Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 5/31/22! 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. Let’s get to the plays…
Above is an example of the Core Plays given out to Subscribers on Friday May 13th
Pitcher
Cristian Javier
Javier has been amazing for the Astros this season, and is my top overall pitcher tonight. He’s striking out 33% of batters faced in 2022, and been dominant against both sides of the plate. He should see five righties in the A’s lineup tonight, and he has been virtually untouchable against same-handed batters. Regardless, Oakland ranks dead-last in baseball in wOBA vs right-handed pitching, while striking out at a top-ten rate as well. This is a plug and play spot for most right-handers, especially one as good as Javier has been this season. He’s currently projected to be the highest-owned arm tonight, but that is chalk I’m willing to eat on both sites.
George Kirby
Kirby is a promising young pitcher for the Mariners, who has flashed his upside in the majors. He’s only made a few starts, some bad some good, but most importantly we have seen the dominant strikeout ability at the highest level. He has one of the best match-ups on the board tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. There are a number of lower strikeout bats in this O’s lineup, but they also aren’t great at hitting. Their projected lineup owns just a .310 wOBA and .149 ISO this season. Overall, on top of the good match-up, Kirby is priced just $6,600 on DraftKings. I’m not sure if we will need these savings at pitcher tonight, but in the case we do, Kirby is the top value on all sites on Tuesday.
Building Blocks
Pete Alonso
I’ve written Alonso up in this spot once already this season, and will continue to lock him in when he faces Patrick Corbin. We know that Alonso is one of the best power hitters in baseball against left-handed pitching, and Corbin is in the twilight of his career. He’s allowed a .248 ISO to right-handed batters since the start of last season. He also uses his sinker over 40% of the time to righties, a pitch that Alonso absolutely crushes. Since the start of 2019, we are looking at a .789 ISO and 57% hard-hit rate vs sinkers for Alonso, truly some of the best marks in baseball. He has a strong history against Corbin, and is my favorite bat on Tuesday night.
Andrew McCutchen
I was all over the Brewers on Monday, and McCutchen is another player with strong splits vs left-handed pitching. Over the last season and a half we see a .398 wOBA and .313 ISO in the split, far and away the best numbers in this lineup. Justin Steele also struggles to get right-handed batters out, allowing a near .350 wOBA with 39% hard-hits. He throws mostly fastballs, which is good news for Cutch who owns a .437 wOBA against the pitch. He should be leading off again for the Brewers, and that makes him my favorite value on the slate even as a one-off.
Bold Call
Javier strikes out 10 A’s!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
