Your Fantasy Baseball Rundown for Friday 6/9
Happy Friday, we made it! It looked like the apocalypse up here in northern Jersey for a few days so wasn’t sure if we would. And despite a few games postponed over the last couple days due to the air quality, we should have a full slate Friday. Below are some matchups to target and some stacking ideas for your lineups.
Claim your BONUS and bet on the Braves at DraftKings Sportsbook
Download Caesars Sportsbook and place your bet on LAD @ PHI
Claim your bonus and bet on MLB parlays at FanDuel Sportsbook
DFS Hitters to Target Friday
Marcus Semien – well, his 25-game hit streak finally came to an end Wednesday night, but it’s time to start another one. Semien actually had a little 6-game hit streak going just before his 25-game hit streak, so he’s hit safely in 31 of his last 33 games. In addition to swinging a hot bat, he’s got some history versus Tyler Glasnow − who will only be making his 3rd start since coming off the IL. Semien is 4-for-6 off Glasnow, and ALL FOUR HITS went for extra bases (1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR).
Mookie Betts – Betts has had some success versus Friday’s opposition, going 3-for-6 off the Phils’ Ranger Suarez, including a pair of home runs. Betts also has 5 HR in his last 7 games, and Suarez has a 5.47 ERA through 5 starts this season. Interestingly, Suarez seems to pitch worse at home, with an 11.57 ERA in his 2 home starts this season, but looking back at 2022 it was more of the same – 4.27 ERA in 13 home starts against a 3.20 ERA in 16 road starts. More on Suarez and the Phils here.
Paul Goldschmidt – Goldschmidt faces Ben Lively on Friday, someone he’s seen 8 times, collecting 4 hits in those at-bats, including a HR and ZERO strikeouts. Goldy has a hit in 39 games this season, but hitless in 22 games; he’s got 2+ hits in 21 of the 39 games in which he’s collected a hit (54%), so he tends to get his hits in bunches. And despite being 1-for-15 (.067) his last 4 games, last year’s NL MVP could easily go out and get 7 hits in 3 games this weekend, starting Friday night!
Ke’Bryan Hayes – Hayes has a 7-game hit streak going now, during which he is 14-for-29 (.483) with 2 HR and 7 RBI. He’s also seen the Mets’ Tylor Megill 5 times, and is 3-for-5. Megill has a 6.08 ERA on the road this season in 6 starts (3.03 at home in 6 starts), the Mets have lost 6 in a row, and they may have had their confidence shaken after getting swept in Atlanta in excruciating fashion. Look for Hayes to take advantage.
Joey Wiemer – Wiemer is the only one of these 5 batters that does not have any history versus the opposing pitcher, however, he’s facing Luis Medina of the A’s who has an 8.19 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, and has allowed 10 HR through 6 big league starts. Wiemer has one of highest batting averages in baseball over the last 7 days, going 11-for-25 (.440) with 3 doubles, 3 HR, 9 RBI, and 6 runs scored. Medina is allowing a higher average to righties thus far, .293 versus .261 for lefties, and Wiemer is…?? You guessed it – a righty. UPDATE: Sam Moll is reportedly going to be the opener for this game with Medina operating in long relief
Honorable Mentions
Freddie Freeman – Freddie batted .400 in the month of May, and he’s 4-for-10 with a double and 3 walks off Suarez, despite the lefty-lefty matchup. If the Dodgers can get to the Phils’ bullpen, the Phillies have the 4th highest WHIP in the national league at 1.37.
Carlos Correa – Correa’s statline this season isn’t one that inspires confidence, slashing .210/.385/.681 on the year, but he did homer Thursday in a 2-for-4 day at the plate, and he’s 9-for-18 (.500) off of Yusei Kikuchi in his career.
Ha-Seong Kim – he’s not hot, he’s not cold. He batted .276 in May, .286 so far in June. But he’s 5-for-10 (.500) off Austin Gomber, and ALL FIVE hits have been doubles. He could be a value play that allows you to use your DFS funds elsewhere.
