Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 4/15/22! 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
Carlos Rodon
I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that this is the most conviction I’ve had on a play in this young season thus far. Rodon is someone I was very high on coming into last season as a breakout candidate, and he delivered on that prediction. There were injury concerns in the off-season, but the Giants rewarded him with a pretty nice sized contract which was noteworthy to me — clearly they weren’t as concerned with his health. San Francisco is one of the sharpest organizations there is when it comes to optimizing pitching and pitch mixes, so there’s no doubt Rodon can perform at a Cy Young-level this season as long as he does stay healthy. He had a massive first start, striking out 12 Marlins thanks in part to a big increase in his slider usage. Rodon’s slider was one of the best in baseball last season, naturally the Giants want him to throw it more than the quarter of the time he did in 2021. Not only do the Guardians struggle with left-handed pitching — but just one batter on this team owns a wOBA above .280 against sliders. This is truly a great match-up for him, and he is my number one pitcher on tonight’s slate.
Freddy Peralta
We then have another strong option above $10K — Freddy Peralta against the Cardinals. Peralta has always had dominant strikeout ability and he’s really taken a step forward over the last calendar year in terms of his pitch mix and keeping hitters off balance. St. Louis is a good lineup and they’ve been pretty locked in at the plate to begin the season. That being said — Peralta has a huge 37% strikeout rate against right-handed batters over the last two seasons and he projects to see six of them tonight. I prefer Rodon, but I’m not opposed to pivoting to Peralta if making a lot of teams or even trying to fit them in together in some builds.
Mackenzie Gore
And now we get the obvious play of the day…Mackenzie Gore. We’ve been waiting almost two years for Gore to make his major league debut and it’s finally happening tonight — and he’s priced at just $5,000 on DK! This is one of the best prospects in baseball, and since it took a little longer for him to get here he’s not quite as raw as other prospects we’ve seen come up recently. Now, that’s not to say he’s experienced by any means but seven Triple A starts is actually much better than some of these kids that have come up recently straight from Double A. He struggled with blisters and mechanical issues last season, but looks ready to roll in 2022 after shredding Spring Training. He easily could struggle here, but he’s stretched out and I will 100% buy in at this price tag. He will be tough to avoid as an SP2 tonight.
Building Blocks
Aaron Judge
I wrote Judge up in this spot yesterday, and will go right back to the well tonight against Jordan Lyles. The story here is easy, Judge has slate-breaking power and Lyles has always allowed above-average power to right-handed batters. The O’s don’t have a great bullpen behind him, and it’s fairly warm in B-More with winds blowing out around 11 mph. Above all, Judge has destroyed the Orioles in his career and actually has 14 career homeruns in Camden Yards — his highest number outside of Yankee Stadium. He’s my top spend up on Friday.
Max Muncy
I love this spot again for the Dodgers tonight against Vlad Gutierrez, who has shown no ability to get left-handed batters out in the big leagues. We have a 230 PA sample size over the last two seasons for him — resulting in a 14% strikeout rate, .355 wOBA and .239 ISO allowed. Muncy has been the best hitter on this team the last few seasons vs right-handed pitching — turning in a .364 wOBA and massive .273 ISO. Gutierrez throws mainly fastball / slider, two pitches Muncy has feasted on in his career. Obviously Coors Field will be a hot topic on this slate, but I think there are some very solid options to pivot to in all formats.
Hunter Dozier
For a cheaper play tonight give me Hunter Dozier, who has stuck out to me when watching games the last week. Every time I have the Royals on it seems he is hitting the ball hard — and you can see that reflect in his statcast data with a 90 exit velocity. I like Tarik Skubal a lot as you know, but he definitely allows power to the right side of the plate. Dozier will come in super low-owned tonight — but I like him as a one-off HR candidate.
Bold Call
Rodon punches out 14 Guardians!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
