MLB DFS Value Vault August 16: Vinnie Pasquantino Is A Top Value Play for Kansas City Royals
We have 13 games on the MLB DFS main slate today to build daily fantasy baseball lineups on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo Fantasy. Amidst star power on the mound with the likes of Justin Verlander, Dylan Cease, and Robbie Ray, there is plenty of value to be found on the slate for your MLB daily fantasy lineups. Getting quality returns on investment leads to being in the green, and I’ve uncovered some hidden gems to help round out your MLB DFS lineups tonight. In particular, two MLB top prospects really stood out and the price points are incredibly affordable. Those two MLB top prospects are Vinnie Pasquantino of the Kansas City Royals and Vaughn Grissom of the Atlanta Braves could be MLB DFS top plays tonight. For even more daily fantasy baseball content to help your MLB DFS lineups, check out our MLB daily projections, the MLB DFS Quick Pitch podcast, and MLB weather report for all things MLB daily fantasy. Plus, keep an eye on confirmed MLB lineups and today's MLB Vegas Odds. Now, here are my favorite MLB DFS top picks and value plays for the main slate on Tuesday, August 16.
MLB DFS Value Pitchers
Zach Plesac, CLE ($7,800 FD/$7,200 DK/$36 Yahoo)
Over the last month versus right-handed pitchers, the Detroit Tigers have the league’s highest strikeout rate at 29.7%. The next-closest is Boston at 26%. Yes, that’s nearly a four-percentage point gap between the Tigers and the next-worst team! Furthermore, the Tigers are hitting just .208 with a .095 ISO in the aforementioned time period, and the team’s 60 wRC+ is by far the lowest in the league. Meanwhile, Plesac is coming off a seven-strikeout performance in his last outing against the Tigers and he has 10 strikeouts in 12.1 innings against Detroit this season. The Cleveland Guardians righty also has a 3.49 ERA at home this year. While there are some weather concerns with this contest, Plesac is in a great spot to produce a quality return on investment.
Mitch Keller, PIT ($6,500 DK)
I mentioned it above, but other than Detroit, Boston has been the MLB's most strikeout-prone team against right-handed pitchers. This play is not for the faint of heart, though, as Keller is prone to a blow up on a moment’s notice. To his credit, however, he has been solid of late. The Pittsburgh Pirates' right-hander has allowed three or fewer earned runs in six straight starts, posting a 2.23 ERA and 0.50 HR/9 in that stretch. Still, we’ll need the Red Sox to play up his strikeout numbers tonight. Keller has just a 6.19 K/9 in this recent six-start stretch and he has five or more strikeouts in just three of the six contests. For Keller to give us what we need at this price point, we’ll need five or six solid innings and ideally a strikeout per inning at least.
MLB DFS Value Hitters
Vinnie Pasquantino, KC ($2,700 FD/$2,100 DK/$16 Yahoo)
What does Pasquantino have to do to get his price tag bumped up? Back on July 31st, the Kansas City Royals rookie was priced at $2,100 on DraftKings when he was hitting .225 with an 88 wRC+ coming into that game. Well, fast forward to today, where he’s priced at the same $2,100 price tag, but he’s hitting .354 with a 218 wRC+ over his last 13 games – not to mention five home runs and four doubles in that stretch. How does this make any sense? What am I missing here? I don’t know, but we’ll take the value and run with it! Pasquantino has an .802 OPS against righties this season, and he gets to face Sonny Gray, who has a 3.50 ERA and 1.33 WHIP at home – both of which are worse than his road numbers.
Franmil Reyes, CHC ($2,700 FD/$2,800 DK)
After being run out of Cleveland, Reyes has been quite good for the Chicago Cubs. In five games with the Cubs, Reyes is hitting .333 with a .619 slugging percentage, one home run, one triple, one double, four RBI, and one run scored. For Reyes’ career, he’s hit lefties at a .268 clip with an .821 OPS, and now he gets to face Patrick Corbin tonight. The Washington Nationals' southpaw has allowed a .328 average and .397 wOBA to right-handed hitters and in his home park, he’s served up a 5.17 ERA and 1.61 WHIP. This play may not be for the faint of heart, but we have to attack Corbin, given how putrid he’s been this season. GPP-only play here.
Paul DeJong, STL ($2,900 FD/$4,100 DK)
DeJong is too expensive on Yahoo, and maybe a tad high on DraftKings for the sake of the Value Vault. Still, he is hitting .385 with a .731 slugging percentage over his last seven games. DeJong is only hitting .192 on the season, but he’s hitting .280 with an .880 OPS against southpaws. Meanwhile, Colorado’s Kyle Freeland has allowed righties to hit .271 on the season. The Rockies lefty has a 6.00 ERA over his last seven starts and he’s allowed at least six hits in four of his last five road starts. Fire up DeJong tonight.
