DFS KBO: Thursday Cheat Sheet

Wednesday's KBO slate on DraftKings was shortened to just three games, as neither game of the Eagles-Lions doubleheader was included and the Twins-Tigers contest was rained out. The three games that did go forward provided plenty of excitement, with two going to extra innings. Chris Flexen only threw three innings in his return from a broken foot, and while they were quite strong innings (he gave up just one earned run while striking out six), it wasn't enough, as the Bears' bullpen would eventually lose the game, with Mel Rojas Jr. hitting a two-run homer in the top of the 11th to seal a 4-2 victory for the Wiz. The Giants and Dinos went into the 10th inning, with the Giants winning it 7-5 following Joon Tae Kim's bases-clearing double in the top of the final frame. Elsewhere, the Heroes' lineup remained red hot as they defeated the Wyverns by a score of 13-4, giving them 29 runs scored across their last two contests. Most of the damage was done by the bottom of the order, however, as both Ha Seong Kim and Jung Hoo Lee went  hitless.

We should be back to a full five-game slate for the start new series Thursday, as none of the games appear threatened by rain as of writing. The slate is highlighted by a handful of the league's best pitchers.

Pitchers

It doesn't get much better than Dan Straily ($10,700) as far as KBO pitching is concerned. It doesn't take particularly fancy stats to demonstrate that point. The veteran sits second among all qualified starters in both ERA (2.48) and WHIP (1.04). His 26.2 percent strikeout rate leads that same group by more than four percentage points. While he's somewhat surprisingly allowed five or more earned runs in two of his last three starts, something that's happened just three times all season, his 22:5 K:BB in 16 innings over that stretch pushes back against the idea that he's suddenly lost his stuff. He shouldn't face too much trouble in this one against the eighth-ranked Lions lineup.

Hyun Jong Yang ($9,000) was supposed to be one of the best starters in the league this season, as he finished third in MVP voting last year on the back of his 2.29 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. Through mid-June, however, he'd looked nothing like that guy, posting a 6.31 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP in 13 starts. He's been able to flip the switch, however, posting a 2.68 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over his last eight outings. Zoom in on just his last five starts and the picture looks even better, as he owns a 1.78 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP over that stretch while striking out 40 batters in 30.1 innings. That's enough to make the veteran southpaw a worthy play even against the second-ranked Bears lineup, especially as he'll get the platoon advantage against most of the defending champions' top hitters.

Among the day's cheaper arms, Jong Hoon Park ($6,800) offers the most upside. That upside comes almost exclusively in the form of his 21.2 percent strikeout rate, good for sixth among qualified starters. The fact that Park owns a 5.30 ERA despite that figure indicates that he's not exactly a well-rounded pitcher, though that's reflected in his price. He can blame a .325 BABIP and a 66.2 percent strand rate for some of his struggles, though he's also walked too many batters (10.5 percent). While he's far from an elite arm, the potential for a high, strikeout-driven point total can't be ignored, and he'll be in the best possible situation for keeping runs off the board as he faces the last-ranked Eagles lineup.

Top Targets

Mel Rojas Jr. ($6,000) is more or less always a playable option for those with room to include him, and that's as true as ever against Dinos lefty Young Gyu Kim, who owns a 6.61 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. Rojas hit .132/.150/.276 over the final 17 games of August, but he's been back to his typical form in September. He has at least one hit in all eight games this month, posting a .438/.514/.969 line with five homers and 12 RBI.

The banged-up Wyverns have lost 11 in a row, but Jamie Romak ($5,100) hasn't stopped hitting. Over his last 24 games, the Canadian slugger homered nine times and drovie in 29 runs while hitting .391/.466/.759. He's dragged his OPS up 103 points over that stretch, and it now sits at .918, the second-best mark of his four-year KBO career. He'll get a fairly easy matchup in this one against Warwick Saupold, who's struggled to a 7.45 ERA and a 1.90 WHIP over his last six starts.

Bargain Bats

38-year-old Dae Ho Lee ($3,500) is a budget option at first base at this stage of his career, coming in cheaper than 12 other players eligible at the position. His numbers may not be what they once were, but there's nothing wrong with his .291/.364/.471 overall slash line. He's been slightly better than that over his last 14 games, driving in 14 runs while hitting .308/.333/.558. He'll face Lions righty Dae Woo Kim in this one, whose 3.53 ERA isn't backed up by his 10.2 percent strikeout rate.

