Covering The Bases: MLB DFS Picks Today for Tuesday 6/17

by Justin Van Zuiden (stlcardinals84) Last Updated 2025-06-17 18:52:27 Premium Content Part of the product MLB DFS

Long-time grinder, Justin Van Zuiden (aka stlcardinals84), is here to cover the bases for the upcoming MLB DFS slate on DraftKings and FanDuel. Whether you are looking for the top pitchers or the best stacks, Cards has you covered with an extensive deep dive into his favorite MLB DFS picks.

Happy Tuesday, Grinders! I’m in for Cheese today so that he can finish up his summer music camp. It’s absolutely scorching here in the Midwest today, so it’s a great day to stay inside and discuss baseball with a cold drink in hand. As for this Tuesday baseball slate, we have a healthy 12-game slate that looks to be weighted very heavily toward bats. There is a LOT of good offense out there tonight.

This looks to be a relatively pedestrian weather day, though we will have to monitor potential storms in Atlanta. Keep a close eye on our MLB weather page for updates as lineup lock gets closer. As always, in addition to this article, remember that we have you covered with tags and analysis in our MLB DFS optimizer.

Let’s dive in and see what this Tuesday night has to offer!

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Tuesday Pitching: MLB DFS Picks on FanDuel & DraftKings

TOP TIER PITCHING

Robbie Ray vs. Guardians
Bryan Woo vs. Red Sox
Spencer Schwellenbach vs. Mets
Andrew Abbott vs. Twins

This isn’t exactly the most exciting top tier of pitching that we have ever seen for a large slate, and I was hoping for a bit more after how watered down Monday’s pitching pool was. Alas, this is what we have, and everyone is dealing with the same player pool! As usual, let’s start with a peek at the 2025 data:

Ray – 2.55 ERA, 3.59 xFIP, 28.1% K, 10.1% BB
Woo – 3.39 ERA, 3.60 xFIP, 22.1% K, 3.7% BB
Schwellenbach – 3.11 ERA, 2.92 xFIP, 23.5% K, 3.9% BB
Abbott – 1.87 ERA, 3.95 xFIP, 26.1% K, 8.2% BB

If we just take a look at the numbers, there’s really not a whole lot separating these 4 pitchers. Ray and Abbott have the highest strikeout rates of the group, but they also have significantly higher walk rates. All of them have solid surface numbers. Really, it would come down to personal preference if you were just looking at the data.

If we factor in the matchups, that is where we are going to start seeing some chalk develop. Ray gets to face a relatively underwhelming Guardians lineup that has been striking out more this season, and Woo gets to face a Red Sox team that is still missing Alex Bregman and has now traded away Rafael Devers. This is a much better matchup than it would have been a month ago. Meanwhile, Schwellenbach has to face a tough opponent in the Mets, while Abbott has a neutral matchup against the Twins.

The matchup factors are going to make Ray and Woo the popular options in this range, and our early ownership projections agree. I would side with Ray for ceiling potential in GPPs and Woo for safety in cash game builds, but I will be honest that I plan to be underweight on both of them. I don’t love playing them as chalk, and I prefer to save money on pitching where I can in order to spend up on bats.

My favorite GPP option is going to be Schwellenbach. While Schwellenbach has the aforementioned tough matchup against the Mets, he is capable of being a matchup-proof arm. He has an elite strikeout-to-walk ratio with a 2.92 xFIP on the season, and his 13% SwStr% suggests that he should even see some improvement on the strikeout front. He’s a great risk/reward option as a pivot away from Woo and Ray. I will note that we do have to monitor the MLB weather here, with Roth having this game at YELLOW/ORANGE early in the day.

I do not have a strong take on Abbott. He makes my MME GPP pool but likely wouldn’t be an option in my first 10-15 lineup builds, as he feels overpriced for what his advanced metrics indicate.

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