Happy Friday! And welcome to 2018’s first edition of RotoQL’s MLB DFS Core Plays! After a very profitable season last year with SN Fantasy and RotoQL, I couldn’t be more excited to get back to working through the day’s top daily fantasy baseball picks with you! Each Friday I’ll be looking to help make the team some money to finish out the week and head into the weekend strong!
As always, RotoQL’s extensive research tools help set the foundation for these plays. RotoQL is the ultimate DFS assistant, combining all of the stats, trends, and research tools you need into a convenient and user-friendly format that cuts the difficulties out of your research, and gets you the money in your pocket quicker, and with less hassle than any other DFS platform. And if you're looking for even more insight into the DFS world, RotoQL University has you covered. There you'll learn strategies, bankroll management, contest selection, and how to put together winning lineups to take your daily fantasy game to the next level.
Before you get to the plays, don't forget to give me a follow on Twitter (@MikeVetch) for more MLB daily fantasy content. I’m always down to answer your questions, so be sure to hit me up there and get a conversation going!
MORE DFS: SN DFS | Lineup Builder
MLB DFS Picks: FanDuel, DraftKings core plays for Friday, April 12
Eduardo Rodriguez, P, Red Sox @ Orioles (DK: $8,500, FD: $6,600)
Tonight’s top-priced pitchers don’t bring enough to the table to pay the premium for, and they’re still going to be chalk, so for me it makes the most sense to take a step down to the mid tier, where Rodriguez is popping in our RotoQL Lineup Optimizer. On top of being one of the better values on the slate, Rodriguez enters tonight’s matchup with the Orioles a -200 road favorite. The Orioles have the MLB’s worst team in strikeout percentage, and despite it being early, when you look at the makeup of their lineup, the league high K-rate is easily a trend we could see continue throughout their season. While Rodriguez isn’t particularly known as a strikeout pitcher, he does carry a career 9.7 K/9 that shows the strikeout ceiling does exist when paired with positive matchups. You’ll definitely want high exposure on FanDuel, where the price is clearly too low, and I have no problem being contrarian and using Rodriguez as an SP1 on DraftKings.
Andrew Benintendi, OF, Red Sox @ Orioles (DK: $4,000, FD: $3,900)
The Red Sox are the hottest team in baseball right now, so I want bats from their lineup whenever it makes sense. Benintendi, who crushes righthanded pitching, stands out from their lineup as a fair-priced outfielder who can get you fantasy points in a variety of ways. Batting second for Boston’s dangerous lineup, Benintendi can produce us points both at the plate and on the base paths. And facing off against Chris Tilman, Benintendi gets more than just the split in his favor, as I love the home run upside in this matchup. Tilman is a career fly-ball pitcher with limited strikeout ability and a tendency to get sloppy. Boston has the highest implied run total on the slate for a reason, and I think Benintendi can very quickly pay off his price tag if the Red Sox get rolling early.
Didi Gregorius, SS, Yankees @ Tigers (DK: $4,700, FD: $4,300)
There’s always something to dig deeper into when the RotoQL Optimizer has a high-priced player as one of the best values on the board. Today, Gregrouis is coming in as the third-best value on the slate. So, why is this? Well, the Yankees have a matchup with Mike Fiers, who has been known to get lit up, and the Detroit bullpen, which isn’t exactly the strongest unit. The Yankees total hasn’t been released as of Friday morning, but I expect to see at least a 4.5 run total for New York. The main problem for Detroit is that Fiers doesn’t really have the stuff to beat this lineup at their weak point, as he doesn’t create a ton of swinging strikes. If you let this lineup put it in play, it’s really only a matter of time before they hit some out of the park. Didi comes into tonight with the split advantage in his favor, and a whopping .553 wOBA against righthanded pitching this season. Didi is a player who I believe is on the cusp of a breakout year, and by the end of 2018 should establish himself as one of the best offensive shortstops in the game. He offers power at the position that is difficult to find, and there’s something to be said that he continues to bat cleanup in this stacked Yankee lineup.
Ian Kinsler, 2B, Angels @ Royals (DK: $3,900 FD: $2,900)
If you haven’t caught on by now, this early in the season I’m sticking with the teams who are rolling and showing an early tendency to hit the baseball. It’s April, so there aren’t a ton of reliable stats at our disposable, and for the most part we expect that teams get off to slow offensive start as players get back into the swing of things, so finding any momentum to piggy back on can go along way. Because I’m paying down for pitching, I will definitely have some Angels in my lineup, and Kinsler leading off and filling the 2B position fits nicely into the core I’m looking to build. There’s no doubt I’ll be pairing him as much as I can with the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, but I also have no problems looking at three or four Angels against another fly-ball pitcher in Jason Hammel. As long as Kinsler can get on base, he could find himself crossing the plate a few times tonight, I think he makes a solid pick to build around at the keystone position.