On this second Friday of the MLB regular season, it feels like baseball is truly back. With just over a week’s sample size from teams, the early trends of 2025 are starting to develop, although some of them — like the fact that the Los Angeles Dodgers are really, really good — have been clear since last season.
With nearly half the teams on the seven-game featured 6:45 p.m. ET slate, there are plenty of high-quality options for DFS players in tonight’s contest on DraftKings. Here are some of my favorites:
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PITCHER
Stud
Jose Soriano, Los Angeles Angels vs. Cleveland Guardians, $8,100: This is the second time this week that I’ve targeted the Guardians, when I selected the San Diego Padres’ Michael King against them on Tuesday, and King did well, going five innings, striking out 11 and allowing only two hits, one walk, and no runs. Soriano isn’t quite the pitcher King is; King finished seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting last year and Soriano was merely an average starter in 2024. But he had an excellent first start of 2025, going seven innings and allowing just two hits (27.4 FPTS) on Saturday against the surprisingly okay (so far) Chicago White Sox. In the early going, Cleveland is 2-4 and ranks in the bottom half of the league in hits, runs, and walks.
Value
Max Meyer, Miami Marlins at Atlanta Braves, $7,400 – The Braves are the league’s only winless team, posting an 0-7 record so far, but to be fair, they’ve played four games against the San Diego Padres and three against the Dodgers, both of which are undefeated. Today’s game against the Marlins — who have gotten off to a solid 4-3 start — will be a test of just how good Atlanta is. Regardless, Meyer’s improvement could well be legitimate. He’s just 26 years old, was a former third overall pick in 2020, and saw an uptick in his fastball velocity by more than a full mile per hour from last season. If this is the start of a star breakout, he should absolutely hold his own against a high-powered Braves offense today.
INFIELDER
Stud
Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, $5,400 – I don’t want to pick anybody against Los Angeles ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($9,000) — arguably the best Japanese pitching prospect ever, except maybe his teammates Shohei Ohtani ($6,500) and Roki Sasaki ($9,400) — but Harper is the exception. The two-time MVP has gotten off to a somewhat slow start in 2025, slashing just .269/.296/.423, but it was just last season that he finished sixth in NL MVP voting and was feared so much by opposing pitchers that he led all of the major leagues with 11 intentional walks. For his career, he’s lashed righties to the tune of a .945 OPS.
Stud
Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers vs. Cincinnati Reds, $4,800 – Turang has gotten off to a very solid start to the 2025 season, slashing .321/.333/.429 despite playing four games against left-handers, against whom he has recorded just a .532 OPS in his career. The 25-year-old has improved every season, from a .585 OPS in his rookie season to .665 last season to .762 so far in 2025. As a former top prospect, his improvement should be fairly sustainable, and his Gold Glove-level defense will keep him in the everyday lineup. Reds starter Nick Martinez ($7,100) struggled mightily in his first start this season, and last season, Cincinnati’s defense gave their pitchers the third-worst support.
Value
Geraldo Perdomo, Arizona Diamondbacks at Washington Nationals, $3,500 – The Nationals are just 1-5 so far this season after finishing just 71-91 in 2024, and as you’d expect for a team with such a poor record, the pitching stats aren’t ideal. They’ve given up the ninth-most earned runs, struck out the third-fewest strikeouts, walked the 10th-most batters, and posted the worst WHIP. That’s a bad track record against a hitter as hot as Perdomo, who is slashing .320/.321/480 so far this season and averaging 9.7 fantasy points per game, including a grand slam last night against the New York Yankees in a 20-FPT performance. Jake Irvin ($6,500) is the second-cheapest starting pitcher on tonight’s slate, and he struggled somewhat last season against southpaws and led all the National League in losses.
OUTFIELDER
Stud
Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies, $6,000 – Of the three former MVP’s at the top of the Dodgers lineup, Betts has been the best. He appears to be fully recovered from the illness that cost him nearly 20 pounds, and while he was quiet in Wednesday’s win — which Shohei Ohtani ($6,500) walked off — Betts’ performance last Friday was unbelievable. In that 8-5 win, he notched three hits, scored three runs and drove in four, including the walkoff home run in the 10th (37 FPTS). He has been incredible against both lefties and righties in his career, but he’s been slightly better against southpaws like Philadelphia starter Jesus Luzardo ($8,200), who has been slightly worse against righties in his career.
Stud
Tyler O’Neill, Baltimore Orioles at Kansas City Royals, $4,700 – To open his 2025 season, O’Neill has alternated great games with bad ones. In his opening game of the season, he went three-for-three with three runs, two walks, and three RBI’s (32 FPTS) before combining for just one hit and one walk in his next two games. Then, on Monday, he went four-for-four with two runs and an RBI (20 FPTS) and followed it up with zero hits in eight at-bats combined across the rest of the series. Is he due for another huge performance? Seth Lugo ($7,600), the Royals’ starter, allowed plenty of offense in his opening start of the season, and while he finished second in Cy Young Award voting last season in his second season as a full-time starter, was it a fluke or is he turning a corner at the age of 35?
Value
Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves vs. Miami Marlins, $3,500 – Harris has been horrible to start the season, slashing just .160/.160/.280, striking out eight times, and recording fantasy output in only three of his seven games, with a 17-FPT performance on Monday against Los Angeles being his only significant output. But his elite glove — he ranked 10th in defensive WAR last season — should keep him in the everyday lineup, and he has a very solid combination of speed and power, stealing 20 bases in each of his first two seasons and hitting more than 15 homers in each of his MLB campaigns so far. Because stolen bases are worth five fantasy points and home runs are worth 10, Harris remains a high-upside fantasy option.
