After a few early games do a great job setting the table for Wednesday night, the main course of fantasy baseball goodness gets rolling at 7:10 p.m. ET. The main features slate on DraftKings features eight matchups from Wednesday night, including three divisional matchups. One of those divisional tilts is at Coors Field, where the Dodgers and Rockies square off in what should be a high-scoring contest. That’s not the only juicy matchup to consider, though, with strong fantasy baseball plays from across the board. With 16 teams in the player pool, strong options appear from across the salary spectrum and at each position. Let’s take a look at my top MLB DFS picks for Wednesday night’s contests.
As usual at this time of the season, the weather is an important element to consider. The games in St. Louis and Minneapolis could be delayed or postponed, while in New York and Cincinnati, there is a risk of pop-up showers interrupting play. In San Francisco, the wind will be blowing out, and Coors Field is always a favorable spot for offense. Be sure to check the latest radar before locking in your roster for Wednesday.
With all that in mind, let’s break down my top MLB DFS picks.
Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $200K Bat Flip [$50K to 1st]
PITCHER
Stud
Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins, $10,000: Webb isn’t cheap, for sure, but he gets a great matchup at his home, pitcher-friendly ballpark and has been excellent over his last several outings. He doesn’t get quite the hype of some of the other top pitchers in baseball, but his numbers stack up favorably as one of the best aces in the league.
In his last nine starts, Webb has earned over 20 fantasy points eight times. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of those outings with a 2.25 ERA and 2.53 FIP. In those nine outings, he has a 26.6% K% and a total of 64 strikeouts in 60 innings. At home this season, he has a sparkling 1.35 ERA backed up by a 1.88 FIP. He had over 25 fantasy points in each of his last three home starts.
Webb should be able to put together another strong outing against the Marlins, who have been much better at the plate this season than last season, but still fall below league average in most categories. Over the last month, they have scored the fifth-fewest runs in the majors with a team batting average and wOBA in the bottom-10 in the league. If you are paying up for a pitcher, Webb is the top option on the board.
Value
Drew Rasmussen, Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals, $7,500: The Rays have been rolling and are within a game of the Yankees at the top of the AL East. Rasmussen will take the mound for them tonight in Kansas City, and he’s a great value option as long as the weather cooperates. Rain isn’t in the forecast, but it is expected to be hot and humid with winds blowing out. Still, the 29-year-old righty has been strong enough to back in this spot. He has a 2.61 ERA and 3.53 FIP on the season, but he has been even more effective in his last seven starts, going 5-1 with a 1.83 ERA and 2.88 FIP. He didn’t give up a run in four of those seven outings.
Rasmussen doesn’t have the strikeout upside that Webb brings and doesn’t even have as many strikeouts as some of the other options around this same price range, but the matchup makes up for it. He should be in a great spot against the Royals, who have scored the fewest runs in the majors over the last two weeks, averaging just 2.9 runs per game with a 65 wRC+ that shows they have been 35% below league average in run production as a team. The Royals don’t usually strike out a ton, but they have hit just .202 over the last two weeks with a team wOBA of only .269. Rasmussen should be able to keep them in check as he goes head-to-head with former Tampa Bay Ray Michael Wacha ($7,200).
INFIELD
Stud
Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, $5,900: Smith can get a little lost in the shadow of his teammate Shohei Ohtani ($7,400) and his fellow catcher Cal Raleigh ($6,500), who are both having impressive seasons. Smith has also been very good lately, though, and he gets a juicy matchup against Chase Dollander ($5,000) at Coors Field, where I think he’s a great option behind the plate if you have the salary available. There are bargain options in other positions that make sense if you opt to save salary to spend on Smith.
Smith is hitting .350 in his last 35 games with six home runs, nine doubles, 28 runs scored, 23 RBIs and a 46.5% hard-hit rate. He had two hits on Tuesday and has 11 multi-hit games in his last 20 with multiple at-bats. Smith has a great matchup against Dollander, who has a 9.58 ERA and 7.97 FIP in his 20 2/3 innings at Coors Field, and he has been especially hittable by righties who have a .375 wOBA against him this season.
Stud
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals, $4,900: The 21-year-old Caminero struggled early in the season on the road, but he has picked up his play across the board over the last few weeks and helped fuel a very productive Rays offense. They have the most runs scored in the majors over the last two weeks and lead the league in batting average, wOBA and wRC+.
Caminero has hit .306 over the past month with 10 doubles, 10 home runs and a .441 wOBA. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, going 14-for-35 (.400) and averaging 13.6 fantasy points per game over that stretch. He should be in a good spot to stay hot against Wacha and the Royals.
Value
Thairo Estrada, Colorado Rockies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, $3,600: Estrada has battled multiple injuries this season after joining the Rockies as a free agent, but when he has been available, he has been productive. In his 17 games, he is hitting .290 with six doubles, a home run and a .315 wOBA.
He missed five games with a bruised right hand, but he was back in the batting order on Tuesday against the Dodgers and went 1-for-3 with a walk, two RBIs and nine fantasy points. Estrada is averaging 6.9 fantasy points per game and has at least eight fantasy points in four straight, coming into Wednesday’s matchup with Yoshinobu Yamamoto($8,800) at Coors Field. He is an even better option if he’s hitting second in the order but has proven he can produce from the fifth spot in the lineup as well.
OUTFIELD
Stud
Ronald Acuna Jr., Atlanta Braves at New York Mets, $6,600: Acuna has been amazing since returning from his ACL injury that sidelined him last year and into the start of this season. He is hitting .385 in his 29 games with nine home runs, a .500 wOBA and a 58.1% hard-hit rate. He has been getting more aggressive on the bases as well with three stolen bases in his last five games, including one in each of the first two games of this series against the Mets.
Acuna has so many ways he can provide a big game with both power and speed potential in every matchup. He has double-digit fantasy points in five straight and in 12 of his last 14 games. In those 14 games, he has gone 23-for-48 (.479) with five homers, four stolen bases and a 48.7% hard-hit rate.
Stud
Teoscar Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, $5,800: Hernandez is another key part of the Dodgers lineup that makes sense to consider if you don’t want to spend all the way up on Shohei. Hernandez has four home runs in his last 11 games while hitting .286 with a 58.6% hard-hit rate and 20.7% barrel rate.
Since he’ll be on the strong side of the splits against Dollander, he has a high ceiling and should be a big part of the Dodgers’ production at Coors Field this Wednesday.
Value
Dominic Canzone, Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins, $3,000: Canzone has been solid since joining the Mariners earlier this month, and the lefty will likely get another start on Wednesday if the weather holds off in Minneapolis. After hitting .296 with 13 homers in 45 games for the Tacoma Rainiers, he was called up to fill in for Luke Raley ($3,500), but he played well enough to stick in the majors even with Raley back in the mix.
Since his promotion, Canzone is 12-for-40 (.300) in his 12 games with two doubles, four home runs and a stolen base. His .423 wOBA is backed up by a 44.4% hard-hit rate and average exit velocity of 92.2 miles per hour over that span.
