MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Hitters & Stacks for Thursday, May 13th

Thursday, May 13, has wall-to-wall baseball with lots of early action, as teams will be heading to their next series after today’s games. There is also a solid a six-game main slate, including what is shaping up to be a wild one in Coors Field. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks for hitters and stacks for Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel.

Be sure head over to the Awesemo MLB DFS home page for all of the best written daily fantasy baseball content, including daily article like Spotlight Pitchers, MLB DFS Tournament Strategy and MLB Cheat Sheets for all the major DFS sites.

MLB DFS Picks: Spotlight Hitters and Stacks, Thursday, May 13th

Yahoo Stack of the Day: Oakland Athletics at RHP Garrett Richards — 4.5 implied runs

Today will mark just the 53rd start for Garrett Richards since the beginning of the 2016 season. Injuries have curtailed the back half of his career, and the fact that he is still persevering to pitch is actually remarkable. Richards focuses mostly on his still-solid 94 mph fastball and a decent slider while occasionally working in the curve. Power surrendered is the issue these days, and the Athletics are loaded up and down their lineup.

The key hitters for Oakland all have favorable salaries on Yahoo, coming in between $14 and 18. Matt Olson and Matt Chapman lead the way, with Mitch Moreland serving as a fine pivot away from Olson since only one first baseman can be rostered on most DFS sites. Mark Canha and Ramon Laureano both have a .210 ISO over their last 600 plate appearances against same-handed hurlers. There is also a chance Seth Brown will be in the mix near the top of the order. This will mark just his 60th career MLB game over the last three seasons. However, he does have five homeruns in just 63 at-bats this year, which makes him an intriguing, discounted outfield MLB DFS pick in all formats.

Crush your MLB DFS contests with tools and data from the #1 DFS Player

Early Slate

Detroit Tigers vs. LHP Daniel Lynch — 4.6 implied runs

This is the first time the Tigers have been recommended as a stack this season. Detroit has scored the third-fewest runs in the league, with only the Mets and Nationals trailing behind. This makes sense since the Tigers have an 81 wRC+, which means they are producing 19% fewer runs than the average team under similar conditions. They are in the bottom three for power and patience and are leading the league with a 29.3% collective strikeout rate.

On tap this afternoon is a meeting with rookie Daniel Lynch, who has struggled mightily in his first two appearances. He has been lit up for an 18.56 ERA, seven extra base hits and only three punchouts across the 31 batters he has faced thus far. To be fair, Lynch has been thrown to the wolves this season, having never pitched above high-A ball in the minors.

Detroit offers cheap power potential with Jonathan Schoop likely near the top of the order and Miguel Cabrera batting cleanup. Yes, Cabrera is just a shell of his former self, but he does have extra-base-hit upside, and if there were no name associated with this salary and place in the batting order, gamers would be falling all over themselves to roster him.

Jeimer Candelario and Niko Goodrum are solid options today, as is Nomar Mazara, who is near the minimum salary on several DFS sites. Kansas City has a bottom-five bullpen by most metrics, and this gives the Tigers bats added upside.

Evening Slate

Houston Astros vs. RHP Michael Foltynewicz — 5.0 implied runs

Remember on Tuesday when it was snowing in Denver? Well, tonight it is going to be in the upper-60s for the Coors Field Extravaganza. Gamers absolutely can roster batters from both teams, and with the 11.0 implied run total, many will agree with that assessment.

However, a fine pivot away from the masses will be rolling with the Astros against Michael Foltynewicz. Foltynewicz leads the league this year with 11 homeruns allowed, suffering at least two in four of his seven starts. Luckily for him, he has a career-low 2.03 BB/9, otherwise his 4.50 ERA would be about a run higher given his 2.48 HR/9 across his 40.0 innings this season.

The DFS salary algorithms have given appropriate rates to the Houston hitters for this matchup. They are coming in with similar salary cap hits as their counterparts playing in Coors Field tonight. That is likely to keep the Astros popularity suppressed, which makes them excellent targets in tournaments.

Focusing on the power bats will the key, with Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa being the priority targets. Yuli Gurriel is a little dinged up, but if he is in the Houston lineup tonight, he should be in DFS lineups as well. In the event he sits, Correa or Kyle Tucker will likely get a bump in the batting order.

Jose Altuve is in the midst of an eight-game hitting streak with five multi-hit games and four extra-base hits. Michael Brantley has hits in 16 of his last 21 games. While Brantley does not hit a lot of home runs, he does have plenty of doubles, which make him a nice run producer in this loaded lineup.

Late Slate

Cleveland Indians at RHP Logan Gilbert — 4.4 implied runs

Tonight Logan Gilbert will be making his MLB debut for the Mariners, though he is unlikely to exceed the 65- to 75-pitch range since Seattle is looking to protect their top pitching prospect. Gilbert threw 67 pitches on Friday for AAA Tacoma, which was his first action at that level. He has solid command and strikeout upside, but with him likely to be pulled after the third inning, Cleveland will have ample opportunity against a mediocre Mariners bullpen that has had to absorb 19 innings over the last four days.

Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes and Eddie Rosario are the trio to target in all formats on all slates Thursday. Josh Naylor and Jake Bauers are discount dandies if looking for a full stack, though they are at risk of being pinch-hit for if a lefty comes in to relieve Gilbert.

Final Thoughts for the Thursday, May 13th MLB DFS Slate

Today there are no weather trouble spots, and there are several teams with implied run totals over five on the main slate. As always, keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a home run play on Yahoo may be a below-average MLB DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

Stokastic +

Premium Data and Tools
PREMIUM TOOLS
Lineup Generator
Stokastic Sims MLB
PREMIUM DATA
Projections
Top Stack %s
MLB Data Central
FREE DATA
SoRare MLB Rankings
DraftKings Night Owl
FANTASY CRUNCHER (ADD-ON)
MLB Lineup Study
COMMUNITY
MLB Discord Server
PREMIUM DATA
Projections
Ownership Projections
PREMIUM TOOLS
Fantasy Cruncher (ADD-ON)
NHL Lineup Study
COMMUNITY
NHL Discord Server
PREMIUM TOOLS
Lineup Generator
Stokastic Sims PGA
PREMIUM DATA
Ownership Projections
Top Golfers Tool
PGA Tournament Models
FANTASY CRUNCHER (ADD-ON)
PGA Lineup Study
COMMUNITY
PGA Discord Server
Ownership Projections
Top Drivers Tool
NASCAR Discord Server
NASCAR Fantasy Cruncher
USFL Projections
USFL Discord Server
Ownership Projections
Top Fighters Tool
MMA Discord Server
MMA Fantasy Cruncher
NFL Betting Tools
Stokastic Discord Server
Best Ball
Best Ball Rankings
Best Ball Stat Projections
Stokastic Discord Server
Season Long Fantasy (Coming Soon)

Premium Data

MLB Data Central

NBA Data Central

MLB DFS Top Stack % for Yahoo

MLB DFS Top Stack % for FanDuel

DraftKings MLB DFS Top Stacks Tool

Top Batters Tool: DraftKings

DFS Winners from the Stokastic Community

Subscribe to the Stokastic newsletter

DFS advice, exciting promos, and the best bets straight to your inbox

Stokastic.com - Daily Fantasy Sports and Sports Betting Data, Tools, & Analytics

Please play responsibly. Only customers 21 and over are permitted to play. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.