Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 4/22/22! 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
Justin Verlander
I’ve written it a few times already this season, but Verlander was my top bet for AL Cy Young before the season, and his odds have only dropped since then. He’s looked every bit like the pitcher we knew the last time we saw him a few years ago. The velocity is there, the swing and misses are there, this is one of the best pitchers in baseball once again. He gets a really tough match-up tonight with the Blue Jays, but pitching has once again been winning out more than hitting this season. Teams are barely hitting .230, and it’s another example of why pitching reigns king even in DFS. Toronto is a good offense, but Verlander is easily the safest pitcher on this slate and that’s enough for me. Given my Building Blocks tonight, I’ll have room to fit him in and he’s a priority for me on Friday.
I’m only writing up Verlander today because there are just too many options at pitcher. I have builds where I double-spend with Michael Kopech or Kyle Wright as SP2, and I have builds where I save at SP2 with Reid Detmers. I think it’s going to come down to what team you decide to stack, but my current SP2 rankings in order is Wright, Kopech, Detmers.
Building Blocks
Darin Ruf
Ruf is one of the best plays on the slate for me today, unfortunately he is projecting for pretty decent ownership. Patrick Corbin has been downright terrible vs right-handed batters the last few seasons — allowing a .388 wOBA, .255 ISO and 88 mph average exit velocity. Ruf is far and away the best hitter vs lefties on the Giants over that span sporting a .412 wOBA and .313 ISO. More importantly, his statcast data for this season is great. Through three weeks of action, Ruf ranks top-35 in all of baseball in average exit velocity and top-five in average fly-ball distance. He’s hitting the ball hard and far, two important things against a pitcher that struggles with allowing homeruns. Corbin also throws a lot of sinkers, one of Ruf’s best pitches. Overall, I don’t care if he is likely to be chalk, he is clearly underpriced and my homerun call for Friday night.
Austin Slater
I don’t often do this, but I’m writing up two players from the same team because they’re both extremely cheap and a fantastic mini-stack. Slater isn’t quite as good as Ruf, but his numbers vs left-handed pitching are nothing to scoff at either. Since the start of 2021, we are looking at a .371 wOBA, .230 ISO and 24% line drives. Very, very good. Slater isn’t great at hitting sinkers like Ruf, but Corbin’s most-used pitch vs righties has been his slider — Slater has the highest expected wOBA and ISO on the Giants vs sliders. You can add-in guys like Joey Bart and Wilmer Flores to your stack, but I think plugging in the two cheapies is a great move and it then allows you to fit in a full five-man stack of whatever team you want. That’s the approach I will be using on my main lineup tonight.
Bold Call
Ruf and Slater combine for 3 HR’s!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
