Elly De La Cruz is the talk of the baseball world. There’s only been a few articles on him the last week here at Razzball. Guess I better jump on the bandwagon! He broke some FAAB budgets Sunday night in ways I have never seen. I got zero shares because I’ve already spent my fair share of FAAB at this point in the season, but oh what a time to be a Reds fan. With the sure thing having arrived in Elly and Matt McLain looking like the real deal it’s hard to not look at mini Reds stacks going forward against below average pitching. Since McLain got called up in Mid-May they’ve averaged almost a full run more per game and are putting up 5.16 runs per game since May 14th . That would put them 5th in MLB. Let’s take a look at some of my top plays tonight in Fantasy Baseball DFS
I’ll be bringing you my DFS picks for the main evening slate on Tuesday, June 13th, 2023. If you play on DraftKings, it is a 14-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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Pablo Lopez, SP: $8,800. The Brewers offense is on the local Milwaukee Missing Persons Posters. Since May 15th they are scoring an average of 3.4 Runs Per game. While they have been better versus right handed pitching their OPS is still sub .700. Lopez has had some clunkers on the season, but when he’s on he’s been tough to hit. Pablo has 20+ Point fantasy performances on Draftkings in 7 of 13 starts on the season.
Joe Musgrove, SP: $7,800. Took him last week and thought the price would start going up, but he’s still a nice value here. Musgrove has been solid in his last three outings giving up just two earned runs across 17.1 IP with a 17/4 K/BB ratio. He gets the Indians tonight who are the second best in MLB when it comes to not striking out, but they are the 4th worst in OPS. If Musgrove keeps the walks away I think a 20+ point night is in play.
Connor Wong, C: $2,800. Cal Raleigh is hitless in June, only has 2 more Home Runs on the season, and is $1,400 more expensive than Wong tonight. The Price Is Wong Bob. Wong had a multi-hit game Monday night and continues to be the main man in the lineup behind the plate for the Red Sox.
Nolan Jones, 1B: $3,800. Young Nolan is hitting .360 since being called up with 4 Home Runs including back to back games this weekend. He’ll face Kutter Crawford and the Red Sox in Fenway tonight.
Mookie Betts, 2B: $6,500. Lance Lynn has only had three starts this year where he’s allowed less than 3 earned runs. Those were against the Tigers, Royals, and Guardians. The Dodgers have a little more pop in the lineup. As for Mookie he’s up to 17 Home Runs on the season and a .901 OPS. Looking for some Mookie magic at Chavez Ravine tonight.
Elly De La Cruz, 3B: $4,700. Prices aren’t waiting to go up on Elly. Finally held hitless Monday night, he had hit safely in each of his first six games and some of the things he’s done running the bases has been unlike anything I’ve seen in a long time. The Reds face Jordan Lyles in Kansas City, which Streamonator sees as a neutral match-up. It’s a pitcher’s park, but I think the Reds are gonna pop some runs tonight against the Royals. If you don’t wanna go chalk and wanna ruin my clever title, Evan Longoria is cheap and is 3 for 7 with two Home Runs against Matt Strahm in his career.
Matt McLain, SS: $4,500. McLain has hit safely in 13 of 15 games, including 8 multi-hit efforts. While the ceiling for Elly is much higher, I have been very impressed by McLain so far as the only thing that hasn’t translated from his minors resume is the walk rate which almost always drops when a player comes up to MLB for the first time. His Statcast hard hit rate is 42.3% and his barrel rate is over 10%. That’s good stuff!
Daulton Varsho, OF: $3,500. Only left-handers seem to hit homers at Camden Yards these days so it could happen here. Varsho has gotten his average back above the Mendoza Line the last two weeks by hitting safely in 12 of 15 games. He’ll face Dean Kremer who escaped a contest against these Blue Jays last month giving up only one earned run over 5.1. In that game, he gave up 9 hits and 2 walks, and a .533 BABIP to the Blue Jays. Dean won’t be so lucky tonight.
Brent Rooker, OF: $3,200. Rooker has got hot again the last week and should be in the lineup Monday. Opposing pitcher Yonny “Uh Oh” Chirinos has a 2.60 ERA, but a 5.41 xFIP. Wouldn’t it be fitting if the regression fairies finally made their appearance against the worst offense in baseball in the best pitchers park in the land. That’s baseball though….
Spencer Steer, OF $4,400. Steer completes the mini Reds stack against Lyles in KC.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Some rain in the forecast in Detroit and Boston, but nothing to endanger a contest. Moderate winds blowing out in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
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
Love the Blue Jays tonight against Baltimore. Superior pitcher for the Jays and only -120 as of Monday night.
