Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 4/14/22! In this article, I’ll break down by top overall plays for today’s main slate. Last year was an extremely big year for the Karma team in MLB, and we are looking to continue that success in 2022. I will be providing Core Plays for every main slate (and day baseball) this season — you can gain access to that as well as our premium discord here. You can also try out the Core Plays package with a $5 daily pass. Let’s get to the plays…
Pitcher
Shohei Ohtani
The first thing that sticks out on this slate is Ohtani’s price tag on DraftKings — which should skyrocket his ownership. Walker Buehler is a fine play today, but we can save money by dropping to Ohtani who has a higher strikeout rate. The biggest issue with him has always been his control, and that was something that he really tightened up to end last season. If you look at his walk rate the last two seasons you’ll see 8% which is still an improvement from where he was in the past. However, if you isolate his numbers from the All-Star break to now, that walk rate drops all the way down to 3%. He walked just one Astros batter in his pitching debut this season, and I’m willing to believe it will continue based on what we’ve seen. There are strikeouts to be had in this Rangers lineup, but the fact is he’s just too cheap. Ohtani is the clear SP1 on DK for tonight.
Joe Musgrove
I’m not sure where Musgrove’s ownership will end up, but he is neck and neck with Ohtani for my top play on the slate tonight. This is someone I played a ton last season, and he looked dominant in his first start of 2022 striking out eight on an efficient 74 pitches. Atlanta is definitely a better offense than the Diamondbacks, but there are strikeouts to be had here. Five batters in the Braves projected lineup have strikeout rates over 25% over the last two seasons — and four of them are the bottom-four in the lineup. If he can navigate a few of the guys at the top of the lineup, there is a nice ceiling here for a cheap price tag. With Ohtani and Musgrove both below $8,000 — I will be skipping the expensive Walker Buehler (still a good play) and building around mid-tier SP’s while jamming in the expensive bats I want.
Luis Severino
This is a GPP-only play since we don’t exactly know how long he will pitch, but I was impressed by his first outing of the season. Sevy has always had the stuff, he’s just been so hurt in recent years that we’ve barely season. He seems to have weathered the storm with the shoulder soreness in spring training, and I think we can see up to five innings of him tonight if he’s pitching well. It’s obviously a tough spot against the Blue Jays — but it’s not often we get a pitcher of this caliber for this price and ownership. I wouldn’t use him unless you were making 2+ teams, but I do think he has upside and is a strong tourney pivot on Thursday.
Building Blocks
Aaron Judge
On Coors slates, I try to avoid making my top spend-up a player from that game — and I’m focused on Aaron Judge tonight. I haven’t really gotten to use Judge yet this season, but tonight is a great night to start. For starters, he’s been locked in at the plate to begin 2022 — posting a 95 average exit velocity with a 61% hard-hit rate over the first week of action. Gausman throws a ton of fast balls to both sides of the plate, and Judge is an elite fast ball hitter. Aside from having massive power, his 25% line drive rate is the highest mark on the Yankees vs RHP as well. Furthermore, I’m not a BvP guy at all, but Judge clearly sees Gausman well. In 22 career plate appearances vs him, Judge is averaging over 101 off the bat vs his pitched with two doubles and three home runs. Judge and most expensive players should come in lower-owned on this slate with the presence of Coors Field — and I am interested in the Yankees in GPPs.
Connor Joe
I didn’t want to write up Coors Field in this section, but there are limited options on this slate and some of these guys are just too cheap. Connor Joe fits into that category, and keep in mind this is someone I wrote up earlier this week while he wasn’t even playing at home. Joe is an on base machine, and someone I will continue to buy into at these cheap price tags. I noted earlier this week that his swing naturally causes a higher launch angle leading to more fly balls. That will be key tonight against Justin Steele — who relies on ground balls to get outs. He is my favorite overall Coors hitter tonight and the top value play on the slate in all formats.
Bold Call
Aaron Judge posts 8 total bases!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