Chang Gi Hong ($2,400) comes far too cheap for a man who's been leading off for the third-best lineup in the league. The 26-year-old hadn't accomplished much of anything heading into this season, appearing in just 38 total games, but he's been having a breakout year, hitting .284/.419/.447 over 94 games. He doesn't have much power, hitting just three homers, but his high average combined with his 17.0 percent walk rate makes him an excellent leadoff man. He's been getting on base at an incredible .506 clip over his last 18 games, helping him score 21 runs over that stretch. 

Stacks to Consider

Dinos vs. Min Soo Kim: Sung Bum Na ($6,400), Eui Ji Yang ($6,200), Min Woo Park ($5,300)

It doesn't take much to incentivize stacking the league's top lineup, but a matchup against Kim should be more than enough. Kim's 6.04 ERA and 1.73 WHIP tell the story well enough on their own, but a deeper look doesn't paint him in a better light. He's walked just 5.9 percent of opposing batters, but he's striking out just 13.6 percent while allowing 1.2 HR/9. The righty is coming off a poor start against the lowly Wyverns, who scored five runs off him in 5.1 innings.

Na continues his reign as the most expensive hitter on the slate, and it's hard to say that spot is undeserved. His 1.000 OPS trails only Mel Rojas Jr. among qualified hitters and is exactly the sort of number he needed to produce if he's to make his desired jump to MLB this winter. He's among the league leaders in most stats, sitting third with 28 homers, second with 90 RBI and tied for third with 86 runs scored.

Grabbing Na and Yang is quite an expensive start to a stack, as they're the two most expensive hitters on the slate, but the matchup makes it worth looking into at the very least. Yang has dominated the catcher pool at the plate again this season, as he leads the position in homers (17), runs (54), RBI (77) and all three components of his .325/.402/.556 slash line. He's been particularly hot recently, as he's managed five straight multi-hit games and has gone hitless just once in his last 13 contests, a stretch in which he's hitting .480/.509/.800.

Consider going for Myung Gi Lee ($3,800) rather than Park if you need to save budget space, though Park is absolutely worth consideration if you can fit him in. The leadoff man has struggled at times this season, but he's been on fire over his last 10 games, hitting .447/.542/.553. It's taken a .359 BABIP to get to his overall .337/.397/.458 slash line, but he's never posted a full-season BABIP below .357, so that line looks rather sustainable going forward.

Tigers vs. Hui Kwan Yu: Preston Tucker ($5,400), Hyung Woo Choi ($4,500), Ji Wan Na ($3,500)

It may seem odd to recommend a pair of lefties against Yu, but he's hardly a tough matchup for same-sided hitters, as he's allowed a .381 batting average to opposing left-handers this season. It's not as if he has particularly dramatic reverse platoon splits, however, as he's allowed a .314 batting average against righties. He simply allows far too much contact to be a very effective pitcher, as his 8.1 percent strikeout rate is four percentage points worse than anyone else who's pitched at least 70 innings. Sometimes opposing hitters hit everything at his fielders, but often they don't and he gets knocked out after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in just two innings, like he did his last time out against the Lions.

Tucker is one of the best hitters in the league when things are going well, and they've gone quite well over his last 15 games. He's hitting .328/.451/.638 over that stretch, homering four times and scoring 14 runs. On the season as a whole, he's tied for fourth with 24 homers and sits fourth among qualified batters with a .980 OPS. He's worse against lefties than against righties, as you'd expect, but his six homers in 89 at-bats against southpaws this season is a respectable total.

Choi also hasn't been overmatched by lefties, hitting .287 against them while posting a 14:14 BB:K. The veteran is currently riding a five-game hitter streak, homering twice and driving in nine runs over that stretch. Looking back over the last month, he's hitting .389/.462/.633 over 23 games. The veteran's season-long .961 OPS is quite strong given his second-tier price, and he should live up to that number even against a southpaw in this one given how hittable Yu has been all year.

Na follows Tucker and Choi out of the cleanup spot and will be the lone member of this trio to get the platoon advantage during Yu's innings. Like the 36-year-old Choi, Na is well past his peak at age 35, but he's still a productive player. His .840 OPS on the season is over 100 points lower than his marks from 2016 to 2018, but it's well above his small-sample .670 OPS from last season. He's been swinging a hot bat lately, posting a .361/.439/.583 line over a nine-game hitting streak.