MLB DFS action on Saturday, April 24, features 15 games across five slates with giant contests on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. Before locking in MLB DFS picks and lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy baseball top stacks, picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some MLB DFS picks and daily fantasy baseball stacks, including the Mets, Rangers, Marlins and more.
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MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Hitters and Stacks, Saturday, April 24th
Yahoo Stack of the Day: Texas Rangers at LHP Dallas Keuchel — 3.5 implied runs
While this is a low implied run total for the Rangers, that should keep The Masses interest in check as they flock towards the Coors Field extravaganza on the main slate. Yes, we definitely want to look at some Phillies bats. However, there is also some top-tier pitching on this slate as well so we need some value options, and Texas is shaping up to be a contrarian play.
This will be the fifth start of the season for LHP Dallas Keuchel, and we know what we are getting with the 10-year veteran. Walks and homeruns have never been much of an issue for the groundball artist; however, both are starting to tick up and his strikeouts have been falling each year for the last half of his career.
Nick Solak and Joey Gallo both profile well from a power perspective against Keuchel’s pitch mix. Charlie Culberson does as well, and at $8 on Yahoo, he is a discount dandy to target, though we will be giving up our third base slot as part of the tradeoff. Adolis Garcia is an interesting option, who should be batting in the cleanup spot and he has already poked five homers in just 41 at-bats. Isiah Kiner-Falefa is leading off and he already has three steals on the young season. While I would not go overboard with volume, I think a strategic two- or three-man stack will give us some nice differentiation from the field tonight in tournaments.
Early Slate
Boston Red Sox vs. RHP Chris Flexen — 5.3 implied runs
Being a lifelong Mariners fan, I am always happy when they win as the victories seem to be few and far between. However, when voting with our DFS dollars, fandom needs to go out the window. Enter RHP Chris Flexen in a tough matchup against the Red Sox. Last year, Flexen did not get any MLB nibbles after being released by the Mets so he ended up pitching in the KBO for the Doosan Bears. The Korean League is generally considered to be comprised of a talent base nestled somewhere between Double-A and Triple-A as a MiLB comparator. Flexen was solid with a 3.01 ERA, 1.089 WHIP and just six home runs allowed, though, again, remember the level of competition.
Through his limited time in The Show, Flexen seems to walk as many lefties as he strikes out. While those metrics are not as dire against same-handed hitters, he has a career 2.11 HR/9 when facing righties. The Seattle bullpen has only one southpaw, so we will want to keep that in mind when projecting out the handedness of the Mariners’ pitcher in the middle and late innings.
When he is healthy, Alex Verdugo has been nails in lefty/righty matchups with a .202 ISO over his last 462 plate appearances. Rafael Devers is vying for the title of best Red Sox batsman and in his last 700 lefty/righty matchups he has crushed the ball with a .285 ISO. J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts both excel in righty/righty situations with immense power upside. It is shaping up to be a pleasant afternoon in Boston with game time temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60s.
Afternoon Slate
New York Metropolitans vs. RHP Joe Ross Jr — 4.4 implied runs
Okay, so RHP Erick Fedde did not get crushed on Friday, but the Mets have another subpar Nationals pitcher to target this afternoon. Today’s game will see temperatures approaching 70 degrees, along with a 10-12 mph breeze headed out to dead centerfield. On Monday against the Cardinals, the music stopped and Ross was left without a chair. Doing his best piñata impersonation he was knocked about for four home runs among eight hits with three walks over 4.1 innings. He allowed 10 of 13 baserunners to score and was a disaster by all metrics. Sadly, this erases all the goodwill he built up with Washington fans after rolling up 11 straight shutout innings on the road before this home disaster.
The biggest issue with Ross, other than the inability to stay healthy, is his unsightly 4.42 BB/9 rate since the beginning of the 2019 season. Mix in a few untimely extra-base hits along with his mediocre strikeout stuff and we have a recipe for crooked numbers.
These new Mets are not the same as the old Mets of the last few seasons. Quietly they have compiled a roster that has power up and down the batting order from both sides of the plate. Today’s projected lineup has a combined .227 ISO over the last two plus seasons. Salaries vary across the DFS sites, so my general ranking accounting for projected power, potential popularity and position eligibility is Francisco Lindor, Dominic Smith, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil. Enjoy!
Late Slate
Miami Marlins at RHP Kevin Gausman — 3.2 implied runs
The two-game late slate has two aces in LHP Blake Snell and RHP Trevor Bauer squaring off in Dodger Stadium. Righties Kevin Gausman and Pablo Lopez are no slouches either, so we may be doing some selective home run hunting tonight to find batter productivity.
Adam Duvall and Corey Dickerson project as two of the potential homerun hitters and they are likely to bet batting in adjacent lineup spots so that is leading me to the Marlins. Moving out of Camden Yards and the other American League East bandboxes has done wonders for Gausman’s homerun issues. From 2015-18 he allowed 100 home runs in 112 starts, which was the 10th-most in the league. His 1.36 HR/9 was the sixth-most during that stretch among all starters who pitched as many innings as he did.
Since 2019, that rate has dropped to a more reasonable 1.20 HR/9, though lefties are still getting to him with a 1.45 HR/9 in that timeframe. This bodes well for Dickerson and, of course, we know that Duvall has light-tower power in all situations. The pickings are slim, but this duo definitely rises to the top on the late-slate.
Final Thoughts for the Saturday, April 24th MLB DFS Slate
There are several games that may be dealing with precipitation, though none look like they will be postponed. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a home run play on Yahoo may be a below-average MLB DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.
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