So, what have we learned about KBO DFS in the first week? For one thing, we know that Awesemo’s projections translate. Last week saw numerous high-end finishes and GPP wins for subscribers who made great use of tools like projections, ownership, and top stacks. We’ve learned that stacking still matters. We’ve learned that the league isn’t quite as homer happy as MLB, relying on a lot of base hits and gap power to move runners. KBO hitters love to put the ball in play. We’ve learned that starting pitchers are typically going to be highly reliant on the win for scoring, with limited strikeouts across the league. And, we’ve learned that adding activities in time-zones 13 hours ahead to the Groundhog Day experience that is quarantine is a great way to get completely lost in space-time!
KBO doesn’t play on Mondays, so every team is coming into tonight’s action fresh, and there are no games from last night to recap. Which makes this a prime opportunity to run down some of our early league leaders on offense:
Hits/Avg: Jose Fernandez (13/22 .591), Preston Tucker (10/25 .476), Mel Rojas Jr. (10/24 .455), Sun-bin Kim (9/26 .450), Kwang-min Kim (9/22 .450)
On-Base %: Jose Fernandez (.591), Joon-tae Park (.588), Sun-bin Kim (.577), Preston Tucker (.560), Jung-hoo Lee (.542)
Slugging %: Dong-min Han (.944), Preston Tucker (.905), Jung-hoo Lee (.889), Dixon Machado (.889), Jose Fernandez (.864)
HR: Preston Tucker (3), Dixon Machado (3), Dong-min Han (3), Dong-yeop Kim (2), Jung-hoo Lee (2)
RBI: Preston Tucker (11), Sung-woo Jang (9), Jae-hwan Kim (8), Dixon Machado (8), Jung-hoo Lee (6)
The bulk of this analysis comes directly from reviewing Awesemo’s KBO DFS projections and the top stacks tool. Check out the rest of our KBO content, Awesemo’s projections, rankings, and ownership on the site for all your KBO DFS needs.
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As usual, I’m going to look game by game, calling out a hitter or two from each team, and giving some top stacking options as we go. Pricing and popularity will be considered, more so as trends begin to emerge over the coming weeks. The numbers included with Suggested Stack are the projected lineup positions I would target for stacking that team, but do not restrict yourself exclusively to those spots. For example, if it says Wyverns 3-6 it means 3,4,5,6 in the projected lineup. If it says 1-2-3-5 it means those guys. If it means a two-man it will say so. I’m also going to start trying to include positions more, hopefully it helps speed up the process of finding guys as you build lineups.
With lock still hours away (5:30am), official lineups have not been released, so be sure to double-check status before you plug players into your lineup.
KBO DFS Picks: Game Breakdown for DraftKings + FanDuel
Kia Tigers @ Hanwha Eagles – 9 run total (5.08/4.12) – Suggested Stack: Tigers 1/2-5
Kia burst onto the DFS scene in a big way with a 12-run Sunday morning as one of Awesemo’s low-owned high likelihood of success stacks, and our favorite stack in this space for those reasons. Bolstered by a 2 HR 6 RBI night from import Preston Tucker and a nice night from infielder Sun-bin Kim, the Tigers coasted to victory. Tonight’s slate features 3 teams with an implied run total above 5, and the Tigers are the lowest of those, but they should be productive for KBO DFS owners again tonight. Outfielder Preston Tucker ($13/$4.9k) hasn’t seen much of a price increase despite leading the league in HR and RBI through week 1. Choi is pricey in the cleanup spot in this stack but projected 5 hitter Yeong-Seok Jang ($8/$3.2k) provides a nice savings at IF/3b to make things work.
The Eagles come into this one at 2-4, losers of 3 straight. The offense has struggled to get much going, scoring 2 or 3 runs in 4 of their 5 games last week. Facing Aaron Brooks, coming off a dominant 1st KBO start last week, the Eagles have a tall order ahead of them. Veteran infielder Sung-yeol Lee ($11/$2.1k) is dramatically under-priced on DraftKings for his upside. With an average triple-slash of .286/.355/.538 and 25 homers the last 3 years, Lee has plenty to offer as the projected cleanup hitter. Pair him with Hoying in two-mans or add other pieces of the top of the lineup for a contrarian stack from the bottom of Awesemo’s stack rankings.
KT Wiz @ NC Dinos – 8.5 run total (4.01/4.68) – Suggested Stack: Dinos 3-6
The KT Wiz find themselves in the KBO cellar at 1-4 after week 1. The Wiz aren’t great, but they’re probably not going to be as bad as they looked last year. Zips projected standings had them 7th with a .451 winning percentage, and we’re definitely not here to argue with that. Taking on Drew Rucinski, who struck out 6 Samsung hitters over 6 shutout innings last week, KT is ranking next to last in top stack %. Mel Rojas Jr. ($17/$5.2k) is Awesemo’s highest projected hitter in the projected KT lineup, but he’s just too pricey on both sites. The first two hitters in the KT lineup are variance and correlation plays, but don’t offer much on their own. Stacking Rojas with the also-pricey Baek-ho Kang ($14/$5.5k) or Han-joon Yoo ($14/$4.9k) would definitely be a different approach to the slate.
