Major League Baseball starts the final work week of August with six games on DraftKings’ featured slate, which begins at 7:10 p.m. ET. Two of the six games are divisional matchups, including the first game of the night, which features the Blue Jays and Red Sox at Fenway. In the National League, the Padres and Cardinals square off in an important series with Wild Card implications for both teams, and the Marlins visit Coors Field to take on the Rockies in a series that should feature plenty of elevation-enhanced offense.
As you look through the 12 teams in the player pool and find your favorite matchups and places to attack, you may find yourself short on salary cap space. One great way to find bargains at this point in the season is to look for young players whose salaries are still low in relation to their upside. The three rookie bargains highlighted in this post offer high ceilings at low salaries, leaving the flexibility to build around top superstar picks with other roster spots.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $200K Knuckleball [$50K to 1st]
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SP Ty Madden, Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, $4,000
Playing Madden this Monday is a strong option to consider as long as you can afford the high risk of rolling with the rookie righty. He’ll be making his debut for the Tigers and comes extremely cheap at only $4,000. He doesn’t have to do a lot in this favorable matchup to return great value at such a low salary, and he brings a high ceiling due to this strikeout potential. Madden’s Triple-A numbers are exciting and scary at the same time. In 79 innings, he rang up 102 strikeouts and has a K/9 over 11 in each of the last three minor league seasons. However, while collecting those K’s, he posted an ugly 7.97 ERA and 5.28 FIP. He gave up at least three runs in eight straight starts, although he did pitch into the sixth inning in each of his last five outings.
One major factor in Madden’s favor is that he faces the White Sox. Chicago lost its 100th game of the season on Sunday and at 31-100 reached that ignominious plateau faster than any team since the MLB went to a 162-game season. Of all the teams in the MLB this season, the White Sox have the fewest runs scored, the worst wOBA and the lowest wRC+. With Madden’s scary Triple-A ERA, he’ll likely give up some runs even to the White Sox, but his huge strikeout ceiling is still too much to overlook at this extremely affordable salary that allows you to pay up for plenty of big bats.
2B/3B Connor Norby, Miami Marlins at Colorado Rockies, $3,700
If he hits leadoff at Coors Field as expected, Norby will be a very popular value play, especially with his added roster flexibility. The Marlins are using the rest of their lost season to take a look at several of their young hitting prospects, including Norby and Griffin Conine ($2,000), the latter of which will reportedly join the team in Colorado on Monday. Norby re-joined the MLB roster recently and has stepped into the leadoff spot after a back injury to Xavier Edwards ($5,400), who remains day-to-day.
Since being called up, Norby has gone 9-for-24 (.375) with a stolen base, four doubles, two home runs, a .497 wOBA and an average of 12.7 fantasy points per game. The 24-year-old was acquired at the Trade Deadline from the Orioles in the Trevor Rogers trade, and it makes sense for the Marlins to continue to take a long look at Norby over the next few weeks to see where he fits into their future plans. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the team’s No. 3 prospect. If the Marlins go off for a huge run total in Denver, Norby has a high ceiling and will be a very strong play under $4,000.
OF Victor Scott II, St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Diego Padres, $2,200
I highlighted Scott a few times early in the season since I love the upside his speed on the bases brings. However, he struggled so much to get on base, that he wasn’t a great option for much of the year. In his 38 games in the MLB, he has only hit .150 with a .203 wOBA, but he has looked better in Triple-A, hitting .219 with a .288 wOBA. In both stops, he has showcased great base-stealing ability, swiping 29 bases in 74 games with the Memphis Redbirds and adding four stolen bases in 38 games in the MLB.
Over the weekend, Scott started to show signs that he may be putting it together at the plate. He went 5-for-13 (.385) in his last four games, starting with a three-hit breakout game vs. Milwaukee last Thursday. He added his second MLB homer of the year on Sunday and stole two bases in those four games as well, averaging 12.5 fantasy points per game. Since that is such a small sample size, he’s still high-risk as the Cardinals host Randy Vasquez ($6,500) and the Padres, but his stolen base potential is high enough to make him a great punt play at barely more than the minimum salary on Monday.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $200K Knuckleball [$50K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
