Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Predictions: Friday, April 22nd
Good morning, Grinders! We are back for the biggest slate of the early season for our contest. Friday brings a 13-game Main Slate on DraftKings with potential for the most home runs to hunt this season. Tuesday night brought 19 homers on another chilly, windy evening in April. Will Friday and a couple of additional games push the total past 20 home runs? Let’s start with our updated leaderboard.
After skipping a slate, yisman came back with two home runs on Tuesday night to vault to the top of the leaderboard. A smattering of RotoGrinders, including myself, picked up another home run to get to 3 home runs for the month. With the leaderboard starting to get a bit more crowded up top, the close to April should certainly be a good one.
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, April 22nd MLB DFS Slate Notes
Warming up. Temperatures are rising a bit on Friday night’s slate, with several games breaching the sixty-degree mark and a couple exceeding 70 degrees. In Atlanta, the temperate should just miss 80 degrees for the warmest game on the slate by far. As the temperatures rise, we should see more power.
Speaking of Atlanta, Ozzie Albies sits second in home runs so far this season with 5. The warmer temperatures could assist Albies with another but a matchup with lefty Trevor Rogers might mitigate the effects of weather. C.J. Cron sits alone atop the home run board, with six home runs on the season. Cron travels to Detroit in what might be the worst weather game on the slate.
I will mention this in a couple of blurbs below, but the wind is projected to blow out of right field in Yankee Stadium better than 10 mph. An already attainable porch, balls should be flying out of Yankee stadium off of left-handed bats on Friday night. We will get back to this soon.
The Blue Jays travel to Houston to play the Astros indoors. A weather-controlled environment, Minute Maid Park hosts two offenses with plenty of potential for pop, tonight. Ross Stripling, for the Blue Jays, surrendered a bevy of fly balls and hard contact last season. Justin Verlander, rebounding from a missed 2021 season, is known for challenging hitters and giving up a home run or two even in great starts. The low total might push people away but there could be a sneaky amount of home runs in Houston.
Friday, April 22nd MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Jose Ramirez – 3B – $5,800
Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose… Jose Ramirez has opened the season on a tear for the Cleveland Guardians. The keystone has yet to finish a baseball game with zero fantasy points — already compiling four home runs despite the chilly temperatures.
The weather in New York should be about as good as anywhere for power with a bit of wind blowing out to right — as if the short porch wasn’t enough trouble for starting pitchers. Jameson Taillon takes the bump for New York. Last season, Taillon allowed greater than 53% fly balls to LHH. This is not the ballpark for that with the wind blowing out. I think Ramirez stays hot.
Home run odds will be up when posted by sports betting sites.
Promenade – Joey Gallo – OF – $3,600
A quick PlateIQ search for the aforementioned Yankees-Guardians game would suggest that staying in this ballpark for a home run stack is a great idea. If we canvas the entire slate, positive home run hitting environments don’t stick out like a sore thumb. A helping wind to right field in New York must be attacked.
Speaking of being attacked, Eli Morgan surrendered over 54% fly balls to left-handed hitters last season. These balls were not hit daintily, instead a 45% hard-hit rate against lefties means we want as many innings out of Eli Morgan as we can get. Morgan is likely getting the call because of an extra-innings affair earlier in the week that tested the limits of the Cleveland bullpen. I would be happy with one at-bat.
Speaking of needing one at-bat, Joey Gallo needs to get started. Using him already this season, I am patiently waiting for the breakout performance expected from the tower of power. Gallo has sputtered to start the season, already finding himself platooned out of games. Morgan might just be the elixir chased with a tonic of wind to right field. Gallo goes yard tonight… or strikes out 3 times.
Home run odds will be up when posted by sports betting sites.
Bleacher Seats – Marcell Ozuna – OF – $3,000
The Atlanta Braves organization got the ace treatment with pricing today, facing Trevor Rogers at home in Atlanta. Not paying much attention last season, I was not aware just how effective Trevor Rogers was last season in Miami. Rogers only surrendered 5 home runs against the 550 batters faced last season.
So, why Ozuna? Well, Ozuna should not be priced at $3,000. The potential for a home run, versus a lefty, is always there. At this discount, he feels like one of the best players in this pricing range. I don’t think I can justify taking anyone else. With four home runs to his name early this season, I will take a shot on Ozuna, tonight.
At the time of this writing, Ozuna fetches +440 for a home run on FanDuel Sportsbook.
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