Hello everyone, and welcome to the MLB cash academy! I go by nillyJay in the DFS Army where I coach and contribute content for MLB, NASCAR, and all things cash games related (such as proper bankroll management and cash ladders). You can find me on Twitter or in our Slack channels @nillyJay.
The purpose of these articles is to teach you how to find players to use for cash games, as well as giving out a few that my research has put me on (and why I chose them). The idea here isn’t to just say “lock these guys and run an optimizer.” Rather, I want to encourage everyone to work on their research process and dig a little deeper to find players in good spots instead of just settling on players that fit the salary cap.
The basics
In an effort to keep these articles quick and to the point, I’m going to skip the definitions here. You can refer to the original article here if you’re unfamiliar with any of the stats or terminology used in my notes below.
Cash players – 6/15/2018
Corey Kluber ($12,000 FD, $13,600 DK) – As a surprise to no one, Kluber leads the way once again today. He’s a heavy favorite and most everybody on the Twins has not had much success against him. He’s only given up a combined .215 wOBA / .069 ISO, and his 1.93 carnage is the lowest on the slate today. He is expensive, but we can find plenty of value on this 15-game slate.
Brent Suter ($6,500 FD, $6,500 DK) – Suter has been very steady lately, posting up 6 “cash-worthy” scores in his last 7 games (as shown by his .285 wOBA). He also has one of the lowest carnage ratings today at 2.96, as well as a good BvP advantage and no weather concerns (as they’re playing in a dome). Overall he’s a solid pick for an SP2 on DraftKings, though I would probably opt for somebody like Kluber on FanDuel.
Juan Soto ($3,800 FD, $4,400 DK) – Soto has been hot and wants to continue to impress the Nationals to keep his spot on the roster. In his effort to do that, he’s put up a .454 wOBA and .375 ISO while only striking out 13.33% of the time over the last 10 days. He’ll face Aaron Sanchez who has been getting hit around plenty recently, giving up .454 wOBA and .308 ISO to lefties. He also has a 6.20 carnage rating today, the highest on the slate. You can pair Soto with Eaton or Adams (similar numbers to Soto) for a two-man cash stack.
Adrian Beltre ($3,300 FD, $3,800 DK) – Beltre is starting to heat up again, posting a .455 wOBA and .250 ISO recently. Bettis has been giving up .524 wOBA and .400 ISO to righties, which is great for Beltre who has no problem hitting same-handed pitchers. Vegas likes this game to be high-scoring (11 over/under as of 8:00 AM), and using Beltre is a good way to get exposure to it at a discount.
Brian Anderson ($3,500 FD, $4,200 DK) – Just like Beltre, Anderson has no problem going up against same-handed pitching (.431 wOBA / .217 ISO in this matchup), and he will get to face some soft pitching today too (.437 wOBA / .289 ISO against righties for Gausman). You can use him as a one-off or pair him with Realmuto, Castro, or Bour, who are the other Marlins that are running hot right now.
Denard Span ($3,200 FD, $3,700 DK) – Span has several things going for him today. For starters, he’s in the middle of a hot streak (.514 wOBA / .429 ISO). Also, he’s seen Porcello plenty; 19 for 48 with a home run and only 5 strikeouts. That’s nearly a .400 average over 14 games, which is just fantastic. While Porcello isn’t throwing as badly as some of the others today, he’s still giving up .358 wOBA to lefties which is plenty for us to attack given Span’s BvP advantage.
Yuli Gurriel ($3,000 FD, $3,800 DK) – Another reasonably priced bat, Yuli has everything lined up for him today to have another good game. His .378 wOBA / .222 ISO matches up well against Junis and his .432 wOBA / .250 ISO to righties. What’s more, Yuli has only one strikeout in his last 28 at-bats (3.57%), and only 7 games all season where he put up a zero. This is a great floor for the price, with a healthy double-digit ceiling for our cash ladders.
That’s all for today! Be sure to check out all of our other MLB content today right here, and don’t forget about the 3-game WNBA slate we have tonight. If you like what we’re doing and want to join the fun, be sure to remember to use promo code NILLY to get a 10% discount for the life of your active membership. That includes 24/7 access to our Slack chat channels, daily VIP-only articles, research stations for multiple sports, and the Domination Station lineup optimizer. You get every sport, every day, for one low price. Hope to see you in Slack!
