Welcome to our MLB DFS Building Blocks, DraftKings and FanDuel picks for 5/13/22! In this article, I’ll break down by top overall plays for today’s main slate. Last year was an extremely big year for the Karma team in MLB, and we are looking to continue that success in 2022. I will be providing Core Plays for every main slate (and day baseball) this season — you can gain access to that as well as our premium discord here. Let’s get to the plays…
Pitcher
Max Scherzer + Kevin Gausman
We are awarded a lot of aces on this massive 13 game slate, but Max Scherzer and Kevin Gausman stick out as the top options on DraftKings. Both of these guys rank top-15 in CSW% this season, and top-ten in strikeout rate as well. They both also have positive strikeout match-ups against the Mariners and Rays respectively. All-in-all, it comes down to preference but I think these are clearly the best two pitchers on the slate and they have solid match-ups. I love to spend-up for pitching on DK, and it’s looking like a double-ace night for me on Friday.
Chase Silseth
I’m not sure if I will need the savings from a mid-$5K pitcher on Friday, but if I find myself wanting an expensive stack I will consider Chase Silseth. Silseth isn’t even 22 years old yet, but is making his first big league start on Friday night against the Oakland A’s. He’s the first draftee from the 2021 class to get the call to the big leagues, and it couldn’t be a better match-up for him. He hasn’t even made a start in Triple A yet, but has dominated Double-A striking out almost 40% of batters faced. He clearly has upside, and that’s all we can really ask for at this type of a price tag. With how strong the top-tier of SP is tonight, I will personally skip the mid-tier and focus on a double-spend or one ace + Silseth in my tourney builds.
Overall, we are loaded with pitching options today these are just the few that stick out above the rest for me. Eduardo Rodriguez is projecting for heavy ownership against the Orioles, but I see no reason at all to play him as chalk on a big slate with all of these options. Someone like Gerrit Cole is more than fine in tournaments — Yu Darvish and Max Fried are viable as well.
Building Blocks
Aaron Judge
Judge is someone I write up a lot, as you know, and I’m going back to him on Friday. He once again came through for us leading me to a takedown on DraftKings a few days ago, and tonight he matches up against Vince Velasquez. Mostly, people use Judge against left-handed pitching but he is very good in same-handed match-ups as well. He has the best wOBA on this team vs righties the last few seasons (.380). He’s also been locked in at the plate, ranking top-three in both barrels and average exit velocity. Velasquez is a heavy fastball pitcher — and we know that Judge is a dominant fastball hitter. He’s my favorite spend-up tonight and I think he can be used in a min-stack with Giancarlo Stanton in all formats.
Brad Miller
Miller has been featured in a number of my articles this week, and he’s once again in the mix for top value play. He keeps producing, and DraftKings refuses to move his price tag which means we will likely keep playing him. He has some of the best marks on this team vs right-handed pitching, including a .234 ISO and 49% hard-hit rate. Pivetta does allow power to both sides of the plate, and this is the exact type of one-off I like to make on these bigger slates. He will likely be high-owned, but I think he can be used in all formats on both sites.
Bold Call
Gausman strikes out double-digits!
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
