan, who's been good this season but not consistently so and who will be pitching in the league's most hitter-friendly ballpark. 

Stacks To Consider

Dinos vs. Young Ha Lee: Sung Bum Na ($5,600), Eui Ji Yang ($5,200), Jin Hyuk No ($4,300)

The league-leading Dinos feature the KBO's highest-scoring offense, so it shouldn't be a surprise to see them featured here whenever they face a shaky starter. Lee certainly fits that description this season. The 23-year-old is coming off a year in which he posted a 3.64 ERA, though he struck out just 13.0 percent of opposing batters. He's marginally improved his strikeout rate, which sits at a still-poor 13.9 percent, but that's led to a 5.70 ERA when combined with his high 10.6 percent walk rate. He hasn't struck out more than four batters in any of his last eight starts and has allowed fewer than four runs just once in that span.

With a struggling righty on the mound for the Bears, we'll lean towards the Dinos' lefties here. Na is certainly well-qualified to lead this group. The number three hitter is having the sort of bounceback campaign he needed to have if he's to prove he's healthy and ready to make the jump to MLB, his stated goal, after missing the majority of the 2019 season due to a knee injury. On the season as a whole, he's hitting .307/.379/.594 with 18 homers, good for a share of third place. He finished a strong month of July on Friday, hitting .329/.390/.630 across 18 games.

Yang's .914 OPS on the season may be a slight disappointment given his own ridiculous standards, as he posted a mark over 1.000 in that category in each of the two previous campaigns. Still, that's a more than adequate number at any position and a clearly elite mark at catcher. He missed a pair of games last weekend with a back issue but returned to grab six hits over his last three games. He won't get the platoon advantage against Lee but should still be the clear top option behind the plate.

No has struck the ball quite well all season, posting a .281/.350/.507 slash line. He'd been a decent enough contact hitter in the past, but that power is new, as his slugging percentage is over 50 points better than his previous career high. He's already homered 11 times, just two shy of his career high of 13 set last season. He's been even better over his last 15 contests, hitting .296/.367/.648 with five homers and 15 RBI. That's been enough to move him up to sixth in the order, where he'll be able to clean up any baserunners not driven in by Na and Yang.

Twins vs. Warwick Saupold: Hyun Soo Kim ($5,000), Roberto Ramos ($4,700), Ji Hwan Oh ($4,800)

Saupold is by no means the worst pitcher on the slate, but he's far from an intimidating arm. He'd been able to avoid runs fairly well through his first 10 starts, posting a 3.50 ERA, but his low 5.7 K/9 foreshadowed his recent struggles. He's struggled to a 7.12 ERA in his last five outings, with his six-inning, three-run, two-strikeout performance his last time out against the lowly Wyverns standing out as easily his most impressive outing of the stretch. He simply allows far too much contact to be a shutdown arm, as his 13.1 percent strikeout rate sits fifth-lowest among qualified starts.

Kim has clearly reclaimed the mantle as the Twins' top hitter, posting a .341/.403/.569 slash line through 72 games. That high average is no surprise, but it's a bit startling to see him hit for that much power, as his slugging percentage represents his highest mark since all the way back in 2009. With exactly half the season in the books, his 14 homers put him on pace to tie his career high of 28. Nine of those homers have come in his last 22 games, a stretch in which he's hitting .376/.465/.753.

Ramos opened the year looking like an MVP candidate but has since fallen back to looking like Kim's sidekick, though that's still a fine place to be for a player of his relatively affordable price. When he hit the injured list with ankle and back issues in mid-June, he was hitting .380/.448/.796, but he went on to hit a poor .226/.321/.366 in his first 25 games after returning to action. His bat appears to be waking up again, however, as he's hit .303/.361/.636 with three homers in his last eight games.

Like Kim and Ramos, Oh will get the platoon advantage against Saupold in this one. The 30-year-old shortstop had been a roughly average hitter over most of his 12-year KBO career, but he's done quite well for himself this season, hitting .289/.336/.474. His .810 OPS is the second-best mark of his career, while his eight homers put him on pace for 16, which would also be his second-best mark. Much of his damage has been done recently, as he's riding a 15-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .365 with four homers, 16 runs and 16 RBI.