It is the first day of May! The start of the second full month of baseball, and to celebrate, we have a 6-game slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The slate today doesn’t feature much top-end pitching, with Luis Garcia being the highest-priced pitcher on DraftKings and MacKenzie Gore as the highest-priced pitcher on FanDuel. My favorite offenses to target in today’s slate are the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and the San Diego Padres. With a smaller slate of games, finding good value plays is as important as ever. Let’s dive into some of my favorite value options of the day! 

 

MLB DFS Value Pitchers

Drew Smyly, Chicago Cubs (DraftKings: $7,800 / FanDuel: $9,300) 

Drew Smyly has always had talent. He has just struggled in his career to ever stay healthy long enough for the talent to do much. He is healthy now, and so far, the talent is there and he has been pitching brilliantly with a 3.21 ERA and 0.93 WHIP, and let's not forget the perfect game he had into the 8th inning against the Dodgers with 10 strikeouts that were lost because he got tackled by Yan Gomes after a broken bat dribbler. He gets to face the Washington Nationals today, whose offense is far worse than any of what he has faced so far this season, so I see no reason why Smyly won’t keep up this fantastic run he is on. 

Blake Snell, San Diego Padres (DraftKings: $8,500 / FanDuel: $8,000) 

Blake Snell, so far, has been not great but not terrible. He just hasn’t seemed to have gotten all of his pitches working for him in a single start yet. He has been walking too many batters with a 7.04 BB/9 when his career mark is under 4. He also has a 1.96 HR/9 this season when his career mark is below 1. Despite that, he has only given up over 3 earned runs in one start so far this season. If he can cut back on the walks and keep the ball in the yard, he will take a big jump forward. Facing the Cincinnati Reds today in San Diego is a great chance for him to put up a great start; I am jumping in on the former Cy Young.  

MLB DFS Value Hitters

Yan Gomes, C Chicago Cubs (DraftKings: $3,600 / FanDuel: $3,200) 

My first value hitter is, in fact, the aforementioned Yan Gomes that tackled Drew Smyly to kill his perfect game. If you are a Cubs fan, you should be able to forgive Gomes for that with the amount of damage he is doing to left-handed pitching this year. Yan Gomes has a 1.094 OPS against left-handers this season and has been a big contributor to the Cubs offense so far. Today he faces MacKenzie Gore today who has been pitching well this season and is coming off a brilliant start against the Mets, but I am still willing to bet that Yan Gomes can return this value today with how well he has been facing left-handers lately.  

Matt Carpenter, 1B/3B San Diego Padres (DraftKings: $2,600 / FanDuel: $2,700) 

Matt Carpenter continues to deliver against right-handed pitching for the Padres. Today the Padres are taking on Luke Weaver of the Cincinnati Reds, who through his first two starts has given up 5 home runs. In his last 5 games, Matt Carpenter is slugging 1.000 with 7 hits, 5 of them being doubles and one of them being a home run. In a good matchup today and a Padres offense that looks like it is starting to wake up (playing a couple of games in Mexico City certainly didn’t hurt), I like Carpenter with great power potential and a super low price tag. 

LaMonte Wade Jr. Jr., 1B/OF San Francisco Giants (DraftKings: $3,200 / FanDuel: $2,800) 

LaMonte Wade Jr. Jr. has been hitting the ball great this season with a 164 wRC+, and while he has been hitting both lefties and righties this season, he is historically much better against right-handers. Luis Garcia of the Houston Astros is probably the best pitcher on today’s slate, but I don’t think he is someone you necessarily need to avoid. He gave up 12 earned runs in his first 3 starts and this left a heavy Giants offense that could certainly get to him today. For someone who is hitting as well as LaMonte Wade Jr. Jr. is and likely leading off for the Giants, this price feels like a steal, even in a tougher matchup. 

Jarren Duran, OF Boston Red Sox (DraftKings: $3,300 / FanDuel: $3,300) 

Jarren Duran’s red-hot start for the Boston Red Sox continues. In his last 5 games, he has 10 hits, with 6 of them being for extra bases. Jaren Duran has fantastic power and speed potential if he continues to make contact as he has been. Berrios is a tough pitcher to stack against or to start because you never know if he is going to be amazing or terrible, and there never seems to be anything in between those two options. If it is a day where he is struggling, though, the Red Sox could stack up a lot of runs, and I think Duran will continue his amazing start regardless. 

 

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