Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Contest: Friday, July 15th
Happy Friday, Grinders! We reach our final slate prior to the MLB All Star Break. A not-so-final opportunity to make a move on the leaderboard prior to a little break. Your humble narrator is in a bit of a slump. That said, we are back from Orlando in our appropriate New Jersey war room ready to cull out as many home runs as possible from a big slate. Let’s start with a recap.
Well, I fell on my face on Tuesday but I suppose many of us did. The MLB did not do their part with a pathetic 24 home runs. My Yankees stack didn’t play save Aaron Hicks so I was doomed for failure. A handful of people collected a Ian Happ home run as well as one from Adam Duvall, Corey Seager, and Jorge Polanco. Prg_900 had himself a day with two home runs on a night where many of us couldn’t find anything. He carries the July lead with seven.
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 award 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, July 15th MLB DFS Slate Notes
We have 13 games on tonight’s slate. The Cubs and Marlins host games prior to the 7:05 PM EST lock time on DraftKings. Four games will play in domes. Coors Field is on the slate.
Today’s weather looks pretty good across the slate. The Colorado game might be a bit of rain but nothing to alarming at the time of this writing.
Over north of 85 innings, Hunter Greene has surrendered a 2.32 HR/9. He will travel to St. Louis to meet the potent Cardinals. Bats like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Nolan Gorman should pique our interest.
Here is a the list of the five worst HR/9 on the slate:
Hunter Greene, CIN, 2.32
Nathan Eovaldi, BOS, 2.11
Devin Smeltzer, MIN, 1.96
German Marquez, COL, 1.67
Jose Urquidy, HOU, 1.63
Eovaldi is returning from the IL to face the Yankees in New York. I stacked the Yankees the other day against the Reds but wasn’t able to go back and check lineups to avoid the Judge and Carpenter day off. Today, I will be a bit more careful with stack deployment.
Here are the top five implied run totals on tonight’s slate:
Rockies – 5.98
Blue Jays – 5.77
Braves – 5.37
Pirates – 5.02
Guardians – 4.89
The Pirates are so interesting playing in Coors Field. Obviously, the Pirates are a horrendous offense but Marquez loves giving up bombs. There is a very, very, very cheap hitter that I suspect will be very popular in our contest and probably in DFS.
Let’s get to today’s home run calls. We might lead off with a repeat.
Friday, July 15th MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Aaron Judge – OF – $6,600
I feel cheated. Judge was not in the lineup in what felt like a stars-aligning spot. A so-so pitcher coming to Yankee Stadium with excellent weather and a huge run total. I want a refund.
Well, no refunds but we can go back to the well, tonight. For this contest, price doesn’t matter and at this point I don’t trust anyone more to hit a home run than Judge… especially in the Bronx. Nathan Eovaldi returns to the Red Sox rotation and could be in for a beating, tonight.
FanDuel Sportsbook has Judge posted for +280 at the time of this writing. Admittedly, I was a bit surprised by this. We make him the first leg of our parlay.
Promenade – Joc Pederson – OF – $4,100
A favorite of mine, Joc Jams welcomes Brandon Woodruff to San Francisco.
Woodruff doles out plenty of fly balls and hard contact against lefties this year (39.3 FB%/36.1 Hard%). Joc boasts a .276 ISO as a card-carrying member of the 40/40 club. The ballpark isn’t ideal but Joc’s power is undeniable.
Pederson should go a bit under the radar on a full slate which will help me because I am falling behind in July. Let’s get a couple Joc. FanDuel posts +470 at the time of this writing.
Bleacher Seats – Daniel Vogelbach – 1B – $3,100
Well, this was the obvious cheap play I alluded to earlier. Vogelbach gets to play on the road in Coors Field at a very low price. Vogelbach is a member of our 40/40 club (FB%, Hard%) and features a .283 ISO against right-handed pitching.
Marquez continues to allow bombs despite suppressing fly balls to lefties. His 42.2% hard contact rate is alarming and will likely lead to one or two baseball leaving the yards today.
Vogelbach is an easy final piece to the puzzle, today. Since I write this article, nobody in the comments can accuse me of copying when many pick him as well. The perks of being first! Vogelbach carries a +310 price tag on FanDuel.
Enjoy the All Star Break! We will be back for another contest next Friday.
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