DFS Stacks to Consider
Embed from Getty Images
Machado/Tatis/Sanchez or Nola vs Austin Gomber – This game has the highest over/under on the board (11.5 runs), which is why we’re looking at it. Machado is hitting lefties well (.388 versus .177 against righties); Tatis is 10-for-29 (.345) in June, leads the Padres with 11 HR, and is hitting .300 against lefties (.245 against righties); Since joining the Padres, Sanchez is 9-for-29 (.310) with 4 HR in 9 games, or Nola who is 5-for-9 off Gomber with ZERO strikeouts. Could you use Juan Soto? Sure, but he’s batting .209 off lefties (.292 vs righty) and is 2-for-10 off Gomber. The other option here could be Ha-Seong Kim, see above for why.
Acuna/Riley/Olson vs Josiah Gray – This game also has a high o/u which is set at 10 runs. Gray has been way better than he was in 2022, and Ronald Acuna Jr. is just 1-for-6 off him in his career, but Acuna is 11-for-28 (.392) in June with 5 stolen bases and is the frontrunner for NL MVP so, Advantage – Acuna; Riley just had a series against the Mets in which he went 8-for-13 (.615) with a HR, look out! Olson is 2-for-5 with 2 HR against Gray, and is tied for 4th in all of baseball with 17 HR on the season. If you take these three guys though, you may not be left with too much money per player, so if you’re looking for value there are multiple other options for you to choose from in the Braves lineup: Rosario, Albies, Ozuna, Arcia, and Murphy have all been hitting well. Even Michael Harris II is hitting the ball better than he was earlier in the season.
Digging Deeper
So you’re still undecided on who to use? Well, look at hitters in some games with the highest over/under run totals:
- Padres @ Rockies: 11.5
- Nationals @ Braves: 9.5
- A’s @ Brewers: 9.5
- Mets @ Pirates: 9.5
- Dodgers @ Phillies: 9.5
You could also look at some hitters going against pitchers with the lowest price on FanDuel:
- Sam Moll (OAK – $5500)
- Austin Gomber (COL – $6600)
- Michael Grove (LAD – $6800)
- AJ Smith-Shawver (ATL – $7200)
- Ranger Suarez (PHI – $7400)
Now that Freeman and Semien’s super long hit streaks are over, who is next? Franco had his up to 11, but went hitless yesterday, so someone we spoke about above now sits atop the leaderboard:
- Joey Wiemer (MIL) – 9 games
- Ramon Laureano (OAK) – 9
- Josh Naylor (CLE) – 8
- Taylor Ward (LAA) – 8
- Ke’Bryan Hayes (PIT) & 4 others – 7
Embed from Getty Images
Now, if you’ve been living under a rock and hadn’t heard the hype surrounding Elly de la Cruz of the Reds and then you didn’t hear about his first hit and then his first home run, well let me be the first to tell you that the hype is real, so in season-long please go pick him up up off waivers as fast as you possibly can. For DFS, just use him. Electric bat, elite speed. The other recent call up to use is the Angels’ Jo Adell, although he’s up because Hunter Renfroe went on the Paternity List, so we’ll see if he sticks. He was once a top prospect, but has fallen from grace a bit with some struggles at the big league level, but he’s been mashing baseballs in the minors this season (18 HR in 55 games), and in his first major league at bat of 2023, he launched a home run 451 feet.
Betting Angle
SEA@LAA and MIA@CWS No Run Second Inning parlay (+176 at FanDuel): you’ve heard of NRFI, well this is NRSI. The SEA@LAA game features two good pitchers, and the second inning is presumably the middle to lower part of the lineup. MIA@CWS also features two pretty good pitchers and somewhat weaker lineups. If you swap under 0.5 runs (-134) for under 1.5 runs (-370) in this game, the parlay is still +100.
Ke’Bryan Hayes/Paul Goldschmidt to get a hit parlay (+100 at FanDuel): both hitters outlined above, pair for a hit for plus money. Swap either one for Luis Arraez who is batting around .400 and it’s still decent odds (-111).
Elly de la Cruz for 2 Total Bases (+125 at FanDuel): ride the hot hand, and Jordan Montgomery is not overpowering.
Claim your BONUS and bet on the Braves at DraftKings Sportsbook
Download Caesars Sportsbook and place your bet on LAD @ PHI
Claim your bonus and bet on MLB parlays at FanDuel Sportsbook
