Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Aces and Bases, where I’ll be going through the top MLB DFS Aces and Stacks on DraftKings and Fanduel.
We’ve got day baseball! On this fine Wednesday, we have ourselves a 9-game slate of MLB DFS to navigate through. As we look at who’s on the mound, we have pretty much every end of the spectrum possible. We have the best pitcher in the game in Jacob deGrom. We have the worst pitcher in the game Patrick Corbin. And we also have one of the top prospects in all of baseball making his major league debut in Grayson Rodriguez. What a Wednesday!
Let’s dig and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Jacob deGrom vs. Baltimore Orioles
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jacob deGrom in the aces section of this article. Yes, the Orioles lineup has been on fire. And yes, deGrom looked somewhat human in his first appearance this season vs. the Phillies. Even though he gave up 5 ER in less than 4 innings of work, he still managed to strike out 7 Phillies. The rough outing isn’t something that normally happens with deGrom and it’s something we have to expect was just an anomaly against a really good Phillies.
This Orioles lineup has been really good to start the year, but they’ve yet to face anyone with the skillset of deGrom. Look for deGrom to settle down in his new home and have one of those dominant performances we’ve all come to love from him.
Pablo Lopez vs. Miami Marlins
The Marlins have been a complete mess against right-handed pitching so far this season. Kent Maeda, a pitcher that missed a whole season, was able to strike out 9 Marlins in just 5 innings of work last night. Through the first week of the season, the Marlins have a strikeout rate of over 32% against righties and have hit for almost no power with an ISO of just .124. Their wOBA so far against righties this season is a whopping .276.
There’s also a narrative in this pick. Pablo Lopez spent the first 5 years of his career with this same Marlins team before he was shipped out to Minnesota this offseason for Luis Arraez. Lopez will surely be amped up today facing his former teammates and I expect him to come out on top. At just $7.4k on DK today, we’re getting a pitching that has as much upside as anyone on the hill today.
Dylan Cease vs. San Francisco Giants
Dylan Cease is coming off a dominant performance against the reigning World Series Champions Houston Astros. In the game, Cease struck out 10 hitters in just over 6 innings of work. His stuff was electric as he had a nearly 35% chase rate. Cease is in the upper echelon of pitchers these days and he proved why in that initial outing. If he struck out 10 Astros, there’s no telling what he can do against this Giants lineup that has a 29% strike-out rate vs. righties to start the year.
I didn’t mention him in my top 3, but I also really like Christian Javier today vs. the Tigers. He should be able to dominate that lineup today.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Patrick Corbin
You guys know the drill by now. When Patrick Corbin is on the mound, I stack against him. More often than not, it’s a successful strategy. Add in that he’s facing a strong Tampa Bay Rays lineup, and I’m even more interested in stacking against him today. Corbin is just a bad pitcher. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. In his first outing of the year, he gave up 3 barrels in just 3 innings of work. A 1:1 ratio of barrels to innings pitched is not a good ratio. The only thing that Corbin had going for him in his 2023 debut was that he gave up a 64% ground ball rate. If that number goes down today, the damage that can be done by the rays is immeasurable.
Core: My core with the Rays starts with Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco, and Yandy Diaz. These 3 guys sit at the top of the lineup and have been extremely productive to start the year. Aroz is my favorite of the bunch as he’s started out the year on fire. He’s in safely in all 5 games and has scored a run in all but the opener. Diaz is coming off a monster game yesterday that saw him go 2-4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. He should continue to have strong games in matchups like the one he has today.
Secondary/Value: Other guys that will have my interest in this lineup will be Isaac Paredes, Harold Ramirez, Jose Siri, and Manuel Margot. Basically, if you’re in a Rays jersey today, I’ll have some level of interest in you. All of these guys mentioned though are extremely cheap considering that matchup. They make for great value plays to fill holes in your lineups today.
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Corey Kluber
Corey Kluber is now in his 13th MLB season. He’s had a remarkable career that has seen him pitch at an ace level for many years. We are now far removed from that though. What we are seeing at this point from Kluber is a pitcher at the tail end of his career. His first outing in the 2023 season could not have gone any worse than it did. In just 3 innings of work, Kluber managed to give up 5 ER and was smacked around for a 55% hard-hit rate. The Pirates’ lineup isn’t at the same level as the Orioles, but they do have some young hungry hitters that can absolutely do some damage against an aging pitcher in Kluber
Core: My Pirates stack will be built around Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds has started out the season strong, with a 1.502 OPS. He’s already up to 4 homers in the young season and 6 RBI. He’s enhancing his trade value and also enhancing the numbers that will be on his potential Pirates extension. I also really like Cruz today. He’s always a risk to get you multiple strikeouts, but he has one of the quickest bats in the game and can absolutely take advantage of any Kluber mistake today.
Secondary/Value: I’ll also have some level of interest in guys like Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jack Suwinski, and Ji Hwan Bae. The numbers for Hayes so far have been pretty brutal. He has just 2 hits in 20 AB. But the positive with him is that he’s putting the ball in play, he’s just been extremely unlucky with a .118 BABIP. At some point those balls will find the hole, could it be today?
Minnesota Twins vs. Jesus Lazardo
The final numbers for Jesus Lazardo were pretty good in his first outing against the Mets. He gave up 0 runs in his nearly 6 innings of work. He also struck out 5 and gave up just a 25% hard-hit rate. There’s a big difference though between the Mets lineup and the Twins lineup. The Mets have struggled vs. lefties over the last couple of years while the Twins have dominated against them. This is a Twins lineup that can really give Lazardo some fits today.
Core: The top 2 guys in this lineup are 2 guys that can really do some damage to lefties. Both Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa had great years in 2022 vs. lefties. Buxton, when healthy, is a dynamic player that can do a little bit of everything. He hits for power and can swipe a base or 2. In 2022, he had a .337 ISO vs. lefties and a .376 wOBA. Correa also had a great year vs. lefties in 2022 as he had a wOBA over .400. Both guys can excel in this matchup today.
Secondary/Value: I also like Kyle Farmer, Jose Miranda, and Christian Vazquez in this matchup. All 3 guys can handle lefties well and are reasonably priced today. Farmer is my favorite of the 3.
MLB DFS Summary
We have a little bit of everything today. Aces and gas cans. Rays will be popular today, but for good reason. They are in a great matchup in a great hitting environment today.
Make sure to drop into Discord where we’re constantly talking about plays for every slate.
Good luck and hope to see you in the green.
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