Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 4/16/22! 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
Alek Manoah
Happy Easter everyone! There’s no better way to celebrate than with some baseball so let’s dive into today’s slate. Alek Manoah was great in his first start of the season tossing six scoreless and striking out seven Yankees. He draws a much easier opponent today in the Oakland A’s — whose projected lineup owns a combined 25% strikeout rate vs right-handed pitching. He also got up to 89 pitches in that start vs New York, meaning we could see 100+ pitches today. He’s expensive on both sites, but I don’t think we need to overthink this much. He’s my top option in all formats.
Zack Wheeler
The mid-tier is pretty much non-existent on this slate, so despite being priced higher than Manoah, Wheeler is my number two option on Sunday. He had a delayed start to the year due to shoulder soreness which is why he topped out at 65 pitches against the Mets. He allowed a homerun, but looked fine overall and I think he will be good to go to approach 80 pitches today. The pitch count concerns are the reason he’s ranked behind Manoah, because the match-up is good for Wheeler as well against Miami. Overall, I just don’t like any of these mid-tier plays today. I will be focusing on double spend-ups at pitcher, or dropping all the way down to…
Aaron Ashby
There isn’t much value on this slate, and early ownership projections seem to be skewed towards David Peterson of the Mets. I think Peterson is a solid real-life pitcher, but he has struggled with control in the big leagues and is no sure thing — especially as potential chalk. Ashby has a tougher match-up against the St. Louis Cardinals, who have some guys who really hit left-handed pitching well. That being said, I’m a believer in him as a pitcher and I think he has a chance to break out for the Brewers similar to how Corbin Burnes did last year. Despite being a southpaw, in over 100 PA’s, Ashby has held right-handed batters to a .282 wOBA with 26% strikeouts. He will likely see six righties today. He’s even better against lefties, and outside of the top few hitters in this lineup there are some strikeouts to be had here. He also has a very good slider, and outside of Paul Goldschmidt this lineup isn’t great vs that pitch. he hasn’t started yet this season, but he threw nearly 70 innings out of the bullpen earlier this week and should be good to go for around 5 innings if he’s pitching well. He’s only $6,000 on DraftKings and my favorite SP2 candidate today.
Building Blocks
Giancarlo Stanton
I’ve been on the Yankees a good bit to start this season and they’ve underwhelmed, but I won’t stop now with them facing Bruce Zimmermann on Sunday. Zimmermann is just a below-average pitcher that allows power across the board, especially to right-handed batters. Stanton has always mashed left-handed pitching, and owns the highest aEV in the split on this team at 97 mph. Furthermore, Zimmermann throws primarily fastball / change to right-handed batters…two pitches Stanton owns a .200+ ISO against. I will continue to target this team against bad pitching and they seemingly have to get it going at some point.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr
Toronto is arguably the top stack today against Adam Oller who allowed five runs over one and a third inning in his ML debut. Oller looked overmatched, and should have a tough time navigating a lineup like the Blue Jays today. Gurriel is still priced below $4,000 on DraftKings despite manning the clean-up spot for this team. He doesn’t really have slate-breaking power but should see plenty of RBI opportunities today and is simply too cheap.
Bold Call
Aaron Ashby is the best point per dollar SP on the slate!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
