MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Saturday (4/18)

This particular Saturday MLB DFS slate is broken up a bit differently. There are two featured slates. That means instead of having the typical 10 games to choose from, you have either five games or six games, depending on which one you choose to play. We’ll be focusing on the latter slate with our MLB DFS picks to give readers more time to work on their lineups. That slate begins at 7:10 p.m. ET and includes six games.

Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (4/18)

• The two most expensive pitchers on this slate happen to face each other. Either is in play, but Cristopher Sanchez has the safer floor. His WHIP is high as he has been unlucky with balls in play, which is masking what may be the best version of him we’ve seen yet. He has a career-best 32% strikeout rate and the second-best groundball rate in the league at 59.6%.
• There are four clear top options on this slate. The price of George Kirby on DraftKings makes him someone who has to be considered. His matchup is against the Texas Rangers. His strikeout rate has fallen to a career-low 21.4%. However, his groundball rate has spiked to nearly 60%, which is nearly 15% higher than it has ever been before.
• If you want to take advantage of the Dodgers’ offense at Coors Field, you need an affordable starting pitcher option. Yusei Kikuchi isn’t the cheapest option on the slate, but he is the cheapest that could deliver a strong performance. His surface stats have been poor, but he is still striking out a batter per inning. His matchup is against the San Diego Padres, who have a bottom-10 OPS against left-handed pitchers.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

Los Angeles Dodgers Projected Lineup (4/18)

This particular Saturday MLB DFS slate is broken up a bit differently. There are two featured slates. That means instead of having the typical 10 games to choose from, you have either five games or six games, depending on which one you choose to play. We’ll be focusing on the latter slate with our MLB DFS picks to give readers more time to work on their lineups. That slate begins at 7:10 p.m. ET and includes six games.

Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (4/18)

• The two most expensive pitchers on this slate happen to face each other. Either is in play, but Cristopher Sanchez has the safer floor. His WHIP is high as he has been unlucky with balls in play, which is masking what may be the best version of him we’ve seen yet. He has a career-best 32% strikeout rate and the second-best groundball rate in the league at 59.6%.
• There are four clear top options on this slate. The price of George Kirby on DraftKings makes him someone who has to be considered. His matchup is against the Texas Rangers. His strikeout rate has fallen to a career-low 21.4%. However, his groundball rate has spiked to nearly 60%, which is nearly 15% higher than it has ever been before.
• If you want to take advantage of the Dodgers’ offense at Coors Field, you need an affordable starting pitcher option. Yusei Kikuchi isn’t the cheapest option on the slate, but he is the cheapest that could deliver a strong performance. His surface stats have been poor, but he is still striking out a batter per inning. His matchup is against the San Diego Padres, who have a bottom-10 OPS against left-handed pitchers.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

Los Angeles Dodgers Projected Lineup (4/18)

• This one isn’t hard. The Dodgers’ offense leads the league in wRC+, and now they are going to Coors Field for the first time this season. The starting pitcher opposing them is right-hander Ryan Feltner. He has a 7.30 ERA with an even worse 8.68 expected ERA.
• It will be hard to fit multiple Dodgers in your lineup, but it’s likely to be worth it. It’s almost hard to recommend individual players because all of them are in play. If you can find a way to afford Shohei Ohtani, go ahead and pay up for him. He has a career OPS at Coors Field of 1.226 in 20 games. The only park where he has a higher OPS is loanDepot Park in Miami.
• The current leader in hard-hit rate in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting lineup is Max Muncy at 61.1%, per FanGraphs. Last night may have been the start of turning that hard-hit rate into home runs. He hit two home runs last night, which brings his total to six. His expected slugging rate is nearly 100 points higher than his actual slugging rate.
• Finding an affordable option in the Dodgers’ lineup isn’t easy, but let’s look at one of the cheapest options in Hyeseong Kim. He has an extremely small sample size, as he began the season in the minor leagues. He has two barrels already, with only 11 batted balls. Last season, he had three barrels with 110 batted balls.

Los Angeles Angels Projected Lineup (4/18)

• The Los Angeles Angels’ offense has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde to it. The good side of the offense is the 32 home runs they have already hit, with a top-five team OPS of .739. The poor side of their offense is a lot of strikeouts, but I’m not expecting that to be a problem today against German Marquez and his 16% strikeout rate. He is allowing hard-hit balls 53% of the time.
• Any discussion of the Angels’ offense has to start with Mike Trout. He looks like the best version of his future Hall of Fame self with a 100th percentile mark in barrel rate and expected slugging rate.
• Jo Adell has cut his strikeout rate to 17%. Unfortunately, his barrel rate has correspondingly dropped to only 6%. I expect that will correct back positively as he is still maintaining a 50% hard-hit rate.
• The cheapest option on DraftKings in the Angels’ starting lineup is intriguing. Oswald Peraza is a former Yankees prospect who has mostly disappointed, but his profile is looking a bit different early in the season. He has upped his hard-hit rate to 42% while also almost doubling his launch angle to 15 degrees.

Core Studs

• Recommending a hitter against the top pitcher on the slate is something I try to avoid, but Matt Olson has a track record of success against Cristopher Sanchez. He is 6-for-18 against Sanchez in his career with a pair of doubles and two home runs.
• This is the perfect matchup to use Mickey Moniak. His OPS in home games last season was .946. His OPS against right-handed pitchers last season was .857. Today’s matchup is at home against right-handed pitcher Emmet Sheehan.
• Cam Smith‘s whole profile looks completely different in his sophomore season. His hard-hit rate is up to 52%, which has boosted his expected slugging rate to .549. His matchup is against Andre Pallante.

Value Plays/Punts

• Luke Raley is in the top 10 of qualified batters in OPS. He’s the one batter in that top 10 whose price still has him in the value Pplay range. It’s not that he is getting lucky with that OPS, though. He’s in the top-10 percentiles in barrel rate, hard-hit rate and expected slugging rate.
• Andres Gimenez has a matchup today against right-handed pitcher Zac Gallen. All six of his extra-base hits have come against right-handed pitchers this season, against whom he has a .984 OPS.
• Adrian Del Castillo was recalled to the Major Leagues when Gabriel Moreno went on the injured list (IL). He’s routinely batting cleanup in the lineup and delivering with a .923 OPS.

Saturday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props

Drew Rasmussen (SP – TBR): 4.5 Strikeouts — Higher

Drew Rasmussen is making his fourth start of the season today. He would have missed this line in his first start, but in his last two games, he has at least seven strikeouts. Rasmussen faces the Pirates, who are striking out 22.6% of the time this season.

Andrew Benintendi (OF, DH – CWS): 1.5 Total Bases — Higher

Andrew Benintendi has a matchup today against Luis Severino. The game is at Sutter Health Park. Severino has an ERA of 6.01 and a WHIP of 1.53 at that park. He also has had issues getting Benintendi out in his career.

Benintendi is 12-for-36 against Severino with four doubles, a triple and two home runs.

Sal Frelick (OF – MIL): 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBIs — Lower

The 2026 season has not begun the way Sal Frelick was hoping for. He’s hitting a mere .177 with a .292 on-base percentage (OBP).

Frelick has cleared this number in five games this season, and only once in his last eight games. It’s hard to envision him turning his season around with a matchup against Sandy Alcantara today.

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