Home Run Derby - MLB DFS Community Predictions: Tuesday, April 26th
Happy Tuesday, Grinders! We are back with the penultimate slate of the April scoring period. Friday brought the most home runs we have seen this season and our contest had a few highlights. Take a glance at the leaderboard as we move onto tonight’s big MLB slate.
WestCrook1 had a huge day — tallying three home runs after Aaron Judge homered twice against Cleveland. The three home runs vaulted WestCrook1 into contention for our April monthly prizes. That said, Hendo2132 grabbed another home run to tie yisman atop our leaderboard at four. With just two slates left in April, the top three slates are still in flux.
Reminder for everyone. There are two slates remaining in the month of April — tonight and Friday. Make sure to get your picks in for your chance at our monthly prizes.
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, April 26th MLB DFS Slate Notes
We saw an increase in home runs on Friday — with the MLB providing 23 home runs over a 13-game slate. The cooler temperatures plus whatever changes were made to the baseball seem to be mitigating the impact of adding a DH in the National League. As the temperatures rise, we should see an increase in bombs. Yet, changes to the baseball could be sapping power around baseball.
Byron Buxton and Joc Pederson joined the leaders across the MLB with six home runs this season. C.J. Cron and Ozzies Albies remained tied with the aforementioned outfielders despite not going yards since this was last mentioned. Buxton draws a matchup with Eduardo Rodriguez, tonight.
Salvador Perez is not far behind with five home runs. Wow, how time has flown by… I remember using Perez as a fantasy catcher because you can count on him to play each day and bring a strong average. Now, he has blossomed into a big-time power hitter. Perez has 59% fly balls thus far in 2022. He plays on the road in Chicago against lefty, Dallas Keuchel.
The Yankees draw another phenomenal matchup at home with the Orioles entering for a three-game set. Jordan Lyles takes the bump for the Orioles. Lyles closed 2021 with 1.9 HR/9. All of the Yankees are in play. Check the weather and MLB WeatherEdge to see if this game is in any danger.
The Dodgers face Zach Davies on the road in Arizona on Monday night. The Dodgers will be a very popular DFS stack and most of their bats can be considered for power. Formerly a groundball pitcher, Davies brings a sea of red in our PlateIQ tool and surrendered north of 35% fly balls to lefties last season. The Dodgers are deservedly a very, very strong option to consider, tonight.
Tuesday, April 26th MLB Home Run Picks
Luxury Box – Vladimir Guerrero – 1B – $5,700
While I am very, very, very interested in the Yankees at home against Jordan Lyles, I write this article the night before and the morning of our slates. The weather does not look great and I will not get a full Kevin Roth weather report until this is published. With that said, I would not fault anyone for going Bronx Bomber heavy with their picks this evening.
That said, Guerrero draws a great matchup at home against Nick Pivetta. Pivetta is a flyball-heavy pitcher, surrendering 43% fly balls to righties last season. Guerrero finished 2021 with a… ahem… 95.3 mph EVavg versus righties. Yes. We begin with Vladdy.
Vladdy comes with a +290 price tag to hit a home run on FanDuel Sportsbook.
Promenade – Max Muncy – 2B/3B – $4,500
The note on Zach Davies and the Dodgers game was a bit of a teaser for my last two picks. Let’s just list off Zach Davies in 2021.
2021 — 17.5 K%, 44.8% Hard, 88.4 EVAvg. 31.3% FB
Against LHH, Davies exceeded 35% FB but that doesn’t matter much to me. Davies is a bad pitcher going against a great offense in a temperature-controlled environment. Max Muncy and his peers present phenomenal options as power-hitting lefties in a plus matchup.
Muncy is +385 to hit a home run on FanDuel Sportsbook.
Bleacher Seats – Cody Bellinger – OF – $3,200
See above. CTRL + C, CTRL + V.
Bellinger is criminally underpriced on DraftKings as their algorithm tries to convince you that he is not a great hitter. As StevieTPFL from the RotoGrinders Morning Grind continues to mention every morning, Bellinger was hurt. He is a great hitter and serves us well in the cheap seats, tonight.
Bellinger is +430 to hit 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