MLB DFS Picks & Underdog Player Props: Saturday (5/16)

Today’s MLB DFS slate is broken up into two options. To give readers more time to think about their lineups, we’ll focus on the later slate, which also offers more games to choose from.

DraftKings’ main slate begins at 7:10 p.m. ET and includes eight games. FanDuel has a slate with identical games.

Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/16)

• Logan Gilbert is starting today’s game against the San Diego Padres. He is coming off his best start of the season when he shut out the White Sox for six innings with nine strikeouts. While his strikeout rate is a bit down this season, 25.5% is still fine. At his price point, he’s the most appealing of the top options.
• Carlos Rodon made his season debut this past week. His start didn’t go particularly well, allowing three earned runs in 4.1 innings. His biggest issue was the number of walks allowed. The optimist can point to Rodon already throwing 78 pitches in his first start of the season. His price has fallen enough to put him in your lineup against a Mets’ offense ranked in the bottom five against left-handed pitchers by wRC+.
• Connor Prielipp has made four Major League starts with the Twins. While he hasn’t gone beyond five innings in any of his starts, they have generally been usable for his price point. Today’s matchup is against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are another bottom-five offense against left-handed pitchers via wRC+.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

New York Yankees Projected Lineup (5/16)

Today’s MLB DFS slate is broken up into two options. To give readers more time to think about their lineups, we’ll focus on the later slate, which also offers more games to choose from.

DraftKings’ main slate begins at 7:10 p.m. ET and includes eight games. FanDuel has a slate with identical games.

Saturday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props

Saturday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (5/16)

• Logan Gilbert is starting today’s game against the San Diego Padres. He is coming off his best start of the season when he shut out the White Sox for six innings with nine strikeouts. While his strikeout rate is a bit down this season, 25.5% is still fine. At his price point, he’s the most appealing of the top options.
• Carlos Rodon made his season debut this past week. His start didn’t go particularly well, allowing three earned runs in 4.1 innings. His biggest issue was the number of walks allowed. The optimist can point to Rodon already throwing 78 pitches in his first start of the season. His price has fallen enough to put him in your lineup against a Mets’ offense ranked in the bottom five against left-handed pitchers by wRC+.
• Connor Prielipp has made four Major League starts with the Twins. While he hasn’t gone beyond five innings in any of his starts, they have generally been usable for his price point. Today’s matchup is against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are another bottom-five offense against left-handed pitchers via wRC+.

Suggested Lineup Stacks

New York Yankees Projected Lineup (5/16)

• The New York Yankees have a matchup today against left-handed pitcher David Peterson. His ERA is sitting at 5.49, but that’s a bit unlucky. His underlying metrics show that he has pitched at least a run better than that. Even with better metrics, it’s going to be challenging for him to keep a Yankees lineup that is second in baseball in OPS against left-handed pitchers stifled.
• It’s hard to believe that Ben Rice was being platooned against left-handed pitchers early in the season. His subsequent performance against left-handed pitchers has forced Aaron Boone to keep him in the lineup against all pitchers. Rice has a 1.092 OPS against left-handed pitchers, which is behind only Corbin Carroll for a left-handed batter against a left-handed pitcher.
• Paul Goldschmidt hasn’t been quite as prolific against left-handed pitchers this season, but he’s still more than holding his own with a .984 OPS against left-handed pitchers.
• Amed Rosario has always performed better against left-handed pitchers than right-handed pitchers in his career. Somewhat surprisingly, he has an OPS of .800 in his career against left-handed pitchers. Rosario has four extra-base hits against left-handed pitchers this season in only 37 at-bats.

Chicago Cubs Projected Lineup (5/16)

• The Chicago Cubs are traveling across the Windy City to take on their cross-town rival, the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox are using Davis Martin in today’s matchup. Martin has been nothing short of marvelous to begin the season. After three straight seasons of ERAs and FIPs over four, he has an ERA of 1.62 and a FIP of 2.33 in 50 innings this season. The oddity is that he has the hardest hard-hit rate against him of his career.
• Paying the price for Seiya Suzuki makes more sense when he is against a right-handed pitcher like Martin. Six of Suzuki’s seven home runs this season have come against right-handed pitchers.
• Alex Bregman is starting to settle into his new home in Chicago. He’s had hits in 10 out of 13 games since the calendar turned to May. Unfortunately, only three of those hits have been for extra bases. Similar to Davis Martin, it’s a bit of an oddity because his hard-hit rate is also the best it has ever been for him.
• Moises Ballesteros has been on a hellacious cold streak. He has gone three hits in his last 46 at-bats. Given his 49% hard-hit rate and 12% barrel rate, it’s just a matter of time before the hits start dropping again. Ballesteros’ price on FanDuel is incredibly appealing.

Core Studs

• Nick Kurtz has been on an on-base machine all season, but lately it has also been blended with some power. He has home runs in each of his past three games. His seasonal OPS against right-handed pitchers is 1.028.
• Wilyer Abreu continues to be someone to consider a play when he faces a right-handed pitcher. He has 10 extra-base hits against right-handed pitchers, including five of his six home runs. Today, that right-handed pitcher facing him is Bryce Elder.
• After a slow start to the season, there are signs that Austin Riley is getting his performance back on track. Over the past two weeks, he has hit three home runs with an .856 OPS. While Riley has only one of his six home runs against left-handed pitchers, he still has an OPS of .735 against left-handed pitchers.

Value Plays/Punts

• Whenever you see a right-handed pitcher against Seattle, Luke Raley (and to a lesser extent, Dominic Canzone) is an option for DFS games. All of his production, except for a single and a run scored, has come against righties.
• Making the Giants one of the offenses to stack against Luis Severino was very much considered. Severino has still struggled this season at Sutter Health Park with an ERA of nearly five in home starts. Heliot Ramos has been one of the more consistent performers in the Giants’ lineup all season with 17 extra-base hits.
• Recommending a batter against a recommended pitcher is something I try to avoid. However, this is Gary Sanchez against a left-handed pitcher. His OPS against lefties is 1.231. That leads all of baseball in qualified batters.

Saturday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props