KT starter Odrisamer Despaigne breezed through his first KBO start last week, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 8 in 6.0 innings, and was the only thing that got in the way of the Lotte Giants offense all week long. The Dinos were an instant fan-favorite and come packing one of the KBO’s more loaded lineups. Seeing a bit of a discount on FanDuel, NC looks to be a good value stack as well as one drawing roughly appropriate levels of ownership for their probability of success. Looking to the heart of this order is the way to go here once again, with catcher Eui-ji Yang ($13/5.0k) projected to hit cleanup behind the always under-priced Na and ahead of Aaron Altherr ($9/$5.9k) who has a huge difference in price from site to site.
Doosan Bears @ Lotte Giants – 10.0 run total (5.88/4.36) – Suggested Stack: Bears 1/2-5
Doosan comes into Busan tonight to face 36-year-old left Won-sam Jang, whose numbers indicate a career that should have ended 5 years ago. It remains unclear if Jang is going to be deployed just as an opener, or if he’s getting a full start, but I expect the Bears to jump all over him. This is a guy with a 10% strikeout rate and a FIP north of 4.5 each of the last 5 years, while giving up 1.85 hr/9, he might as well be me out there. The Bears are tracking to be popular again tonight, but they’re far and away the highest ranked team in top stack %, and the projected ownership isn’t out of line with that. That their key hitters are under-priced on both sites only adds to the appeal. Outfielder Jae-Hwan Kim ($13/$4.5k) is hitting 4th in the projected lineup. Including infielder Joo Hwan Choi ($11/$2.0k) in your Bears stacks is a good value play on FanDuel, and a no-brainer with Choi at the bare minimum on DK.
The Giants stormed out of the gates in week 1, going 5-0 while scoring 36 runs in 5 games, and winning the hearts of many KBO DFS players. Lotte definitely won some KBO DFS players money last week, but they rank in the bottom 3 stacks on both sites, facing import Raul Alcantara. The Giants do provide very playable pricing on both sites, making them a team to consider when looking for small value stacks. Infielders Dae-ho Lee ($13/$3.9k) and Chi-hong An ($9/$2.5k) make for a reasonable 2-man value play if you look this direction.
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SK Wyverns @ LG Twins – 8 run total (4.16/4.00) – Suggested Stack: Wyverns 2-5
Welcome to the game with the lowest total of the night. With the current total at a meager 8 runs, and a close line, it looks like the oddsmakers are favoring a pitching duel here. The Wyverns draw capable veteran lefty Woo-chan Cha, who struck out 7 while allowing only 1 earned run in 6 innings in his season opener. Cha tends to walk a few too many hitters, getting himself into trouble, and providing some run-scoring opportunities. Projected 3 hitter, 3rd baseman Jeong Choi ($16/$4.8k) offers a career .392 on-base percentage and has power to spare with 336 career KBO home runs. Choi should be a key building block in any SK stacks tonight. The SK stack rates as one of the more likely to succeed, but it appears that the public will be going overboard on them. Contrarian architects might look to stack elsewhere.
LG gets Nick Kingham tonight, coming off his underwhelming KBO debut last week against the weak Hanwha lineup. Kingham is better than he looked but relies on enough off-speed junk that getting used to the Korean ball might hamper him at the start of the season. LG is looking for some offensive consistency tonight. Eun-Sung Chae ($11/$2.9k) offers some savings in the outfield as the projected 3rd hitter for the Twins and is a prime piece of this stack on both sites. Roberto Ramos ($15/$3.1k) is too cheap on DraftKings give his power potential. Â Â
Samsung Lions @ Kiwoom Heroes – 9.0 run total – (3.91/5.30) – Suggested Stack: Heroes 1-4
 Dueling imports for the final game of the night, with Samsung’s Ben Lively taking on Kiwoom’s Eric Jokisch (sidebar: it must have been difficult to grow up in locker rooms with this last name, no?). Samsung’s offense came alive on the big rainout day last week, so you might not have noticed as you rage-closed your app of choice on seeing scores in the morning. The Lions leave a lot to be desired on that side of the dish, but they do provide some savings in key lineup spots. Projected 2nd hitter in the lineup, outfielder, Dong Yeop Kim ($10/$2.5k) is still priced down after only playing half a season in 2019, but he hit 49 homers over the 2 years prior to that and remains capable of driving one out of the park.
The Heroes finished week 1 in 2nd place at 5-1 and are not disappointing fans, KBO DFS owners, or standings projections so far. They were expected to be one of the better teams in the league and they are proving why. Facing former fringe MLB pitcher Ben Lively, the Heroes are ranking out in the middle of Awesemo’s top stacks tool today, with seemingly appropriate ownership, making them a personal preference type of play. Lively was knocked around a bit in his first start of 2020 but had a strong first year in the KBO in 2019. Kiwoom leadoff hitter Keon-Chang Seo ($11/$2.7k) provides enough savings to help fit some of the more expensive pieces of this lineup into a stack. Seo is an on-base machine with the wheels to steal 15-20 bases a year, but make no mistake, he’s here as a table-setter for the bigger bats behind him.
Favorite Stack: Doosan Bears
HR Call: Jeong Choi (SK)
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