Let’s get ready for some Thursday baseball! It is a travel day for a lot of teams, so we’ve got a smaller slate of games today. We will be focused on the 5-game slate that is kicking off at 1:05 PM EST on both DraftKings and FanDuel. With an early start, make sure to get your lineups set early enough to be ready to make some cash today! Three of the games have some rain happening, but none of them look at the risk of being canceled at the moment, so hopefully all 5 games are available for us. This slate is highlighted by Joe Ryan, Blake Snell, and Bryce Elder on the pitching side, with Blake Snell being my favorite top-end pitcher of the day facing the San Francisco Giants. On the offensive side, my favorite lineups to target include the Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Boston Red Sox, and the Atlanta Braves. With that, let’s dive into some of my favorite value options of the day! 

 

MLB DFS Value Pitchers

Logan Allen, Cleveland Guardians (DraftKings: $7,900 / FanDuel: $8,400) 

Logan Allen has slowed down a bit since his fast start when being called up but has still been pitching quite well. We have seen him get at least 8 strikeouts three times already, including a 10-strikeout game against the Baltimore Orioles. He has given up 10 earned runs in his last 2 outings, but that was against the San Diego Padres and the Houston Astros, so I am not holding that against him too much. Facing the Oakland Athletics today will be an excellent chance for him to get back on track and put together another high-strikeout game. 

JP Sears, Oakland Athletics (DraftKings: $6,800 / FanDuel: $8,500) 

JP Sears continues to pitch well for the Oakland Athletics. He is getting almost a strikeout an inning, and despite a 2.0 HR/9, he has a respectable 4.24 ERA and a fantastic 1.06 WHIP. If he can limit the long ball, he will get much better results as a 1.06 WHIP is extremely good, but most of his runs are being scored off of solo home runs. The Cleveland Guardians have the second-fewest home runs against lefties this season, so hopefully today, he can keep the ball in the yard and have a solid outing. 

MLB DFS Value Hitters

Triston Casas, 1B Boston Red Sox (DraftKings: $2,700 / FanDuel: $2,500) 

The Red Sox offense has been red hot lately, and while they face a tough challenge facing Joe Ryan today, they have seemed good enough to put up runs against anyone during this recent stretch. Triston Casas is on a nice little 7-game hitting streak over which he has slashed .370/.452/.593, and hopefully this is a sign of Casas taking a step forward to be more of an offensive threat for the Red Sox. Casas has great power potential, and while it may be tough to get to Joe Ryan, Casas is cheap enough to take a chance on with how well he has been hitting lately. 

Andrés Giménez, 2B Cleveland Guardians (DraftKings: $4,100 / FanDuel: $2,900) 

Andrés Giménez continues to be a force against left-handed pitching. If you aren’t taking JP Sears today, I think Giménez must be your top consideration at second base. He has a 154 wRC+ against lefties, and while he has a 61 wRC+ against righties making him basically unusable whenever he faces a right-hander, that is keeping his price down making him a fantastic option whenever he gets to face a lefty like he is today. 

Royce Lewis, 3B Minnesota Twins (DraftKings: $3,400 / FanDuel: $2,800) 

It looks like Justin Garza is getting the start for Boston today, meaning it will mostly be a bullpen day in Boston. They don’t have the best bullpen, so this will be a great chance for the Twins to stack up some runs against them. Royce Lewis has been picking it up at the plate lately as well. He has 5 hits in his last 10 at-bats, including a home run and a double. While he hasn’t necessarily set the world on fire since his call-up, Royce is batting .308 on the season as well as holding a solid .805 OPS. He is already looking like he can hit major league pitching just fine, and he is a great value play at his current price. 

Alek Thomas, OF Arizona Diamondbacks (DraftKings: $2,300 / FanDuel: $2,400) 

Alek Thomas was quite the disappointment for the Diamondbacks to start the year, only making it to the middle of May before being sent back down to AAA because he was hitting so poorly. He has hit well in AAA, though, and the ceiling is still incredibly high for Thomas. Since being called up, he has 6 hits in three games, including a home run and a double. At almost minimum price, I am willing to take a chance that Thomas has figured it out at the plate and is ready for the majors now. 

 

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