Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to Friday’s edition of Aces and Bases, where I’ll be going through the top MLB DFS Aces and Stacks on DraftKings and Fanduel.
It’s Friday and that means we have a massive slate of MLB DFS on our hands. Tonight we’ll have a 12-game slate to navigate through. At first glance, pitching is less than optimal. We have a bunch of average pitchers in ok matchups. Bats though will be plentiful as with a ton of ok pitchers comes a ton of bad pitchers as well.
Let’s dig and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Sandy Alcantara vs. San Francisco Giants
Things have not gone according to plan for last year’s NL Cy Young Winner. Sandy Alcantara has had a very inconsistent start to the 2023 season. He’s had some brilliant outings but he’s also had some horrific outings. In his last start, he gave up 6 ER. That was the second time that it happened this year that he’s given up at least 6 ER. The saving grace though for Alcantara is that he’s still striking some batters out.
Over the last month, he’s had a 26% K rate. With pitching tonight, that’s one of the best marks on the day. He’ll have the luxury of facing a pretty average lineup tonight in the Giants. The projected Giants lineup tonight has a K rate vs. righties over 26%. That sets up nicely for Alcantara and with him priced under $10k, I really like his value tonight. With how he’s pitched this season, he’s no sure thing. That said, he should do well.
Jake Irvin vs. Detroit Tigers
After making his debut with a decent start vs. the Cubs, Jake Irvin followed that up with a very strong start vs. the Giants that we mentioned above. Through 2 starts this season, Irvin is sporting an ERA of just 1. The K upside with him isn’t massive, but he’s just $6.7k so we’re not looking for a 10k outing from him, just a handful for him to return value.
He’ll have the luxury of facing one of the poorer lineups in the league in the Tigers. The projected Tigers lineup tonight has limited power and a wOBA under .300 vs. righties this season. Look for Irvin to continue his solid start in the majors and return us an outing in at least the teens tonight.
Other pitchers that I have interest in tonight will be James Paxton vs. the Padres, Bryce Miller vs. Atlanta, Reid Detmers vs. Minnesota, and Joe Ryan vs. the Angels.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Houston Astros vs. Ken Waldichuck
The Astros will get an extremely important piece to their team tonight as Jose Altuve is expected to make his season debut. That in and of itself makes this lineup deeper. He’s been the heart and soul of the lineup at the top and will be extremely stronger with him back. It also helps that the Astros will be facing the A’s and Ken Waldichuk.
The A’s haven’t given up less than 4 runs in any game that Waldichuk has pitched this season. In his last outing, the A’s gave up 7 ER. As has been the case all year, I’m all in against the A’s. I’m not going to be concerned with splits in this one. Waldichuck has been really bad vs. both sides of the plate.
With this stack I’m starting it off with their best 2 hitters, the aforementioned Altuve and Yordan Alvarez. They make this lineup go and I would not be surprised to see Altuve have a monster night in his return. Alvarez for his part has had extremely solid numbers vs. lefties this year. He’s sporting a .240 ISO and a .364 wOBA.
Other bats that I’ll have an interest in here will be Alex Bregman and Jeremy Pena. Both guys are coming into this one having played really well over the last week. They’re also extremely productive bats. All bats though for the Astros are in play tonight as they should score a very healthy number of runs this evening.
Texas Rangers vs. Karl Kaufmann
The Colorado Rockies will turn the ball over to Karl Kaufmann tonight. He’ll be making his major league debut after just getting drafted in 2019. Throughout his career in the minors, he’s struggled. Last season he pitched to a 6.05 ERA and a 6.46 FIP. This year has been even worse with a 7.78 ERA. Even so, he’s been fast-tracked for some reason. He’ll more than likely get lit up by a team that is no whole again with Corey Seager back in the mix.
This is a lineup that has really been playing well of late. Guys like Adolis Garcia, Robbie Grossman, and Marcus Semien have been hitting the cover off the ball and will be priorities for me tonight. They’ve combined for 20 RBI over the last week and 17 runs scored.
Other bats that I really like here will be Nate Lowe, Corey Seager, and Ezequiel Duran. As you can see, this lineup is now stacked and will be tough for any pitcher, let alone an average pitcher at best making his major league debut.
Another stack I’ll have interest in tonight will be the Washington Nationals vs. Matthew Boyd. Boyd hasn’t been good and the Nationals will give us some value to fit either the Rangers or Astros top bats tonight. I can also get down with the Mets vs. Cal Quantrill and Orioles vs. Kikuchi
MLB DFS Summary
Tonight’s a night to focus on safety first with pitchers, not necessarily upside. We’ll also look to the Lonestar state for our bats tonight.
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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