On Saturday night, Major League Baseball finishes another busy day with a strong six-game slate under the lights. With a dozen teams in the player pool for the main MLB DFS contests, DraftKings has plenty of different options to consider as you build your fantasy baseball roster for Saturday night. The action starts at 7:05 p.m. ET, with a wave of four games right away followed by two from the West Coast. With plenty of options to consider, you may need a value play or two to help balance out your salary cap space. Finding the right MLB DFS value picks is key to maximizing the production of your roster across the board, since some affordable players can go off with big nights of their own.
To help you as you search through the bargain bin for just the right plays, check out my three MLB DFS Value Picks in this post, who bring big upside at a small salary:
- SP Reynaldo Lopez, Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals, $7,100: Lopez has 16.2 and 23.4 FPTS in his last two starts, and he beat the Cardinals in that outing with 23.4 FPTS. He seems to be settling back into the rotation after struggling earlier this season.
- 2B/SS Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays at San Diego Padres, $2,800: Clement has been hitting leadoff for the last few games and is averaging 5.7 FPTS per game over his last 14 contests, going 18-for-54 (.333) with three doubles.
- 1B Joc Pederson, Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros, $3,300: Pederson has averaged 9.1 FPTS over his last 13 games with six homers during that span.
Let’s dive in and take a closer look at these options that come with low salaries, but high ceilings on Saturday night.
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Top MLB DFS Value Plays
SP Reynaldo Lopez, Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals, $7,100
Lopez has returned to the rotation after spending most of the season working out of the bullpen for the Braves, and he has turned in two solid outings to start July. He held the Cardinals to one run on two hits over five innings to start the month and earned his fourth win of the season and 23.4 FPTS. He followed that up with another five-inning, one-run outing against the Mets but took a no-decision to go with his 16.2 FPTS.
For the season, Lopez has a 3.18 ERA and 4.24 FIP with 51 strikeouts in 56 2/3 innings. He has been much more effective in his last 12 games, though, only allowing more than one run one time and posting a 2.54 ERA over that stretch. While he doesn’t have elite strikeout upside and probably won’t pitch extremely deep into the game, he has had enough recent success, even in this exact matchup, to be a very solid value arm to build around at just over $7,000.
2B/SS Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays at San Diego Padres, $2,800
Clement led the American League fan voting this season and is set to start the All-Star game in a few days. He is still very affordable in DFS, though, and he can fit at either middle infield spot at under $3,000, depending on who else you’re trying to fit into your lineup. Clement has hit leadoff the last four games for the Blue Jays, which definitely boosts his run production potential and should give him good pitches to hit. He’s averaging 5.7 FPTS per game over his last 14 contests while going 18-for-54 (.333) with three doubles.
Clement and the Blue Jays will take on Walker Buehler ($7,200) in San Diego on Saturday night, and Buehler has given up 16 runs on 14 hits (including five homers) in nine innings across his last two outings. The Blue Jays took the opener of the series, 5-3, and they’ll look to grab another win against Buehler on Saturday. Especially if he hits leadoff, Clement can be a nice value add to your MLB DFS Value picks for Saturday.
1B Joc Pederson, Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros, $3,300
Pederson is another value option who usually hits leadoff, but he doesn’t provide as much on-base production as Clement. What he does bring for your fantasy team, though, is potential power production. He homered off Hunter Brown in the fifth inning of Friday’s game for his 15th homer of the season to help the Rangers defeat their in-state rivals from Houston in the first game of this series.
Over his last 13 games, Pederson has six homers and has averaged 9.1 FPTS. He left the game for a pinch-hitter when a lefty came out of the bullpen, but since the Rangers will be facing Peter Lambert ($8,100), he should be back atop the lineup on Saturday. He’s a little higher risk than Clement since he’s a little more expensive and takes up a key 1B slot on your roster, but he brings enough power potential to be a strong option at this price point in Saturday’s MLB DFS Value picks.
