Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Contest: Friday, May 13th
Happy Friday, Grinders! With Friday we get a massive slate and very little weather to worry about. Tuesday brought a few high scores around the MLB. Yet, as seems to be the case thus far, we saw a relatively low home run total given the volume of runs. Something has got to give! When will we see that thirty-homer explosion we are waiting for? Do we have enough gas cans tonight? Good ballparks? Let’s dig in after a quick review.
Looking at our leaderboard, something clearly stands out. I noticed that yisman doesn’t necessarily make picks for every slate but when he does, boy does he pick them well. Yisman collected three home runs off the power of a Mike Trout double-dong. This vaults him to tops for the month, surpassing yours truly and padding his already healthy seasonal total. With all of these games, surely we can find some power. Right?
Batter up!
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 – One month of RotoGrinders MLB Premium
Second Place – RotoGrinders T-shirt
Third Place – One week 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, May 13th MLB DFS Slate Notes
Friday night brings 13 games. Three games will take place in domes. Coors Field is on the slate.
The weather seems okay at the time of this writing. We might have some rain prior to first pitch in Washington. Washington can often make some strange calls, so be sure to check our weather report later in the day. St. Louis could be a trouble spot if storms migrate towards the stadium. I would be plugged in to Crunch Time to get Kevin Roth’s final report of the day.
The Yankees bring a 4.62 implied total to Chicago as they face off with Vince Velasquez. Only the Dodgers and both Coors Field teams (Royals and Rockies) come with a higher total. The Yankees went nuts last night with 15 runs and home runs from Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Josh Donaldson.
The expensive Dodgers stack might go a bit overlooked in DFS because of Coors Field and some other options. Any time I can grab some Dodgers at suppressed ownership, I love it. Kyle Gibson is not threatening and gives up enough hard contact to make the lefties very interesting.
Tuesday, May 13th MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Aaron Judge – OF – $5,900
Well, let’s just get this out of the way. While there are a good handful of power-friendly environments today, I am putting all of my chips on one. The White Sox host the Yankees with Vincent Velasquez on the bump. Velasquez is the perfect target for power hitters on both sides of the plate. Here are some key stats we are targeting via PlateIQ:
2021 – 43.2 FB%, 90.7 EVAvg, 32.9 Hard-Soft%, 23 HR
Aaron Judge just hit a home run at 114 mph. I will not fade this whole game. Give me Judge to lead off. The stack makes for an interesting Same Game Parlay on FanDuel Sportsbook. Judge could start us off at +235.
Promenade – Giancarlo Stanton – OF – $4,800
So, obviously, I am stacking. One or both of these guys feels likely to go yard tonight against Velasquez. Instead of guessing which and being upset, I will just have both. If we get a repeat of last night, we are in business. Stanton hits the ball just as hard as anyone and sits in the top ten in hard-hit rate, Barrel %. None of these items are surprising, I just feel compelled to write words. The truth is that, any Yankee feels in play to hit a home run, tonight.
Stanton is +260 to hit a home run on FanDuel.
Bleacher Seats – Joey Gallo – OF – $3,300
Yeah. You get it. Joey Gallo is likely to strike out once or twice, tonight. This feels like as good a time as any, though, to have him hit a long ball. With Gallo at only +290 on FanDuel, my SGP might need another leg to boost its odds. The three to hit a home run on FD is priced at +3071.
In any event, for more words, I am now convinced that Anthony Rizzo will hit 3 home runs this evening. Therefore, I urge you to pick him and bet his HR because I have essentially covered most of the Yankees’ bases — except him.
Good luck, tonight. Go Yanks!
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 Friday for a recap, leaderboard, and home run calls.
Player Image Credit: Imagn