Jared Levitt 
We made it y’all. It’s finally Saturday and that means we’ll have a couple of different slates of MLB DFS to navigate through. Today, I’ll be focused on the main slate starting at 7:00 PM EST. This slate brings us the return of one of the top strikeout pitchers in the game. We’ll also still have a Coors game, although there may be some weather issues there.
Let’s Dig in and make some money!
MLB DFS Aces – Main
Freddy Peralta ($10.4k on DK) vs. St. Louis Cardinals
After serving his 5-game suspension, Freddy Peralta returns tonight to face off against NL Central rival St. Louis Cardinals. These franchises are headed in very different directions. The Brewers are good and the Cardinals, well they are not. On the year, the Cardinals have really struggled and they’ve really struggled vs. righties. They own a nearly 25% K rate vs. them and they’ve also hit for little power with a .125 ISO.
Their best hitter is out indefinitely thanks to incompetent coaching and their vets are really struggling. This will all set up really well for one of the top strikeout pitchers in the game. This matchup for Peralta screams ceiling. He’s a high-strikeout pitcher who’s facing a high-strikeout team. I can see Peralta going his normal 6 innings of work, with 8 K’s. If that happens, he’ll more than pay off his high salary.
Triston McKenzie ($8.7k on DK) vs. Chicago White Sox
After mostly struggling in 2023, it appears that Triston McKenzie has turned the corner and pitching like the stud we saw in 2022. Through 7 starts, McKenzie owns a 3.97 ERA and has allowed just a .219 average on the year. Between his low contact rate and his low hard-hit rate, McKenzie has been doing a solid job of limiting the amount of hard-hit balls put into play. The one knock that I have on him so far this season is that he’s getting behind on hitters from the start.
His 54% first strike % is far below the majority of the pitchers on this slate. If he can get that number up, he’ll be able to go longer into games and be a little more successful. This is a great matchup for him tonight vs. a bad White Sox team. He hasn’t given up more than 2 ER since all the way back in early April. That shouldn’t change tonight in this cake matchup for him.
Other pitchers that will be in my pool today will be Nick Lodolo vs. San Fran, Cole Ragans vs. Los Angeles, and Bryce Miller vs. Oakland.
MLB DFS Stacks – Main
Cincinnati Reds vs. Mason Black
Mason Black’s first Major League start did not go as planned. He gave up 5 ER in just 4 innings of work and had a WHIP of way more than 2. He struggled in just about every aspect of the game. Lots of hard-hit balls, lots of fly balls, and lots of contact. In order to be successful in the bigs, he’s going to need to adjust and get better. With a matchup against the Reds today, I just don’t see it happening anytime soon.
Although the Reds have mostly struggled vs. righties this season, this is a beatable righty and a matchup they should do well in. It’s only one start, but lefties brutalized Black in his debut. They had a .778 slugging % in the game and a wOBA of .514.
Core Bats: Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, Jonathan India
Secondary Bats: Jeimer Candelario, T.J. Friedl
Value Bats: Mike Ford, Will Benson
Cleveland Guardians vs. Mike Clevinger
Like Mason Black, Mike Clevinger has just one start under his belt this season and it too could not have been any worse. Clevinger game up 3 ER in just his 2 innings of work. Hitters had a 50% hard-hit rate vs. him and they also had a 95% contact rate. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise as Clevinger wasn’t all that great last season either as he had an xFIP over 5. Until he shows otherwise, I’m going to pick on him and the White Sox bullpen.
With Clevinger, we want to pick on him with lefties as they have historically had better numbers vs. him than righties. The good news for us is that the Guardians have some solid lefty hitters.
Core Bats: Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez
Value Bats: Bo Naylor, Will Brennan, Estevan Florial
Other stacks I like tonight will be the Rangers vs. Ryan Feltner, Rockies vs. Andrew Heaney, and Dodgers vs. Matt Waldron
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