This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
Friday night is big for the baseball fans. There are 11 games on the docket starting at 7:05 p.m. ET or later. You have a lot of options for your DFS lineups, but I'm here to help you sift through all the possibilities to land on some enticing selections. Here are my recommendations.
Pitching
Jacob deGrom, TEX vs. NYY ($11,500): The Sun just shines a little brighter when deGrom is healthy. We got a scare, but in his last outing he went six innings, allowed only one run, and struck out 11. The former Met has an 1.42 FIP through five starts. New York has actually scuffled a bit offensively, and injuries have certainly played a role. Away from Yankee Stadium, I'm happy to roll with a healthy deGrom.
Zach Eflin, TAM at CWS ($9,000): Eflin has made three starts this season, and he has a 2.81 ERA. It's that Rays magic, and the offense support is probably going to be there based on what we have seen thus far. The White Sox have been an early disappointment, and they are in the bottom 10 in runs scored.
Rich Hill, PIT at WAS ($5,800): After two bad starts that made the veteran look like he might be cooked, Hill has a 2.12 ERA over his last three starts. Maybe the crafty lefty still has some tricks up his sleeve, and you can at least count on him to have the advantage against any southpaws in the opposing lineup. Washington is in the bottom five in runs scored, and I feel like it has even been outperforming expectations. Things could get bad fast for the Nationals offensively.
Top Targets
Julio Rodriguez ($5,700) is off to a slow start, and also has five home runs and five stolen bases. That's encouraging, given that he batted .284 as a rookie. His .279 BABIP should improve. Speaking of slow starts, Alek Manoah has a 5.13 ERA, but he hasn't been unlucky. In fact, he has a 5.76 FIP.
While Adolis Garcia ($5,600) has not been running as much – a bummer after a 25/25 season in 2022 – the power has been there with gusto. He's hit seven home runs and slugged .538. Since 2021, he has an .824 OPS at home as well. Clarke Schmidt has a 6.30 ERA, in part because homers are flying out of the park against him. So far, Schmidt has allowed 2.70 home runs per nine innings.
Bargain Bats
Hey, remember William Contreras ($3,700)? He popped in 97 games with Atlanta last year posting an .860 OPS and hitting 20 homers, and then he got dealt to Milwaukee to be its catcher. So far Contreras has been quiet, but the righty has a .309 average and .390 OBP. Lefty Tyler Anderson is really struggling with the Angels, as he has a 6.98 FIP through four starts. A big part of that is the fact righties have hit .361 against him.
The Pirates are the fun story of the start to the 2023 season, and Jack Suwinski ($3,200) is riding that wave. He has five homers and four stolen bases, but he also has a .397 OBP. The lefty will get to face former Pirate pitcher Chad Kuhl, a righty. Oh, also he has a career 4.83 ERA and a 7.36 ERA this season as well.
Stacks to Consider
Diamondbacks at Rockies (Kyle Freeland): Corbin Carroll ($5,300), Ketel Marte ($5,200), Christian Walker ($3,800)
It's Coors Field time! Since 2021, Freeland has a 5.50 ERA at home. He's a lefty, and the Diamondbacks have a lot of lefty batters, but I still found a stack I was happy with to take advantage of MLB's best ballpark for hitters.
Can we give Carroll the NL Rookie of the Year already? The dude's hitting .311 with four homers and 10 stolen bases. Now, he's a southpaw, but I have him in my stack anyway. One, he has a .782 OPS versus lefties in his career so far, which isn't terrible. Two, Freeland has actually allowed lefties to hit .297 against him since 2021. Marte may be a switch hitter, but he has shown a clear favoritism to matchup with southpaws. Over the last three seasons he has a .960 OPS when facing left-handed pitchers. Walker is off to a slow start on the power front, but he hit 36 homers last year. However, his struggles in 2023 have entirely been against righties. When facing southpaws he's slugged .520.
Atlanta at Mets (David Peterson): Ronald Acuna ($6,500), Austin Riley ($5,300), Vaughn Grissom ($3,400)
The last time Peterson was a full-time starter, 2021, he had a 5.54 ERA. He's back in the rotation for 2023, things are going brutally for the southpaw. Through five starts he has a 7.36 ERA, and both lefties and righties have hit over .300 again him. Still, for the sake of matchups, I went with three righties in my Atlanta stack.
I think Acuna is going to steal 40 bases. He already has swiped 13 bags and he has a .443 OBP. Oh, and don't forget that he's slugged .520 in his career. Riley doesn't have issues with righties, but he obliterates lefties. Since 2021 he's slashed .305/.377/.569 against left-handed pitchers. Grissom is up due to injuries, and while he could be performing better, he has a .289 average, which is encouraging. In his career, he has an .889 OPS versus southpaws as well.
Guardians at Red Sox (Nick Pivetta): Jose Ramirez ($5,700), Steven Kwan ($4,600), Andres Gimenez ($4,200)
Pivetta is a warm body for a rotation. That's it. He has a career 5.00 ERA. This season he has a 5.16 FIP and has allowed 1.83 homers per nine innings. Pivetta is also a righty, which is a relief, as the Guardians are fairly lefty heavy.
Ramirez is getting into the swing of things, having slashed .271/.357/.479 with three homers and four stolen bases. While he is a switch hitter, since 2021 he has a .916 OPS versus righties. Kwan has no power, but that's not his game. He gets on base and steals bases. Indeed, this year he has a .357 OBP and has swiped seven bags. Gimenez's power is missing, but he has six stolen bases after having 20 last year. He did hit 17 homers in 2022, and since 2021 he has an .833 OPS in away games.
