This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
It's quite the light day of baseball Thursday. There are six games on the docket, but DraftKings is not doing any full-day slates. What you can do, though, is play the three afternoon games, with the first pitch at 12:35 p.m. ET, or the evening slate of three games, which starts at 7:05 p.m. ET. I figured I would throw in recommendations for both slates, because why not? Otherwise I would just be making recommendations for three games, and I wanted to give a little than that for Thursday.
Pitching
Kodai Senga, NYM at CIN ($10,300): Senga's bounced back from a couple poor starts, and now he has a 3.38 ERA thus far in his MLB debut. Now, those two starts were against the Nationals and the Rockies, but this matchup isn't necessarily any tougher. The Reds are in the bottom 10 in runs scored and the lineup really lacks power.
Nathan Eovaldi, TEX at OAK ($9,500): Eovaldi has been on fire, as over his last two starts he's gone 17.0 innings and allowed zero runs. Facing the Athletics should help on that front, and if he goes five innings it's almost a lock he'll get a win against a team primed to challenge for the worst record in MLB history. Oakland is in the bottom five in runs scored, and its park is also pitcher friendly.
Top Targets
After hitting 14 homers and stealing 21 bases in 2022, Thairo Estrada ($5,700) has taken things to a new level this year. In addition to having six home runs and 10 swiped bags already, he's batted .338 and slugged .522. Lefty Tommy Henry has a career 5.31 ERA, and it's concerning that he has a 5.17 ERA this season with three starts against the Rockies, Nationals, and Royals.
Brandon Nimmo ($4,800) sets the table nicely for the Mets, as he has a .406 OBP this year, in line with his career .386 on-base percentage. The lefty gets on, and then he gets driven in by his teammates, and he did score 102 runs in 2022. It seems Nimmo is in line to face Ben Lively, a 31-year-old journeyman who was just called up from Triple-A. He last pitched regular in the majors in 2017, which, well, even before I say he had a 4.26 ERA that year, you probably could deduce that wasn't a good sign for him.
Bargain Bats
Quietly, Vinnie Pasquantino ($4,100) slashed .295/.383/.450 with 10 home runs in 72 games last year. This season, he's added power to the mix, as he's slugged .539 and has seven homers already. Mike Clevinger had a 4.97 FIP last season, and it doesn't seem like it was just about working back from injury. This year he has a 5.18 FIP through seven starts.
As a rookie, Andrew Vaughn ($3,500) struggled with righties but smashed lefties, but over the last couple of seasons he's actually hit righties better. Now, he's never lived up to the expectations for his bat, but he has a .337 OBP this year with four homers and 12 doubles. Brady Singer is having a brutal campaign, as he's allowed more home runs than usual and has an 8.82 ERA as a result. Since 2021, Singer has allowed righties to hit .281 against him, and this year that number is up to .328.
Stacks to Consider
Rays at Yankees (Domingo German): Randy Arozarena ($5,900), Wander Franco ($5,500), Brandon Lowe ($4,400)
German doesn't allow a lot of contact, but the contact he allows tends to be damaging. His ground ball percentage tends to be low, and he's allowed 1.61 home runs per nine innings in his career. There's a reason why German has posted a FIP over 4.00 every year since his rookie season. The Rays' lineup could hit him hard, including this trio.
Arozarena seems to be running a bit less, he only has three swiped bags, but he's hitting so well why mess with things? The righty has slashed .319/.394/.570 with nine home runs. Maybe Franco hasn't graduated from elite prospect to MVP candidate yet, but he's getting there. The switch hitter has slashed .310/.369/.552 with seven homers and 11 stolen bases. Now, he's been caught stealing four times already, but that shows he's clearly looking to run at least. The lefty Lowe swings for the fences, but that's perfect for a matchup with German. Since 2021, Lowe has slugged .495 versus righties, and that includes last year when he struggled at the plate in an injury-plagued campaign.
Rangers at Athletics (Hogan Harris): Marcus Semien ($5,600), Nathaniel Lowe ($4,500), Josh Jung ($4,400)
We have Harris projected to start for the Athletics at the moment, but the pitcher is murky due to pitching injuries. Even if Harris starts, I imagine it might be to start up a bullpen game. The Athletics are terrible. They have the worst pitching staff in the majors, and silver-lining rookie Mason Miller is banged up. I'm happy to stay three Rangers against whoever is pitching for the A's.
Semien is on the road, so he's in my stack. He has as stark of home/road splits as I can remember, but he's still slashed .290/.377/.476 with six homers and five stolen bases this season after having 26 of the former and 25 of the latter in 2022. Lowe is a lefty, but since 2021 he has an .817 OPS versus southpaws and an .801 OPS against righties. In that time, he also has an .846 OPS on the road. Jung needs to learn to work a walk, but he's slugged .467 with eight homers so he's got skill with his bat. Hopefully he gets a chance to see a lefty (and Harris is a lefty), as in his career he has an 1.005 OPS against left-handed pitchers.
