So Much Rookie Nookie hitting the waiver wire the last few weeks it’s been hard to keep my excitement in check. I’ve been walking around with a trash can lid dangling around my neck and resting below my waist. There is seemingly value on rookies in their early prices on the DFS menu. While they are a price value, they are seemingly in over 75% of lineups those first few days, so sometimes it is better to fade them than be one of the sheep. Obviously, if you’ve been fading Elly De La Cruz it hasn’t worked out well for you so far. I guess the moral of the story is when it comes to rookies there’s a fine line between a DFS deposit or cash and it’s my job to help you try and find it. Onto Tuesday’s selections!
I’ll be bringing you my DFS picks for the main evening slate on Tuesday, June 27th, 2023. If you play on DraftKings, it is a 15-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.
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Bryan Woo, SP: $6,900. With all 15 games available tonight we’ve got 30 pitchers to choose from, and here I am right away jumping on a rookie. He’s a great value here though. After Woo’s debut against one of the top offenses in baseball in the Rangers he has been solid his last three outings limiting damage and putting up plenty of K’s. He has a 5.09 ERA, but his xFIP is at 2.99. K/9 Rate is over 12 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than 5/1. It’s a small sample size, but I’m a believer. He’ll get the Nationals tonight who strike out the least amount in MLB while also showing up 29th in walk rate. They swing at early strikes and have some success with a .262 BA. They don’t have a ton of pop however as it has only translated to a .394 SLG. This should help Woo get deeper into this game while still striking out a decent amount of hitters.
Kevin Gausman, SP: $11,000. The Giants have been rolling averaging over 6.5 runs in their last 15 games. So why take the chance at this price that Gausman puts up a clunker like he seems to once every month? For starters, he already has a clunker this month. Secondly, The Giants strike out the second most in MLB and Gausman is third in K/9 among qualifying starters trailing only Strider and Ohtani. Thirdly, most of the Giants have never seen Gausman’s splitter, and the two that have, Joc Pederson and Michael Conforto are a combined 4 for 26 lifetime against him. Bring the “Gaus” in Toronto.
Jonah Heim, C: $4,000. Wanna guess who the top-performing catcher is on the Razzball player rater? Hint: There are 13 catching options more expensive than H(e)im tonight. He’s hit safely in 8 of his last 10 games with 4 HRs during that stretch. Heim will face Matt Manning coming off the IL. He hasn’t pitched in MLB since April 11th and walked 8 batters in 8.2 IP in his rehab starts.
Freddie Freeman, 1B: $6,200. Not sure yet where I am going to go for value, but the Dodgers are in Coors against Connor Seabold who had some arm discomfort and missed his last turn through the rotation. With Coors and the chance to get into the Rockies bullpen early any Dodger is gonna look good in your lineups tonight.
Luis Urias, 2B: $2,900. Urias’ return from the IL has not gone well as he’s sitting with a .146 BA and only 1 Home Run. He showed some signs of life in Cleveland this weekend so I am going to see if it carries over against the recalled David Peterson and his 8.08 ERA
Josh Jung, 3B: $4,500. Maybe the Rangers are undervalued as a whole. Jung is the current favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year and has a .274 BA and 15 Home Runs. $1,000 Cheaper than Austin Riley and $500 cheaper than Ryan McMahon seems strange.
J.P. Crawford, SS: $3,100. Crawford came back from missing 3 games to homer this weekend and should be atop the Mariners lineup this evening. He’s got a ten game on base streak and will face off against a less-than-stellar Jake Irvin tonight in Seattle.
Leody Taveras, OF: $3,000. Tavaras with some serious post-hype action here in June with a .276 average and 6 Home Runs during the month. Hard to believe, but he’s only 24 years old. He’s gotten the K’s under control (under 20%) to boost the average and the power/speed combo is still there from his minor league breakout. 20/20 isn’t out of the question and at only $3,000 he’s glorious in this spot.
Jason Heyward, OF: $3,100. Heyward should see more starts with Chris Taylor hitting the IL, as I would guess Mookie spends much more time at 2B/SS. He’s certainly not been a great player over the last five years, but this year he has 8 Home Runs in only 145 At-bats. Granted his starts have been in good match-ups for him, but that is still a 30 Home run pace over 600 ABs. Also, he’s in Coors tonight.
Adolis Garcia, OF: $5,900. Filling out the Rangers stack tonight is the Adolis. He’s slowed down in June with only 3 of his 17 Home Runs coming this month. (Edit: He Homered Monday night so make that 4 out of 18) It’s possible we see some combination of Manning to Joey Wentz tonight for the early part of the game, but Streamonator doesn’t like Wentz against the Rangers and their .822 OPS vs lefties either. Looking for a big night for the Rangers this evening.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Strong winds will be blowing out in Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, and Oakland. Strong cross winds will be in play at Coors from left to right. Rain is possible in Baltimore, but I think it gets in.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I did mention I do a bit of Sports Handicapping. Follow me on Twitter @TheGreatKnoche 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
Lots of big favorites on the books tonight. Some pitching decisions to be made yet so some lines also not out yet. Nothing firm yet so hit me up here or on Twitter after this article posts once all lines are out and I’ll give out me free play of the day.
