It’s been a pretty incredible first week of the MLB season, especially if you’re a Los Angeles Dodgers fan (I am). The New York Yankees have made headlines out East with their new bulbous “torpedo bats”, which are taking the league by storm as the Bronx Bombers have lived up to their nickname.
The MLB slate slows down a little bit today with just five games, including three on DraftKings’ featured DFS slate. Here are my favorite two value options from today’s games:
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $125K Bat Flip [$25K to 1st].
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SP Taijuan Walker, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies, $7,000
The veteran Walker was switched into a bullpen role late last season with the Phillies, and, after experiencing rough patches as a starter, he continued to struggle in relief, giving up a total of 11 earned runs over his final two outings of the season. He’ll be beginning the season in the rotation, though, with Ranger Suarez still not ready to pitch. The 32-year-old had a rough spring training, but he’s not too far removed from posting a very solid 3.49 ERA during the 2022 season and his breaking pitches are still elite. Plus, Walker doesn’t walk guys too much — his 8.0% career walk rate is slightly better than the MLB average during the 2024 season.
Walker has a good chance of getting his 2025 campaign off to a solid start against a Rockies offense that ranked near the bottom of the league in several metrics in 2024. Colorado scored the 11th-fewest runs, walked the fifth-fewest times, and struck out the second-most times last season, and it has scored the fewest runs and drawn the fewest walks so far in 2025. Plus, the Rockies’ offensive numbers are heavily boosted by playing 81 games per season at Coors Field, which sits at an elevation of 5,280′, and they struggled mightily on the road in 2024. Walker was significantly better pitching at home than on the road last season, allowing an OPS .138 lower at Citizens Bank Park.
2B/SS Jackson Holliday, Baltimore Orioles vs. Boston Red Sox, $3,900
It’s no secret that the former top prospect and No. 1 overall draft pick faced some difficulties in his rookie season in 2024, getting demoted to the minor leagues at points and slashing just .189/.255/.311. But he’s the youngest player in the American League, at just 21 years old, and plenty of top prospects have gotten off to a slow start at the major league level before taking off in their second season. The signs of a breakout are already there for Holliday: so far this season, he’s slashing .316/.350/.474, and he’s reached base safely in each of his five games so far. He’s also scored at least eight FPTS in three of his five games, including a 17-FPT performance last Friday in Toronto, and if he keeps this level of production up, he could continue to be a bargain.
That’s especially true against pitchers like Tanner Houck ($7,500), the Red Sox starter who struggled mightily in his season debut last Friday. In his 5.2 innings of work that day, Houck conceded seven hits, four earned runs, and three walks, striking out just two, a rough first start for a pitcher who had a horrendous spring training performance. It might be a fluke for the 2024 All-Star, but some longer-term trends are concerning. His hard-hit percentage has been steadily climbing throughout his career and his strikeout rate has continued to go down. He also led the league with 16 hit batters in 2024.
