Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Contest: Friday, July 22nd
Happy Friday, Grinders! Fear not. We no longer must endure sports-less days as the MLB returns from the All-Star Break for a jampacked Friday night slate. Sports betting is back. DFS is back. The slate is packed tonight with three slates left in our July contest. The dog days of summer are here and boy is it going to be hot.
The leaderboard above feels like a distance memory. The MLB provided 29 home runs on Friday, July 15th with key home runs coming off the bat of C.J. Cron, Brendan Rodgers, and Adam Duvall. Westcrook1 and prg_900 maintain a lead for this month with seven home runs apiece. With three slates, though, anything can happen.
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 22nd MLB DFS Slate Notes
Tonight’s DraftKings main slate kicks off at 7:05 PM EST with 14 games. The Reds and Cardinals are the only ineligible teams on the slate. Coors Field is not on the slate. Three games take place in domes and we very well might want to cross them off. Why?
The heat wave is real across the MLB today. Check the weather report and you will find hot and humid conditions all over the place. The hitting weather is at the forefront and we might finally have the lid come off of the power for a Friday night slate. Will this weather aid us in breaching 50 home runs? If so, you can’t make a mistake tonight.
Here are the worst five HR/9 on tonight’s slate:
Spencer Howard, TEX, 3.48
Nathan Eovaldi, BOS, 2.11
Lucas Giolito, CHW, 1.63
Patrick Corbin, WSN, 1.54
Jose Urquidy, HOU, 1.52
Spencer Howard ran this number up with only 20 innings thus far this season and will pitch in Oakland. A mitigating circumstance, indeed, is the Athletics’ lineup is horrendous. Nathan Eovaldi welcomes the Blue Jays to Fenway Park. Patrick Corbin travels to Arizona.
With the weather being hot and humid in so many places we have a cornucopia of options in our tiers this evening. The top-priced option needs to hit this evening and must be in play for two home runs. For that matter, our second tier should also be in play for a double dong. I think the Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox, and Phillies all appear to be in great positions given the matchup and weather.
Friday, July 22nd MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Anthony Rizzo – OF – $5,100
This feels like a swerve for a couple of reasons. First, I went with Aaron Judge in back-to-back articles. Second, if you are going to pick a Yankee in this tier, why not just go with the big dog?
Well, earlier in the season we outlined the changes to Camden Yards — helping lefties grab a cheap home run more so than others. Anthony Rizzo seems committed to the fly ball — boasting a .280 ISO with his 49.4% fly ball rate against righties. Tyler Wells has ceded north of 40% fly balls against lefties this season. Rizzo might be one of our top-rated DFS plays at the 1B position this evening.
We start tonight’s home run parlay with Rizzo. Rizzo carries a +430 price tag on FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of this writing.
Promenade – Rhys Hoskins – OF – $4,800
Speaking of fly balls… Rhys Hoskins carries a 56.9 FB% against lefties this season. His 48.3% hard-hit rate means that he is a candidate for a bomb regardless of the matchup. He is an even bigger candidate when you give him a weather bump. The Phillies could put up a crooked number this evening against Justin Steele and the Cubs.
I won’t be shocked if anyone in a Philadelphia uniform goes yard tonight. I will go with Rhys, though, and his +255 number on FanDuel.
Bleacher Seats – Aaron Hicks – OF – $3,300
The mini-stack is in play this evening. Nobody will be shocked when I stack the Yankees in my single bullet lineup this evening or when I target the Yankees in the sports betting streets. Aaron Hicks has had a pretty bad year, drawing the ire of New York fans as he struggles carry his load offensively.
That said, this is a perfect ballpark for Hicks to lift one out on a hot day. For all of his troubles, Hicks still keeps the fly balls north of 40% against righties this season. He closed on a tear before the Boston series. Hopefully, the rest brings him back refreshed and motivated to avoid being on the playoff chopping block.
Hicks carries a +560 price tag on FanDuel. The odds for my parlay are +12207 at the time of this writing if you tail for a couple of bucks. Good luck, tonight.
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