Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 8/23/22! 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
This is a loaded pitching slate, with aces up and down the slate. I love slates like these, but it’s important to factor in ownership here for tournaments. Pitcher is typically the one spot I don’t care much about OWN% — I play the guys in good spots that I feel best about I don’t care if they’re high or low owned. That being said, when there’s so many options like there is tonight it’s very common for someone in a good spot to go under-owned because he projects slightly worse than someone in the same pricing tier. Tonight we have Carlos Rodon and Robbie Ray at the top of the slate, with Justin Verlander not far behind. I think the first two have the higher K upside, so they are my picks with Verly a distant third. I would lean Ray over Rodon if choosing one, but playing both is in play for me as well. If you’re looking for a mid-tier SP2 I think Corey Kluber is the clear choice against the Los Angeles Angels. This lineup continues to be terrible and we know that Kluber does have K upside. I also love Ranger Suarez tonight — he’s found his groove and matches up against a horrific Reds lineup. He’s dominated them in a small-sample and can be used in all formats as a pivot off the $10K+ tier.
Building Block
Aaron Judge
I love this spot for Aaron Judge, matched up with Taijuan Walker. Judge is one of the streakier hitters in baseball, and I like to roster him when he’s seeing the ball well. New York as a whole has been ice cold as a whole recently, but after homering against Max Scherzer last night I think we could see Judge get going here down the stretch. We know that Judge has dominant numbers against right-handed pitching, but he is expensive tonight. There seems to be so much value nightly, it will easy to fit him in even as a one-off and he’s my top spend-up tonight. I don’t love citing BvP, but he has three career hits off Walker…all three are homeruns.
Michael Massey
And speaking of finding value, we have Michael Massey at just $100 off the minimum on DraftKings. Massey’s surface numbers don’t look great, but the advanced stuff leaves room for optimism. To start, his 26% line-drive rate against right-handed pitching is far and away the highest mark in this lineup. He also has great numbers vs sinkers in a small sample, which is Zach Davies’ most-used pitch. Overall, this is too cheap and he is a fantastic value on Tuesday.
Bold Call
Aaron Judge hits two homeruns!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
