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Rise and shine, RotoBallers, as we have a wonderful Friday of baseball ahead of us! After a crummy split-slate on Thursday, the scheduling gods have blessed us with a fantastic 13-game MLB DFS slate with a bunch of strong pitching options and plenty of offenses in good spots. The offense around the league seems to be picking up so maybe the ball isn't dead after all? Either way, I'm here to get you started with your research on freaky Friday the 13th with some of my favorite plays.
As always, this article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel on 5/13/2022 at 7:05 PM EST. The lineup picks will range from some elite high-priced players to mid-priced options, and value plays. I'll give you a few of my top pitching options and then some infielders, outfielders, and teams to stack!
You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports here. It's also essential to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. Now that we got all of that out of the way, it's onto the picks!
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DraftKings, FanDuel Pitchers - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Kevin Gausman, TOR @ TBR ($10,000 DK, $9,800 FD)
On a slate with Mad Max, Kershaw, and Gerrit Cole here I am telling you that the top DFS pitcher of the day is...Kevin Gausman? Yes, absolutely that is what I am saying! Could this pick be influenced by the fact that I happen to be writing an article about Gausman's fast start and that I have always been a fan of his? Quite possibly, but the numbers back it as well. Gausman has my top strikeout projection on the slate and has been every bit worth his salary this season. He continues to get swings and misses and has dominated some really good lineups thus far. He also doesn't walk anyone and therefore has been able to avoid any big innings by keeping guys off the basepaths.
Tampa has pretty middling numbers against RHP this season and a substantial 25% strikeout rate against them. I love Gausman as a pivot off the other well-known aces and he's worth every penny I think as I expect him to continue to pitch well this year, especially tonight in this matchup.
Eduardo Rodriguez, DET vs. BAL ($7,100 DK, $7,200 FD)
This is the type of slate where you're going to be tempted to pay up for two high-end starting pitchers, but it's also a pretty loaded pitching slate with a number of solid options in the mid-tier as well. So rather than tell you to play another ace, I'm going to recommend E-Rod (for the first time this year) against Baltimore.
E-Rod owners had to be a bit concerned about his middling start to the year until his most recent outing against Houston when he went out and dominated a good lineup to the tune of eight strikeouts and only one hit allowed over 6.1 innings. Let's hope he made an adjustment somewhere or maybe just that he regained his confidence a bit because he's in a great spot tonight at home against the Orioles.
Baltimore has not only struggled to hit for any power against lefties (.093 ISO) this season but they also have one of the highest strikeout rates at 27.8%. We saw Steven Matz whiff seven Orioles yesterday and Matz isn't exactly a big-time strikeout pitcher. When E-Rod has his good stuff, he can be a strikeout pitcher and he has one of the highest projected strikeout rates on the board today. This price makes him a really solid value and puts him in contention for my SP2 on DK and a great tourney option on FanDuel if you want to load up on some bats.
Also consider: Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Framber Valdez (SP2)
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Brad Miller - 1B/3B/OF, TEX vs. Nick Pivetta ($2,600 DK, $2,700 FD)
I was on Miller yesterday and he came through with another home run against Kansas City. You'd think we would get him leading off again tonight against a righty, especially with his recent success. His dual eligibility is pretty sweet and so is his matchup against Pivetta, who has some very worrisome batted ball data this season. Pivetta can get some swings and misses, but he gives up a lot of loud contact and is an HR-prone pitcher. I really like Miller (and Core Seager) at their prices against Pivetta tonight.
Jared Walsh - 1B, LAA vs. Daulton Jefferies ($4,300 DK, $3,500 FD)
Walsh and the Halos really interest me tonight. Despite being on the road in a good pitchers' park, this offense has been a slate-winning type offense when they're hitting. I've been on the wrong end of that a few times, but I can't help but go back there when they face an inferior opponent. Jefferies is a mediocre-at-best pitcher who gives up a lot of contact and the lefties for L.A. look particularly good in this matchup. Walsh is swinging a hot stick with four home runs in his last eight games and he's pretty affordable on both sites.
Ketel Marte - 2B/OF, ARI vs. Drew Smyly ($4,500 DK, $3,300 FD)
Marte is a great hitter and one of a dying breed of switch-hitters in baseball. He's been coming on strong for the snakes after a slow start and I always like using him against lefties, as he has had great splits against them now for several years running. Smyly is a decent pitcher but gives up a lot of fly balls and hard contact. Marte has moved into the three-hole and is a nice affordable option for the middle infield today.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Aaron Judge - OF, NYY vs. Vince Velasquez ($5,900 DK, $4,300 FD)
Judge continued his ridiculous start to the year by going 2-5 last night with yet another home run. He's now up to 11 long balls on the season and leads all of baseball in barrels. Against a pitcher like VV, who has a fly-ball tendency and who will likely challenge Judge with fastballs, you have to love his chance of going yard here again. He also smashes sliders, which is VV's main breaking ball.
Byron Buxton - OF, MIN vs. Aaron Civale ($6,200 DK, $4,400 FD)
This price is steep on both sites, but I think that's part of the reason I want to play him. A lot of attention is going to go to the Yankees and Coors bats, but Buxton has been arguably one of the best hitters in baseball through the first month, too. He absolutely crushed righties last year and had the best numbers (albeit in a smaller sample) against RHP as an RHH of anyone in terms of wOBA and ISO. He's continued that trend this season. This lines up well with Civale, a pitcher who has had some pretty noticeable reverse splits this year and last. Civale throws a bunch of different pitches but isn't a hard-thrower and he better not make a mistake with an offspeed pitch anywhere in the middle of the zone or Buxton will make him pay. You're getting home run power from Buxton and some stolen base upside as well with his elite speed.
Mark Canha - OF, NYM vs. Marco Gonzales ($3,200 DK, $2,700 FD)
Canha and the Mets are an attractive target tonight against Gonzales, a lefty who gives up a lot of contact. New York has a 4.3 implied run total and can throw a bunch of righties and Gonzo, who has struggled to a 5.65 xFIP so far this season. Canha is a guy with great career numbers against lefties and is fresh off a 3-4 day yesterday where he homered and drove in three runs. He's cheap and you never know, maybe the Mets even slide him up in the lineup today with a lefty on the hill.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
New York Yankees vs. Vince Velasquez
The Bronx bombers just don't quit, they even got to Cease last night (though he did whiff 11 in the process) for six runs and gave him an early exit. Then they went off on the bullpen, too. VV is simply not a good pitcher at this stage of his career, and I'm not fooled by a few good outings this season. He still carries a huge fly-ball rate to righties and lefties and has an xFIP over five on the season.
Minnesota Twins vs. Aaron Civale
Civale is a pitcher who at one point looked like a promising prospect. But he's looking more and more like a very average pitcher, and maybe even a bad pitcher so far this season. He's sporting a 5.71 xFIP in 2022 and allowing a 46% flyball rate. That's music to my ears for this Twins stack, which is a good bit cheaper (other than Buxton) than a Yankees stack.
As I mentioned earlier, he's been a reverse splits pitcher over the last few seasons and it's really noticeable this year as he's allowing a .457 wOBA to righties and only a .303 wOBA to lefties. Buxton, Sanchez, and Miranda are the power bats from the right side, and don't hesitate to use Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco from the other side of the dish either.
Also consider: New York Mets vs. Marco Gonzales, Colorado Rockies vs. Zack Greinke
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