This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
We have a split schedule on Wednesday, leaving us with three games at 2:10 pm ET and a more robust eight games to work with at 7:05 pm ET. We'll focus on the latter, which features a top-heavy pitching market, leaving us to look for cheap hitters to make the pricing work in most common builds.
Pitchers
We know the story with Blake Snell ($9,800) at this point, which is that he has a wide range of outcomes in both directions. His price point is reasonable after he suffered a blowup in his last outing and Milwaukee is just a mediocre team against lefties. He's not a must-play, but he is worth considering.
Michael King ($9,600) and Hunter Brown ($9,000) are the other arms worth considering. King draws the Mariners, who remain extremely strikeout-heavy and beneficial to pitchers as a result. Brown is an excellent cash game option, as he's been a lock for between averaging over 23 DraftKings points in his last five outings. He should remain a fine option against the A's.
Bryan Woo ($8,100) has the skills to reach the same production as the three pitchers we've already covered. He's been a bit more inconsistent but is a good bet to at least double his price in DraftKings points, with the upside to reach 25 or 30. The downside is the matchup. San Diego has been an above-average lineup for the last month, but the bigger problem is that the lineup has struck out at just a 15.4 percent clip in that span.
The comfortable options dry up considerably after these four, but we do have Dean Kremer ($6,500) in punt pricing territory. He has the opposite story to Woo, as Boston is an average lineup but has a very high 26.3 percent strikeout rate in the last 30 days.
Top Hitters
The Twins' lineup is decimated by injury and the healthy hitters haven't been all that impressive of late. However, I still want to get some exposure to them Wednesday against Jack Kochanowicz, who has a minuscule 7.4 percent strikeout rate in the majors. He keeps the ball on the ground a lot (55 ground ball percentage), so he has prevented runs effectively, but at some point, all of that contact will catch up to him. As a result, I'd play one-off Twins such as Royce Lewis ($5,000) or Matt Wallner ($4,000).
We can also flip to the other side of this game and target Zach Neto ($4,400). This is a day to pay up for pitchers, so getting affordable bats that can still produce is a way to make the salary cap work. Neto offers multiple paths to production with both power and speed, while Zebby Matthews has given up at least one home run in four of his five big-league appearances.
Value Picks
Colin Rea has been serviceable this season, but he's served up 1.5 HR/9 to lefties this season. With Mike Yastrzemski ($3,100) penciled into the leadoff role of late, he presents some solid value.
We haven't had a big sample of the Cardinals against lefties lately, but Luken Baker ($3,000) hit second in the team's last game in that scenario. He has a ton of power and is particularly cheap.
Stack to Consider
Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (Bobby Miller): Ian Happ ($4,600), Dansby Swanson ($3,800), Seiya Suzuki ($4,900)
It's been a lost season for Miller and there hasn't been much sign of it turning around. He's allowed multiple home runs in four of his last five starts and a 23:10 K:BB ratio across 24.2 innings in that span. Meanwhile, the Cubs have the fifth-highest wOBA (.326) as a team in the last 30 days and should be able to take advantage of Miller's poor form. Even better is that the lineup is relatively cheap to stack, so you can still pay up at pitcher on a top-heavy slate.
