KBO DFS: DraftKings slate preview for July 9

If you haven’t been grinding KBO in the early hours with me every morning, I will be posting some articles over the next couple weeks exclusively on FTN to catch you up to speed. These will include top hitters on each team, the mess that is every team’s bullpen, and some GPP lineup reviews.

I played competitive baseball through college. My dad was at almost every game and regardless of the outcome he used to always say, “You know the greatest thing about baseball? You get to play again tomorrow!” Whether I went 0-4 or 4-4, my dad focused on what I was going to do to prepare for the next game, which unlike most sports is the very next day. I will take the big L on Jong Gi Park Tuesday night. Dude walked 5 and gave up 7 hits in just 4 pathetic innings for -8.20 DK points. While my fade of the night, Casey Kelly, struck out 7 Doosan Bears — the team that strikes out the least in the KBO. I got the actual last place in one of my double ups… You know the greatest thing about DFS baseball? You get to play again tomorrow!

Let’s dig into this slate, which gives us a few more SP2 options.

For now, a few things to know about my preferences in KBO DFS:

• I have a huge man crush on Chang Moo Ko (NCD pitcher) and Jin Sung Kang (NCD 1B/OF), so get used to it.
• I usually hate playing chalk in tournaments, but there has been some success in locking in chalk pitchers in GPPs and then targeting lower owned stacks as the bullpens have been horrendous this year.
• I am still convinced the biggest edge is waking up 30 minutes before lock and checking weather and starting lineups. Starting lineups don’t come out until about 5 a.m. ET (on a regular slate) only 30 minutes before lock. Having a plan for quick pivot options and glancing at weather updates is key. (You will be amazed at the amount of entries that have non-starters rostered night in and night out.)
• Please make sure to check my twitter (@DFSchaser) for more thoughts and any updates as the day progresses. Starting pitchers are only projected and could change from the time this article is written to when teams make announcements.

Projected starting pitchers

Eric Jokisch — This guy has really turned around his game since coming to the KBO. He has the lowest BABIP (.238) in the league and his 0.87 WHIP is second only to Chang Mo Koo. He has the second-lowest FIP on the slate and has only given up two home runs in 69.1 innings of work. The Lions strike out around the league average at 17.94%., are fifth in OPS (.718) and tied for last in team batting average (.256). Jokisch, while not an overpowering strikeout pitcher, should be able to put up a solid performance here worth of your SP1 slot.

Raúl Alcántara — He has been a bit of a roller coaster ride so far this season, but over his last six starts he has scored at least 16 DK points and 4 strikeouts each time (with only three wins in that stretch). His floor should be intact facing LG Twins, who (as I mentioned Tuesday) have some firepower but are right around the league average in team batting statistics. I think he is slightly overpriced here at $9,200, but should be a safe SP2 if you are still hurting from Jong Gi Park… like I am.

Drew Gagnon — Gagnon is my preferred GPP SP2 in this slate. Last time he faced the KT Wiz he had his best outing of the season putting up 33.4 DK points with 9 Ks. The Wiz strike out the third-most in the KBO and Gagnon is sporting a slate best 23.40% strikeout percentage and 2.94 FIP. In my view he has the highest ceiling her, which is why I like him, but his floor is significantly lower than Alcántara.

Bum Soo Kim — Since moving into the starting rotation for Hanwha June 19, he has 15 Ks in 16.1 IP and DK point totals of 7.6, 22.1 and 16.7. At only $5,500, Bum Soo Kim presents a great large field tournament play. Whomever is playing Hanwha usually garners some ownership and the Lotte Giants scored 6 runs last night and were a popular play, which means Bum Soo Kim should be low owned across the industry.

Fade: Tyler Wilson

Hitting stacks to target

• KIA Tigers — The young (23) Byung Wook Jo hasn’t pitched more than 5 innings this year and has bounced around between the starting rotation and bullpen. Preston Tucker bomb coming. Game stack is perfectly acceptable.
• Doosan Bears — Tyler Wilson is really struggling. His last start he was able to strike out 6 but still gave up 10 hits, 3 earned runs (5 unearned) against a below-average Samsung. The start before that, the Heroes jumped all over him. Doosan should be in a great spot again tonight.
• Lotte Giants — It is still popular and profitable to stack against Hanwha, but only if you are fading Bum Soo Kim.

Underowned: Hanwha Eagles — Sampson has been roughed up his last two times out and the Eagles have played much better over the last two weeks. Strictly a GPP play here, but you can own off some of the Eagles Nos. 1-4 hitters here.

Team spotlight

Here are all the KIA Tigers who are viable for stacking (filtered by wRC+):

Data from Fangraphs.com 7.8.20