Well for those of you who read my first DFS article of the season and tagged along….. I’d like to apologize for helping you finish dead last in whatever 50/50 contest you entered. That lineup did absolutely nothing as we might have well lit that money on fire. We’re back ready to rock in Week 2 as we hope to put those Jose Suarez horrors behind us. Onto this week’s top selections!
I’ll be bringing you my DFS picks for the main evening slate on Tuesday, April 11th, 2023. If you play on DraftKings, it is an 10-game slate starting at 6:05 Central time. This article will be primarily focused on the DraftKings slate, so if you play on Fanduel I encourage you to sign up for the DFS tools to help you make the best decisions for your lineups on FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo.
New to DFS? You can start playing right now on FanDuel and put our picks to the test. If you’re scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFS Bot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray, it helps support your Razzball team!
Shohei Ohtani, SP: $9,700. Let’s see here. Ohtani was already up to 111 pitches in his last outing so stamina and workload doesn’t seem to be an issue so far. His control hasn’t been great as he has allowed 7 walks over his 12 innings so far, but he has also struck out 18, and allowed just 5 hits and 1 earned run. Ohtani gets the Nationals who surprisingly are the 3rd best team thus far at not striking out. Either way, this is a value here at this price after I paid 10.5K for Bieber last week.
Pablo Lopez, SP: $7,300. Lopez has thrown 12.1 Innings so far this year and only allowed 5 hits as well same as Ohtani. Also only one earned run so far. Lopez is slacking in the Ks though compared to Shohei. He’s only got 16!!!! Lopez gets the White Sox who are 4th in runs so far on the young season, but I think he can shut them down. So to recap I am playing 2 starters who have combined for 34 Ks in 24 innings and have allowed a combined 2 Earned Runs. What could go wrong?
Luis Campusano, C: $2,400. I don’t know if Campy will get the nod or Nola in the lineup on Monday and with a lefty David Peterson on the mound I am going to try Luis here. If he isn’t I’ll pivot to another value option. Of all the catchers vs. pitchers match-ups on the board for Tuesday night’s slate, only Mike Zunino has a home run against the scheduled opposing starter and that’s vs Gerritt Cole where he has struck out 16 times in 34 ABs.
Pete Alonso, 1B: $6,100. Paying all the way up to add Alonso vs a lefty. Pete Beef has only struck out 7 times vs launching 5 dongs so far this season in 38 At Bats. I like those ratios and the fact that the BABIP is only at .154 tells me even the balls that aren’t leaving the yard are going to start finding some more holes.
Miguel Vargas, 2B: $2,900. Vargas has yet to get going this season. I think he may have forgotten that he’s been cleared to swing! Dude has walked 11 times in 28 Plate Appearances through Sunday. At some point, he’ll start swinging more and when he does he makes good contact as he is currently sitting at 50% Hard Contact rate. He gets a solid lefty match-up for himself in Alex Wood.
Nolan Arenado, 3B: $5,200. Not sure if Draftkings or really anyone has noticed, but Arenado has hit safely in every game this year, and the power will come. Also apparently Draftkings doesn’t know he is in Coors against a lefty in Kyle Freeland. Freeland has been good so far, but I think his luck is about to run out.
Xander Bogaerts, SS: $5,300. The Padres have seemingly struck gold in Bogaerts who has already scored 9 runs and driven in 8 through Sunday’s games. He’s hit safely in all but one game, and guess what it’s a theme with these southpaws. He’ll get lefty David Peterson in a nice match-up for his right handed bat.
Trayce Thompson, OF: $2,900. Wanna talk about scarcity in match-up history? Only three projected starting OFs have Home runs in their careers vs Tuesday nights starters. That is nuts. I realize we are early in the season and players have changed teams, but there should be more divisional opponents with some decent history. More interleague games and less divisional will certainly keep that number suppressed as time goes forward in future years, but I still find this hard to believe. My value OF is Trayce Thompson who gets Alex Wood.
Robbie Grossman, OF: $2,900. Breaking up fading southpaws with the whole lineup by inserting one of those with some history in Robbie Grossman. He is 3 for 12 with 2 Home Runs in his career against Jordan Lyles who will start for the Royals in Texas on Tuesday night.
J.D. Martinez, OF: $5,200. Going back to my Alex Wood fade for the final play. Streamonator doesn’t like him here and I just have a feeling the Dodgers are about to bust out. J.D. isn’t done yet and could still become Nelson Cruz 2.0. He is on a 4 game hit streak and has 4 multi-hit efforts so far on the season.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
No weather issues on the horizon for rain. Wind will be blowing out at greater than 10 Mph in Pittsburgh, Philly, Cleveland, New York (Mets), Minnesota, Wrigley Field, and the strongest winds of all blowing out will be by the Bay in San Francisco.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I did mention I do a bit of Sports Handicapping. Follow me on Twitter @TheGreat Knoche for more info. I’ll give out a Free Play here every Tuesday, but you can find all my free and premium picks for MLB and a few other sports at The Odds Breakers
I’m all in on the Giants fade Tuesday night. Dustin May has been very sharp so far, and I think the Dodgers are gonna step on Alex Wood. I got them at -142 and I think that juice is only going up from there.
