Home Run Derby: Friday, August 23rd
Calling home runs, besides great fun, often makes the difference between a wildly profitable night in DFS and missing the cash line. Throughout the 2019 MLB season, I will endeavor to find a few home runs in three salary tiers on DraftKings. Join me throughout the year and call your home runs for monthly and seasonal RotoGrinders prizes. Without further ado, let’s play Home Run Derby!
Throughout this season, I will produce the Home Run Derby for main slates on DraftKings 2-3 days per week — selecting a home run from three different pricing tiers. If you want to call your home runs, please use these tiers for your selections to be eligible for any Derby prizes. Here are the tiers.
Luxury Box – $4,500 and above
Club Seats – $3,500 – $4400
Bleachers – Below $3,500
Hitters must be selected from the DraftKings Main Slate.
Schedule this Week: Monday, Tuesday, Friday
Happy Friday, Grinders! The MLB is providing a 13-game slate for us, tonight. We must take advantage! We are on the precipice of a couple of events. For one, next week will be the last week for this article. All of these months of collecting home runs will culminate with a winner for the month of August and an overall winner — very exciting.
Second, I will absolutely be the father of three by next week. My wife’s due date was… yesterday. The baby is a stubborn sort. Must be extremely comfortable in whatever position he or she finds themselves in. Nonetheless, if not this weekend, the baby will be here early next week. What does this mean? Well, for starters, I will be more broke. Next, I will have even less time! Finally, I will, of course, be elated to welcome the new bundle of joy.
Wait, what does this mean for the article? I am going to do my best to produce content next week and give as many opportunities as possible for the month of August. That said if the baby ends up going until Tuesday as the current plan is laid, creating content is going to be very challenging. You have my word that I will do my best and at least come back to finalize the contest with a summary article just before the transition to NFL.
With that out of the way, let’s call some home runs.
The statistics for each player are for the 2019 season.
Luxury Box
Christian Yelich — OF – $5,900
Yelich in 2019 – .357 ISO, 35.8 FB%, 51.9 Hard%, 93.4 MPH aEV
Kelly vs LHH – .168 ISO, 88.7 MPH aEV, 31.9 FB%, 46.8 Hard%
Currently second in odds to win the NL MVP, Christian Yelich is in a prime spot to hit a home run this evening. I know, I know. Yelich finds himself in a prime spot to hit a home run every night. Yet, Miller Park has been Yelich’s favorite environment since becoming a Brewer.
Yelich boasts 47 home runs in Miller Park with 25 of his 41 this season coming in his friendly digs. Lefty power is boosted in Milwaukee. Merrill Kelly is in for a rough evening considering the Brewers will put together a lineup rife with left-handed power. Yelich is certainly the most powerful and is poised for a big night.
Club Seats
Travis d’Arnaud – 1B/C – $4,400
d’Arnaud in 2019 – .195 ISO, 36.6 FB%, 38.7 Hard%, 89.6 MPH aEV
Blach vs RHH – .265 ISO, 88.8 MPH aEV, 36.8 FB%, 50.0 Hard%
The 2019 season has been a bit of a roller coaster for Travis d’Arnaud. Designated for assignment by the Mets after returning from his Tommy John surgery, signed by the Dodgers for a cup of tea, and then traded to the Rays for cash has been the layout for the young catcher this season. Since becoming a Ray, d’Arnaud has been more than serviceable — becoming a fixture in the contending Rays lineup.
Since May 11th — his first day with the Rays — d’Arnaud has 13 home runs, a .211 ISO, a 112 wRC+, and all of this with a .288 BABIP. Travis presents plenty of power and sees a very winnable matchup against Ty Blach and his band of Orioles’ brethren this evening.
Bleachers
Danny Jansen – C – $3,200
Jansen in 2019 – .166 ISO, 38.9 FB%, 43.8 Hard%, 89.0 MPH aEV
Sheffield vs RHH – minimal sample
We all know each other pretty well. I mean, we have been doing this all season and it is August. Do I really need to explain my Danny Jansen pick in this tier?
Despite 13 games, this tier is gross. Honestly, a baseball bat and a pulse might be enough to qualify for a pick down here, tonight. Jansen hits the ball hard enough and moonlights as a power-hitter from time to time. Good enough.
Leaderboard (sortable by column)
| Player | Total | August | 8/2 | 8/5 | 8/6 | 8/9 | 8/12 | 8/13 | 8/19 | 8/20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| joeycis | 35 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| erichanlon | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| shanekern03 | 52 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| nrcave | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| mewhitenoise | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| boomanfoo | 33 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| allanturner84 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| hautalak | 27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| TheDataDetective | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| infy72 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ropediddy | 27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| bcorbett | 43 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| pastorthor | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MoccasinMusic | 28 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gillik9486 | 39 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Anttheman | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Curse | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WestCrook1 | 42 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| oxlodge42 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| strgzer585 | 41 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| weave40 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| pryan000 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HIPPYHD | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| apov22 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| whitetrashballerz | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| jsherman003 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| wcuball29 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| dhorton8813 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| yisman | 34 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SmoothLH20 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DJESQUIRE | 36 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| bigstacks2015 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wencesace21 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BigPod | 11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GBRollClones | 19 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| sochoice | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| firemedicpat | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| pabloplyr | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| dmurphhh | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| steinymj | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| jkfor20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| tmirrione | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Tuesday brought 43 home runs and finally, the leaderboard reflects some movement. Gillik9486, dmurphhh, and tmirrione all collected two home runs but no home runs were as meaningful as those collected by DJESQUIRE. He has been knocking on the door each month and might have broken through with a timely two-homer night to get to ten home runs for the month of August. Shanekern03 could not collect a bomb, so DJ sits alone atop the leaderboard with a two-bomb cushion.
Frequent readers know that Shane has the tendency to grab multiple home runs on any slate, so DJ is going to need to pile on tonight to pick up some breathing room. As for the rest of us, let’s finish this contest strong. I will — hopefully — be back on Monday for an update and a few more home run picks. Perhaps, another child? We will see. Until then, have a great weekend!
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the article, stick around for the rest of the MLB season. Want to compete against me? Drop your expensive, mid-tier, and cheap home run calls in the comments (DraftKings pricing). Otherwise, give me a follow on Twitter where I typically post slate-relevant statistics and embarrassing comments about professional wrestling.
Statistics for this article are obtained from FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, RotoGrinders Daily Research Console, and Baseball Savant.