MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Saturday (5/9)

There are essentially two featured MLB DFS slates today. You can either play in the earlier slate with five games or the later slate with eight games. To give people time to read the article, we’ll be looking at the late slate. On DraftKings, that slate starts at 7:05 p.m. ET. FanDuel has a slate that includes the same eight games.

Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/9)

• Cam Schlittler versus Kyle Harrison has the makings of a pitcher’s duel. We’re going to focus on Schlittler, who has upped both his groundball rate (50%) and strikeout rate (29.3%) in his second season. He also has a top-10 strikeout minus walk rate (24.3%).
• Braxton Ashcraft has a matchup today against the San Francisco Giants. By nearly whichever metric you prefer, the Giants have the worst offense in baseball, including a team OPS of .637. Ashcraft has a 2.65 expected ERA, 2.99 FIP and a 27% strikeout rate. He is my favorite pitcher on this slate, especially if you are playing on DraftKings.
• Edward Cabrera is set to start against the Texas Rangers. He has been up and down this season. In some games, walks have been an issue, and in others, home runs have been an issue. His strikeout rate is a bit down (21%). If he can limit the walks and home runs, Cabrera can still post a good start against a Rangers team that strikes out 23.8% of the time.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

Seattle Mariners Projected Lineup (5/9)

There are essentially two featured MLB DFS slates today. You can either play in the earlier slate with five games or the later slate with eight games. To give people time to read the article, we’ll be looking at the late slate. On DraftKings, that slate starts at 7:05 p.m. ET. FanDuel has a slate that includes the same eight games.

Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/9)

• Cam Schlittler versus Kyle Harrison has the makings of a pitcher’s duel. We’re going to focus on Schlittler, who has upped both his groundball rate (50%) and strikeout rate (29.3%) in his second season. He also has a top-10 strikeout minus walk rate (24.3%).
• Braxton Ashcraft has a matchup today against the San Francisco Giants. By nearly whichever metric you prefer, the Giants have the worst offense in baseball, including a team OPS of .637. Ashcraft has a 2.65 expected ERA, 2.99 FIP and a 27% strikeout rate. He is my favorite pitcher on this slate, especially if you are playing on DraftKings.
• Edward Cabrera is set to start against the Texas Rangers. He has been up and down this season. In some games, walks have been an issue, and in others, home runs have been an issue. His strikeout rate is a bit down (21%). If he can limit the walks and home runs, Cabrera can still post a good start against a Rangers team that strikes out 23.8% of the time.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

Seattle Mariners Projected Lineup (5/9)

• The Seattle Mariners face Anthony Kay today. After a few strong starts following his return from Japan, Kay’s performance has recently fallen off a cliff. He now has a 5.70 ERA, which is actually better than his expected ERA of 7.63 or his FIP of 6.41.
• Julio Rodriguez has 13 extra-base hits this season, six of which are home runs. Since it’s a bit slower of a start than expected, Rodriguez’s price has dipped. It should be noted that all but one of his home runs have come against left-handed pitchers.
• We’re getting closer to having a big enough sample size to make some assumptions about Cole Young. In 252 career at-bats against right-handed pitching, he has 13 extra-base hits for a .641 OPS. In 105 at-bats against left-handed pitching, Young has nine extra-base hits for a .701 OPS.
• Rob Refsnyder was brought to the Mariners this offseason for his ability to hit left-handed pitchers — career .809 OPS. He’s off to a bit of a slow start this season — 4-for-37 against left-handed pitchers — but he does have two home runs in those four hits.

Atlanta Braves Projected Lineup (5/9)

• The marquee matchup of the day is between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Either offense is in play, but we’re going to focus on the Braves against a returning Blake Snell. We know how good Snell can be, but he has been relatively limited in his rehab assignments. It’s hard to envision him going more than a few innings against a patient Atlanta Braves offense.
• Matt Olson is expensive, but his performance justifies that price tag. He leads all of baseball in doubles with 15 and leads the National League in home runs with 13. It’s not surprising to see that he has top-five percentile rankings in barrel rate, hard-hit rate and expected slugging.
• Michael Harris II has been mashing against right-handed pitchers this season. Six of his seven home runs have come against righties. Harris has an OPS of .909 against right-handed pitchers and only a .648 OPS against left-handed pitchers.
• There aren’t many cheap options in the Braves’ lineup to consider, but check out Jim Jarvis at the minimum salary on both sites. Jarvis recently made his Major League debut. Yesterday, he had his first career hit. At Triple-A, he was batting .305 with an .864 OPS and 15 stolen bases in 33 games. At minimum cost, he only needs a couple of hits and a stolen base to exceed his cost.

Core Studs

• The Mets were considered as an offense to stack against Merrill Kelly, but there are just so few Mets actually hitting. That’s not a problem for Juan Soto. He has a 1.021 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season.
• It’s a volatile skillset for Munetaka Murakami, but the highs can be very strong. Eleven of his 15 home runs have come off right-handed pitchers this season. He has a matchup today against righty Luis Castillo, who has an ERA over seven in road games.
• This is the type of matchup I’m looking to use Riley Greene in. Michael Wacha has a fly ball rate of 48% against lefties. Greene only has four home runs, but 11 doubles. That comes with a career-best 51.6% hard-hit rate.

Value Plays/Punts

• Jac Caglianone hasn’t been stringing hits together, but he has been making the most of the ones he’s had recently. In his last two weeks, he has only nine hits, but five have gone for extra bases. Three of those extra-base hits have been home runs.
• Whenever you see Paul Goldschmidt against a left-handed pitcher, you have to consider him as a value play. In 2025, he posted a .981 OPS against left-handed pitchers. It hasn’t been quite as remarkable this season, but an .813 OPS is still fine.
• Ezequiel Duran is doing some interesting things under the hood. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rates are currently well above his career norms at 91.3 miles per hour (MPH) and 45%, respectively. It may just be a small sample, but Duran already has two home runs this season, after hitting a total of three the past two years combined in 473 at-bats.

Saturday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props