Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Contest: Tuesday, May 24th
Happy Tuesday, Grinders! On Friday, I was so excited for a plethora of home runs on Friday night. Then, the Yankees game was postponed. Then, Coors Field was postponed. The home run tally was a measly 15 home runs. I don’t know about you but I am extremely disappointed. Alas, a couple home runs were significant to our leaderboard. Below is the updated leaderboard.
Trevor Story, Rowdy Tellez, and Seth Brown were the only selections that went yard. Tellez was relatively popular while Trevor Story was picked by myself and one other player. Seth Brown added a second home run to 1010mg’s total for the night after landing the Tellez bomb earlier in the slate. The leaders stay put after Friday with yours truly gaining sole possesion of the top spot. Meanwhile, many other players were able to inch their way up the leaderboard with the Tellez home run.
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.
Tuesday, May 24th MLB DFS Slate Notes
Tonight features 12 games on the DraftKings’ main slate. Three games are in domes and we don’t have Coors Field.
Atlanta and Washington seem to be the only early day weather concerns with Atlanta demanding more attention later. Check the MLB weather before locking in any lineups or picks.
Here are the top offenses tonight based on implied run totals:
1) Dodgers
2) Twins
3) Diamondbacks
4) Yankees
5) Astros
Here are the worst pitchers on the slate based on HR/9 this season:
1) Blake Snell (3.2 IP)
2) Beau Brieske
3) Josiah Gray
4) James Kaprielian
5) Zach Plesac
Let’s play Family Feud! Don’t cheat! Fill out the missing home run leader thus far in 2022.
1) Aaron Judge – 17
2) Mike Trout – 12
2) Yordan Alvarez – 12
4) C.J. Cron – 11
4)
4) Pete Alonso – 11
4)
4) Byron Buxton
Did you guess, yet? Did you cheat? Be honest.
Okay. If you guessed Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Walker, you’d be right. Christian Walker is the surprise while Stanton just illustrates how much the Yankees’ lineup has crushed over the past few weeks.
Tuesday, May 24th MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Yordan Alvarez – OF – $5,600
Leading off, Yordan Alvarez is my upper tier pick for the night. This price range is stacked with options in great environments. The Yankees hitters get a lefty in Yankee Stadium. Byron Buxton gets a bad pitcher at home. The Dodgers face off the a fly ball pitcher in Washington.
So, why Yordan? I don’t know. What’s life without whimsy? He is as good a bet to hit a home run on any of this slate and I used Mike Trout twice in a row. The aforementioned discussion about Aaron Judge is pretty alarming. Yet, can he really hit a home run every day. I suppose he could but, I mean…
Yordan is ripping the cover off of the baseball this year. I cannot argue with any of the upper echelon players tonight as they are all in great spots. Yordan is +285 on FanDuel, tonight. He makes for a great pick for their $5 Dinger Tuesday promotion.
Promenade – Cody Bellinger – OF – $4,300
We must have a piece of this Dodgers lineup against Josiah Gray. Gray brings a 48.7 FB% to the bump tonight in Washington. Boy, does he have his work cut out for him.
You could make a case for any of the Dodger’s hitters, tonight. We find power up and down this lineup and plenty of fly balls, as well. Bellinger boasts 46.9% fly balls this season against right-handed pitching. While this is a small sample, anybody with working eye balls that has seen Cody Bellinger swing knows he is going to hit the ball in the air. Bellinger has not gone yard in quite some time. That said, this is a positive park shift and he is on the road. Maybe Bellinger gets an extra at-bat.
Bellinger is +420 to go yard, tonight. This is an especially great home run to target with the FanDuel promotion because several Dodgers might go yard.
Bleacher Seats – Pavin Smith – OF – $3,400
Pavin Smith is my pick tonight in the cheap seats. Good luck with this bunch.
Smith homered last night and will square off with a very uninspiring Jon Heasley at home in Arizona. He has north of 40% hard contact this season against righties and already accumulated 5 HR this season.
Look, it’s the bottom of the price range and I have to write this in the morning. Lineups might shake up the slate a bit and give some cheaper options that hit at the top of the order. For now, Smith should hit second and get 3-4 cracks at going yard.
Pavin Smith is +610 on FanDuel Sportsbook, 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 Friday for a recap, leaderboard, and home run calls.
Player Image Credit: Imagn