Vaughn Grissom, ATL ($2,800 FD/$2,000 DK)
What is Yahoo doing? I like Grissom as much as the next guy, but he's sub-$3K on FanDuel and DraftKings while being Yahoo's highest-priced second baseman – and is in the same pricing tier as Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. However, the Atlanta Braves' top prospect is incredibly affordable on the other sites and is hitting .429 with two home runs, eight runs scored, four RBI, and one stolen base through his first six big league games. Grissom has hit righties at a .385 clip this season and New York Mets starter Taijuan Walker was pummeled by this Braves team earlier this month. The higher in the lineup Grissom hits, the better, but he’s been so productive it’s hard to ignore him. That's especially true on DraftKings, where he is at minimum price. How does that happen – being the highest-priced player at the position on one site and minimum price on another?
Christian Walker, ARI ($3,100 FD/$16 Yahoo)
I know I already mentioned Pasquantino at the first base position, but I’d be remiss to not include Walker here given his recent production and price points on FanDuel and Yahoo. Since returning from injury, Jakob Junis has a 7.16 ERA and .429 BABIP across five appearances (four starts). He’s been unlucky, sure, but being unlucky isn’t going to get better when you have to face Christian Walker lately. In August, Walker is hitting .360 with a 1.191 OPS, and when you look at his numbers specifically against righties, he’s hitting .375 with five home runs, 16 RBI and a 1.238 OPS. For the season as a whole, his numbers may look better against lefties, but he’s hitting everything of late, and warrants consideration this evening.
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Ronald Acuña Jr. walloped his 19th home run of the season and walked three times, leading Atlanta to an 11-5 blowout win over the Nationals.
Acuña has caught fire down the home stretch following a prolonged slump coming out of the All-Star break, homering four times in his last 11 games. The 27-year-old generational talent took Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore deep in the opening frame and wound up reaching base safely in four of his six plate appearances in the one-sided affair. He’s looked like a fantasy superstar again of late, batting an absurd .346 (18-for-52) with four homers, 13 RBI and two steals over his last 15 games.
Nasim Nuñez went 3-for-4 with a solo homer in Monday’s blowout loss to Atlanta.
Nuñez walloped his first career leadoff homer when he took Atlanta ace Chris Sale deep to right field. It was his fourth round-tripper since returning to the big leagues back in early September. He came a few feet shy of his second big fly on the night a couple frames later and finished the one-sided affair with a season-high three hits, reaching base safely in four of his five plate appearances. He’s shown enough down the home stretch to be considered a serious contender for an everyday role next spring.
Michael Harris II went 3-for-5 with three RBI and three stolen bases in Monday’s lopsided win over the Nationals.
Harris kicked off an impressive three-hit performance with a 109-mph line-drive to right field that brought home Ha-Seong Kim from second base in the second inning. He scorched a run-scoring single as part of Atlanta’s five-run outburst in the ensuing frame. He wasn’t done yet as he drove in another run on a fielder’s choice in the fourth before adding a sixth-inning single. The three steals matched his previous career-high mark set back on July 16, 2022 during his stellar rookie campaign. It also puts him one theft shy of reaching the 20-steal threshold for the third time in the last four seasons.
Chris Sale was charged with five runs over five innings on Monday in a win over the Nationals.
Sale received a touchdown and a two-point conversion worth of run support from Atlanta’s offense by the fifth inning and was cruising along, despite coughing up early solo homers to Nasim Nuñez and Dylan Crews, before Andrés Chaparro delivered a bases-clearing three-run single with two outs in the frame that slashed the deficit to three runs at the time. He managed to wriggle out of the jam without any further damage, finishing with six strikeouts and two walks in the shortened outing. He’ll close out the season on Sunday with a home matchup against the offensively challenged Pirates.
MacKenzie Gore was lit up for four runs over two innings on Monday in a loss to Atlanta.
Gore served up a first-inning solo homer to Ronald Acuña Jr. and things only went downhill from there in the abbreviated outing as Atlanta tacked on another run in the second before chasing him from the contest in the ensuing frame after just 71 pitches (48 strikes). The 26-year-old southpaw battled some serious control issues in this one, handing out four free passes, and only notched three strikeouts. The unexpected implosion breaks up a decent late-season stretch for Gore since returning from the injured list back in early September. He’ll attempt to close out the season on a high note when he faces the White Sox on Sunday afternoon.
Cubs released RHP Nate Pearson.
Pearson’s time in Chicago is over after he posted a lackluster 5.05 ERA across 41 innings of work in 30 appearances over the last two seasons. The 29-year-old former top pitching prospect was never able to make it work after converting to a full-time relief role. However, it’s possible there’s still an organization out there willing to bring him in this offseason as a reclamation project.