MLB DFS Value Vault June 10: Jose Berrios Has a Great Matchup
We go into another summer fantasy baseball weekend in June with a bang! It’s the biggest slate of the season- 15 games of MLB DFS action on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo. It all begins at 7:05 pm ET with a few big pitching guns like Joe Musgrove and Luis Severino taking the mound and offense galore with the likes of Freddie Freeman, Rafael Devers, and Aaron Judge. So, how will you fit these high-priced studs into your MLB DFS lineups? With Value Plays ladies and gentlemen! The DFS Alarm Value Vault has been opened and it includes some top point per dollar plays like Eduardo Escobar and Jurickson Profar that may just get you over the top. Make sure to check the latest DFS Alarm MLB Weather Report and MLB Lineups page before locking in your lineups as well as the MLB Tools Page that includes MLB daily player projections, MLB Vegas Odds, batter vs. pitcher, and lineup generator. Now let’s get that vault open and find the top value plays for Friday night...
MLB DFS PITCHERS
José Berríos - Toronto Blue Jays
$7,500 DraftKings / $8,400 FanDuel / $39 Yahoo
José Berríos is one of the most volatile pitchers in baseball. He is 4-2 on the season with a 5.24 ERA/1.41 WHIP and a low 7.78 K/9 rate. Two starts ago he was bombed by the Angels when he allowed six earned runs in 2.1 innings but then he came back with a masterful performance against the Twins by striking out 13 batters over seven innings. Which José Berríos will appear today? I am leaning towards the “good” one due to the matchup against a woeful Detroit Tigers offense. The Tigers are one of the worst hitting teams in the majors and have the second-worst team strikeout rate on the slate against right-handed pitching – 25.7% with a 14.5% SwStr% to go along with a .147 ISO/.292wOBA. Those are bad offensive numbers and there is no evidence of the team turning their hitting fortunes around, so Berrios is a top point-per-dollar play in tournaments on all sites.
Spencer Strider - Atlanta Braves
$7,000 DraftKings / $7,200 FanDuel / $ 33 Yahoo
You can’t ignore the strikeout rate for young Braves pitcher Spenser Strider. Over his last 13 innings, he is whiffing batters at a clip of 35.7%- the best on the slate. He has spent most of this season capably filling in various relief roles but now has brought some much-needed stability to the fifth spot of the Braves rotation. In his first start last week he recorded seven strikeouts, gave up four hits, and allowed five runs over 4 1/3 innings. His 72-pitch outing was marred by bad Braves defense, but he drew praises for a four-seam fastball that was averaging 98.2 mph and touched at 100 mph. He will be tested in this new role again tonight but with triple-digit readings and a matchup against a weak Pirate defense that is striking out 24% to righties, Strider is a very intriguing value play on all sites.
MLB DFS Hitters
Jurickson Profar - San Diego Padres
$3,400 DraftKings / $3,500 FanDuel / $19 Yahoo
The Padres went through three lead-off hitters through the first 44 games of the season and they combined to hit .188 with a .271 on-base percentage- not exactly table-setter numbers. Enter Jurickson Profar and the has been a godsend to the Padres offense, hitting .370 with a .433 OBP in 13 games leading off. He is also emptying bases as well as he is getting on base with at least an RBI in six straight games. Only one other Padre has accomplished this feat- you guessed it – Fernando Tatis Jr back in 2020.
Tonight, Profar will be facing Chad Kuhl, who despite having a decent season is allowing lefty bats to hit him much harder than the right side with a .221 ISO and 345 wOBA allowed. The switch-hitting Profar has four multi-hit games out of his last six and with four straight double-digit fantasy point games. At this price, Profar is viable in all formats tonight as a low-owned value play.
Eduardo Escobar - New York Mets
$3,200 DraftKings / $3,200 FanDuel / $16 Yahoo
Eduardo Escobar became the first Met to hit for the cycle in 10 years (Scott Hairston-2012) on Monday when he went 4-for-5 with six RBIs against the Padres. He is also 20-for-60 (.3330 with 15 RBIs over his last 14 games.
