Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Contest: Friday, August 26th
Happy Friday, Grinders! What a waste of a slate we saw on Tuesday with respect to home runs. A full slate in August with only 25 home runs? Yikes. As a result, you won’t see much change in the following leaderboard. With this, the penultimate slate in our contest, will Friday provide a greater bounty of power? Let’s hope so.
Aaron Judge was the only noteworthy home run. With his recent struggles, he was not all that popular. Perhaps Judge is turning a corner and should be a heavy consideration for our last two slates. As such, the leaderboard has not shifted much. WestCrook1 grabbed a home run to keep in contention. I updated the highlights for those with north of 30 home runs for the regular season and 6 or more for August.
Reminder! Prizes were doubled for each month. Spread the word!
Rules, Tiers, and Prizes
Here are the cliff notes from the introductory rules and guidelines set forth in our opening article. If you want a bit more clarification, here is the first article with a more developed explanation for the contest.
In short, pick three players in the comments for tonight’s DraftKings Main MLB slate. You may pick one player from each of the tiers below.
Luxury Box – $5,000 and above
Promenade – $3,500 – $4,900
Bleachers – Below $3,500
You will collect home runs for every home run your batters hit that night. Selections must be made prior to lock time in the comments section. At the end of each month, prizes will be awarded to the community members with the most home runs. At the end of the season, additional prizes will be awarded to those members who put together the best totals for the entire season (ending in August).
The following prizes will be awarded to players based on their home run total for the month (April, May, June, July, August)
First Place – 2 months of RotoGrinders MLB Premium
Second Place – RotoGrinders T-shirt and hat
Third Place – 2 weeks of SAO Premium
The following prizes will be awarded to players based on their home run total for the entire baseball season (April – August)
First Place – One month of RotoGrinders Combo Premium
Second Place – RotoGrinders Swag Pack
Third Place – One month of SAO Premium
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me a message on Twitter.
Friday, August 26th MLB DFS Slate Notes
We will see fourteen games across the MLB this evening with only the Marlins and Dodgers playing just ahead of the 7:05 PM EST DraftKings lock time. The Rockies will play in New York. Thus, we will not see Coors Field.
The weather is worth a once over before lock this evening. At the time of this writing, the Rays-Red Sox game in Fenway Park seems to be in question and worth an update prior to locking in your DFS lineups and/or sports betting picks.
Here is your Family Feud board of worst HR/9 on the slate:
Mike Minor, CIN, 2.23
Bailey Falter, PHI, 2.00
Kyle Bradish, BAL, 1.88
Bryse Wilson, PIT, 1.72
Chad Kuhl, COL, 1.49
Here is a look at the HR/9 numbers over the last 30 days (roughly 20 innings in most cases):
Bryse Wilson, PIT, 2.78
Joe Ryan, MIN, 2.73
Logan Gilbert, SEA, 1.71
Alex Wood, SFG, 1.55
Joe Musgrove, SDP, 1.52
Chad Kuhl didn’t make our second list because I kept him off in light of his 8.2 innings thrown over that time frame. That said, those 8.2 innings were dreadful. In two starts, Kuhl possesses a 5.19 HR/9 and 12.12 xFIP. The Mets are surely a target tonight.
Friday, August 26th MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Kyle Schwarber – OF – $5,800
I am pretty torn in this range. There are so many candidates because of pure pedigree and others because of the matchup. Aaron Judge should always merit consideration, and Pete Alonso has a fantastic matchup. Don’t forget about the Angels in Toronto, as well as the potent Brewers at home.
All week, I have eaten so much Phillies chalk that I am sick to my stomach. That said, I am not missing the eruption spot. Part of that eruption could and should be a Kyle Schwarber bomb. Schwarber hit a bomb last night and a repeat performance versus Bryse Wilson won’t be a shock.
Schwarber is +215 on FanDuel to go yard.
Promenade – Alex Bregman – 3B – $4,800
Yordan Alvarez garners most of the attention in the Astros lineup for his ridiculous power. Alex Bregman used to garner that type of attention (maybe not on the same level). Yet, Bregman is the Astros’ hottest hitter ahead of a great matchup at home.
The Crawford Boxes are beckoning as Bregman brings his recent form to a matchup with Kyle Bradish. The young Oriole is not a complete disaster but has given up his fair share of home runs over the course of a season. Against righties, Bradish cedes more than enough fly balls and hard contact to make the list.
Bregman comes with 11 hits over his last 7 games. The home confines should support the righty having a nice game against a fly ball-leaning pitcher. Bregman carries +480 odds to go yard on FanDuel at the time of this writing.
Bleacher Seats – Luke Voit – 1B – $3,400
Does anyone else feel bad for Luke Voit? Injured but returning to a potential World Series candidate, Luke Voit was jettisoned to baseball’s abyss because Eric Hosmer threw up the nah-wave at the Padres. Hosmer is now in Boston while Luke Voit is officially nowhere near competitive baseball.
Voit brings a pedigree of plenty of power and fly balls to this matchup against Mike Minor. Minor’s season is characterized by just what we would expect — not great pitching and the long ball. Voit is likely going to be a popular choice, but I don’t care; I can’t find a better one.
Voit tops the odds for this game in the home run department. He is +300 on FanDuel.
Thanks so very much for reading. Give me a follow on Twitter for sports betting banter, golf tidbits, and professional wrestling reactions. We will see you again on Tuesday for a recap, leaderboard, and home run calls.
Player Image Credit: Imagn