Friday night’s MLB DFS main slate is highlighted by arguably the top two pitchers facing each other in a duel in Houston. Framber Valdez and Shohei Ohtani have been two of the best pitchers in the American League this season and they face off in a Texas showdown in Houston on Friday night. Logan Webb and Zach Wheeler are also in good spots on the main slate. On the offensive side of the ledger, the Padres, Rays, and the much cheaper Royals make up some of the more appealing plays on the day.
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MLB DFS Picks and Plays for June 2
Today’s analysis covers the 13-game main slate on DraftKings and FanDuel at 7:05 PM ET.
Weather Concerns:
- There is rain projected for the games being played in Boston, New York (Mets vs. Blue Jays), and Minnesota. Check latest weather reports on Friday afternoon before locking in players for these games.
Best Hitter’s Parks:
- Guaranteed Rate Field
- Fenway Park
- Dodger Stadium
Best Pitcher’s Parks:
- Petco Park
- Oracle Park
- Kauffman Stadium
DraftKings Top Plays
High-Dollar Pitcher
Framber Valdez ($10,100) vs. Los Angeles Angels – Framber Valdez has had one game since his Opening Day start where he did not throw a quality start. In his last two games, he has allowed one earned run over 15 total innings, while chipping in 12 strikeouts as well. On DK, Valdez is $600 cheaper than Ohtani, so he gets the nod here, especially since the Angels strike out 22% of the time against left-handed pitchers and are top ten in ground ball rate against them.
Value Pitcher
Tyler Glasnow ($7,900) vs. Boston Red Sox – Glasnow was at 83 pitches in his season debut this week, so he should be up around 90-95 for this start assuming he makes his way through the Red Sox lineup relatively unscathed. Glasnow struck out eight in his 4.1 innings last start and now gets a Boston team that struck out over 21% of the time in the month of May. This will be the last time we see Glasnow under $8,300 for quite some time.
High-Dollar Infielder
Trea Turner ($5,300) vs. Josiah Gray – Josiah Gray has had some wild reverse splits against batters this year, doing much worse against righties than against lefties. He allows a .273/.326/.430 line to right-handers this year which represents a slugging percentage 125 points higher than against lefties. Gray’s 4.50 SIERA is also one of the highest among all pitchers on the main slate.
Value Infielder
Ha-Seong Kim ($3,700) vs. Jameson Taillon – We are going to pick on Jameson Taillon a lot over the rest of this section, but it’s for good reason. Over eight starts, he has an 8.04 ERA, primarily because he can’t keep men off base. His walks have shot up to 3.16 per nine innings and his BABIP allowed is .378. Add 1.44 home runs per nine innings to batters this year, and even a player like Kim is a solid play at the salary. Kim has a career-high OBP this season and already has five homers and nine steals.
High-Dollar Outfielder
Fernando Tatis, Jr. ($6,000) vs. Jameson Taillon – Tatis has been absolutely on fire the last six games, with two homers, two steals, eight RBI, and six runs. After a very long absence, he is putting together consistent production now and he also has a .603 slugging percentage and .323 on-base percentage at home this season.
Value Outfielder
Jose Siri ($3,100) vs. Garrett Whitlock – Jose Siri may be hitting low in the order for the mighty Tampa Bay Rays, but he is still delivering on the fantasy production. He has at least 16 DK fantasy points in five of his last eight games and now gets Garrett Whitlock who is worse against right-handers this season. Whitlock allows a .341 OBP and a .528 SLG to those batters this year.
Best DraftKings Stack
San Diego Padres vs. Jameson Taillon – After the top three salaries on this team (Tatis, Soto at $5,500, and Bogaerts at $5,100), these salaries really fall off a cliff. At least five starters will be under $4,500 and the Padres have the sixth-highest team ISO over the last two weeks. Taillon allows a .469 wOBA to left-handed batters this season, so Soto and guys like Jake Cronenworth, Rougned Odor, and Trent Grisham are all players you will want to include in your stacks.
FanDuel Top Plays
High-Dollar Pitcher
Shohei Ohtani ($10,800) vs. Houston Astros – On FanDuel, Ohtani is just the fourth most expensive pitcher and is $400 cheaper than Valdez. The Astros are traditionally a good offense, but they only rank 21st in OPS against right-handers this year and strike out almost 23% of the time against them in 2023. Ohtani has 19 strikeouts in his last two games combined.
Value Pitcher
Jack Flaherty ($8,200) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – After their amazing run to start the season, the Pirates have fallen off a cliff over the last month. Their team OBP and SLG are bottom-five in the league during that span and they strike out over 25% of the time (fourth-highest in the league). Two of Flaherty’s last three appearances are quality starts and he has only allowed seven earned runs in the last four games.
High-Dollar Infielder
Ryan McMahon ($3,600) vs. Jordan Lyles – Quietly, Ryan McMahon has been on an absolute tear lately. He has 13 hits, four home runs, and 11 RBI over the last seven games and now gets a matchup with the slate’s worst pitcher: Jordan Lyles. Lyles is bottom-four in wOBA allowed to both righties and lefties, and he is also tied for the lowest strikeout rate on the slate. Kauffman Stadium may not be Coors Field, but the great matchup makes up for it.
Value Infielder
Brendan Donovan ($2,700) vs. Roansy Contreras – Contreras has been very bad against lefties this season, as he now allows a .283/.356/.457 line to them this year. Brendan Donovan is now playing just about every day and his slugging percentage against right-handers is 90 points higher than against lefties.
High-Dollar Outfielder
Juan Soto ($4,300) vs. Jameson Taillon – Soto’s salary on FanDuel is too low, especially after we have seen what Taillon is doing in terms of allowing baserunners and power this year. Getting on base and hitting for power are the two things Soto does best, and $4,300 is too cheap for what we will get out of him on Friday. Soto slashed .333/.482/.632 for the Padres in May.
Value Outfielder
Alec Burleson ($2,500) vs. Roansy Contreras – If Burleson is in the lineup at this basement-level cheap salary, he will be a priority piece for me. He has reached base safely in seven of his last eight games and has a .417 slugging percentage and a low 9% strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers.
Best FanDuel Stack
St Louis Cardinals vs. Roansy Contreras – Roansy Contreras had some nice starts to begin the season, but the wheels have completely fallen off. He can’t strike anyone out (6.2 per nine innings), and he walks everyone (3.98 per nine). That is a bad recipe for a Cardinals team that rarely strikes out and likes to be patient at the plate. They have the right combination of expensive pieces (Goldschmidt, Arenado, and Gorman) plus cheap guys (Burleson, Donovan, and now Jordan Walker is back up) to stack any way you want. They will be a priority stack for me.