He has been raking left-handed pitching with an elite .317 ISO/.402wOBA and is usually in the middle of the Mets order when a southpaw (Jhonathan Diaz) is on the mound. With a .420 average over the last week, Escobar is in play, especially with the Angels bullpen ranked 26th against switch-hitters.
MJ Melendez - Kansas City Royals
$3,900 DraftKings / $2,600 FanDuel / $15 Yahoo
Ever since being called up in early May, MJ Melendez has become an everyday part of the Royals lineup. He is slashing .259/.339/.463 with a .902 OPS while becoming a fixture in the #5 spot of the batting order. He is coming off a home run last night and in a limited sample size is crushing left-handed pitching. With a .280 ISO/.462wOBA on the reverse split, he faces Bruce Zimmermann who has been getting crushed this season with an xFIP of 4.64 and isn’t many bats with a 17% K rate. Melendez is too cheap tonight for the matchup and a 4.8 implied run total that Vegas has tagged on the Royals.
Oscar Gonzalez - Cleveland Guardians
$ 2,000 DraftKings / $2,400 FanDuel / $10 Yahoo
Oscar Gonzalez was called up by the Guardians in mid-May and all he has done is hit. He has played 13 major league games and has a hit in 12 of them. He is now sporting a seven-game hit streak and opened the series with Oakland last night with a bang by going 4-for-4 which included a double and RBI single. He joins Roger Maris as the only player to have a hit in 12 of their first 13 major league games.
The rookie is slashing .404/.415/.519 with six doubles and six RBIs in his first 53 plate appearances and at the minimum price, it won’t take much to make value tonight against right-hander Paul Blackburn and the A’s.
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Player News
Daulton Varsho picked up three hits, three RBI and a homer in a win over the Angels on Thursday.
Varsho has only played in seven games this year, but they’ve been seven good ones. He’s homered three times already, and his slugging percentage is a remarkable — and entirely unsustainable — .727 over 22 at-bats. Varsho has been a mediocre offensive player in his two seasons with the Blue Jays, but it’s possible at the age of 28 he’s having a breakout campaign. Far from a guarantee, but possible.
Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer in a loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday.
Ward, 31, gave the Angels a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer off Chris Bassitt in the first inning. He’s now gone deep in two of his last three games, and it ‘improves’ his slash to .181/.224/.391. Ward has been one of the most hot/cold players players in the sport over the last few years, so fantasy managers who can afford to make some roster moves may want to look at Ward while the going is good.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. picked up three hits and scored twice in an 8-5 win over the Angels on Thursday.
Guerrero also drew a walk. It gives the first baseman multiple hits in back-to-back games, and it’s the third time in May that he’s reached that mark. That’s helped raise his average from .268 to .295, and the only thing fantasy managers can be disappointed with is his .432 slugging percentage. That number should continue to climb as the season unfolds, but Vladdy Jr. has had some inconsistent seasons when it comes to power production.
Chad Green picked up his first save of 2025 with a scoreless ninth against the Angels on Thursday.
Green got the save after Jeff Hoffman worked in back-to-back games — and struggled — in the first two contests against the Angels. He struck out two and looked the part while needing just nine pitches to get through the inning. Hoffman should remain the closer, but Green is on his tail if the struggles were to continue.
Chris Bassitt allowed five runs — four earned — while working six-plus innings against the Angels on Thursday while picking up a win.
Bassitt allowed three runs over the first two innings on a pair of homers, but settled down over his next four frames. He came out to work the seventh, but ended up being charged for two more runs after leaving the contest. The 36-year-old veteran has forged a 3.35 ERA and outstanding 49/8 K/BB ratio over the first quarter of the season, but this wasn’t him at his best. He’ll get the Rays next week if the rotation order stays the same for Toronto.
José Soriano allowed three runs over five innings while not factoring in the decision Thursday against the Blue Jays.
Soriano left with a 4-3 lead, but it was erased quickly after his departure. The 26-year-old was not exactly dominant in his outing with eight hits allowed and four free passes, but he did strike out six to help balance things out a smidgen. Soriano takes an even ERA of 4.00 into a scheduled start against the Padres in San Diego on Tuesday. There should be better options for that one.