Yahoo DFS Baseball: Sunday Picks
May is almost over, but we have one more Sunday full of baseball to enjoy. Yahoo has two options for Sunday. A full slate of games, which starts at 11:35 a.m. EDT, or the 4:07 p.m. EDT slate, which is only six games. It's a holiday weekend. I'm going full slate. Here are my recommendations.
Pitching
Max Fried, ATL vs. MIA ($48): Fried's first start of the season was rough, but he quickly found his footing. After that disaster, he's posted a 2.74 ERA through eight starts. The Marlins are in the bottom 10 in runs scored and given that they finished 29th last year, I expect that to remain the case, and they could fall even lower.
MacKenzie Gore, SD vs. PIT ($45): There were some worries about Gore last season, even though he was once considered a top pitching prospect. Fortunately for him, those worries proved short lived. He has a 2.06 ERA to start his MLB career, and he's struck out 9.77 batters per nine innings. The Pirates, meanwhile, rank 29th in runs scored.
Sonny Gray, MIN vs. KC ($42): Gray has a 2.60 ERA through six starts. After easing into the season, the 32-year-old has pitched at least six innings in each of his last two outings. Kansas City, for its part, ranks in the bottom six in runs scored.
Top Targets
There's making up for lost time, and there's the season Ronald Acuna ($24) is having. He's hit .304 and stolen nine bases. While he only has two homers, he's slugged .464, and his career slugging percentage is .546. Speaking of power, Elieser Hernandez has allowed 2.02 home runs per nine innings in his career, which is a big reason why he has a career 5.22 FIP.
Jose Altuve ($21) has hit .288 with nine home runs. In his career he's managed a .307 average and he hit 31 homers in each of the last two full seasons. Last year, Marco Gonzales posted a 5.27 FIP, and this year his FIP has risen to 5.77.
Bargain Bats
Has Kole Calhoun ($17) adjusted to being with the Rangers? He has a 1.202 OPS the last three weeks. Plus, he has an .814 OPS against righties since 2020. The southpaw faces James Kaprielian, a righty, who has allowed 1.54 home runs per nine innings in his career.
Since 2020, Ryan McMahon ($15) has a .798 OPS against righties. He also has two 20-homer seasons to his name. Somehow, Josiah Gray has an 8.25 ERA at home this season. Then again, maybe it isn't that surprising, given that he has a career 5.90 FIP.
Stacks to Consider
Red Sox vs. Bruce Zimmermann: J.D. Martinez ($25), Trevor Story ($23), Xander Bogaerts ($18)
Zimmermann is having the best season of his career, but that isn't saying much. Additionally, he has a 3.78 ERA in his last three games and has allowed a whopping seven home runs. The lefty has still had issues with righties too, as he's allowed them to hit .280. I have gone with three right-handed hitters as result.
The 2020 season has proven a true outlier for Martinez, a tremendous hitter with a career .886 OPS. This year he's slashed .376/.435/.591. Story seems to have adjusted to Boston, as he has a .994 OPS over the last three weeks. He also has nine home runs and six stolen bases this season. Bogaerts has hit .322/.392/.468. If he keeps this up, it'll be the third time in four years that he's hit at least .300.
Dodgers vs. Zach Davies: Trea Turner ($21), Freddie Freeman ($21), Cody Bellinger ($14)
In 2020, Davies had a 5.78 ERA in his one season with the Cubs. Chicago kicked him to the curb, and things haven't gone much better in Arizona. He has a 4.81 ERA and has allowed 1.47 home runs per nine innings. At this point, it seems clear what kind of pitcher Davies is, and the Dodgers have a lineup that can take advantage of that.
Turner has a 20-game hitting streak, and his .298 average is still below his career .302 average. He also has four homers and 10 stolen bases. Freeman loves facing a righty. The southpaw has a .996 OPS against righties since 2020. Bellinger still hasn't necessarily hit "well" against righties, but he's been decent against them in recent years, at least compared to lefties. Plus, Bellinger does have five homers and six stolen bases.
Guardians vs. Elvin Rodriguez: Jose Ramirez ($25), Josh Naylor ($17), Myles Straw ($12)
Rodriguez has made two starts in MLB. He's gone 7.2 innings and posted a 9.39 ERA. Rodriguez has been better at the Triple-A level, but a 3.57 ERA at that level is not impressive either. There's a reason he wasn't in the rotation when the season began, and also wasn't the first choice for a call up from the minors.
Somehow, Ramirez is primed to have the best season of his career, as he's slashed .297/.391/.646 with 12 homers and five stolen bases. Last season he had 36 homers and 27 swiped bags. Naylor has taken a step up in 2022, slashing .298/.350/.543 with six home runs. Also last season he was already looking good when righties were on the mound, with an .805 OPS in those matchups. Straw often leads off for the Guardians, and while he isn't hitting .271 like last season one thing he demonstrably has is speed. He stole 30 bases last year and has stolen nine this season.
