DFS KBO: Wednesday Cheat Sheet

Tuesday's KBO slate looked likely to be quite a low-scoring one given the quality of pitching on display, and that was generally the case, with all but three teams scoring four or fewer runs. The Giants' 10-9 win over the Wiz was the lone exception, with Ah Seop Son leading the way with four hits for the victors and reclaiming the lead over Mel Rojas Jr. in the race for the batting title. The Bears also managed quite a few runs in their 9-4 win victory over the Wyverns, with Kun Woo Park going 4-for-4 with a pair of homers in the best offensive performance of the day. The other three contests were all pitchers duels. Young Gyu Kim matched Eric Jokisch by allowing just one run in six innings, but the Heroes would eventually manage to win 2-1 on Jeong Hyeop Heo's walkoff double. Meanwhile, Ben Lively allowed one earned run in seven innings while Ho Nam allowed one run in five, with the Lions eventually winning in the 12th innings following Sung Gyu Lee's solo homer. Elsewhere, Drew Gagnon allowed two runs in six frames but was slightly outdone by Warwick Saupold, who allowed one run in the same time frame in the Eagles' 3-2 victory. Wednesday's slate features a far worse crop of pitchers and contains just four contests, as neither half of the Eagles-Tigers doubleheader will be included.

Pitchers

Expect everyone to be all over Dan Straily ($10,400) on this slate, but given the available alternatives, it's going to be rather hard to be confident in fading him. He doesn't have the easiest matchup against a strong Wiz lineup, but he's been so good this season that he's virtually matchup-proof. His 2.53 ERA 1.02 WHIP are backed by a 25.3 percent strikeout rate and a 6.8 percent walk rate, with the former easily representing the highest mark among qualified starters. He went through a rough patch from mid-August through mid-September, allowing five or more runs in three out of five starts, but he's since gone on to allow a total of three earned runs in his last four outings, cruising to a 1.00 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP over that stretch.

Chan Gyu Lim ($9,500) has strong enough season-long numbers that he's worth a look in this one given the available alternatives, though it's fair to say he hasn't been at his best of late. In his last four starts, he's struggled to a 7.08 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP, though he's at least struck out 18 batters in 20.1 innings. His season-long 21.3 percent strikeout rate gives him plenty of upside, though that's generally been offset by a 10.6 percent walk rate, leading to a mediocre 4.34 ERA. That's still good for the third-best number on this slate, however, and he'll have a good chance to get back on track against the eighth-ranked Lions lineup in the league's most pitcher-friendly park.

Myung Gi Song ($7,400) has the second-best ERA on the slate at 3.92 and is the clear top option among the day's cheaper arms, even with a fairly difficult matchup against the Heroes' fifth-ranked offense. The 20-year-old was a reliever for the majority of the season and performed well enough, posting a 4.05 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP and a 28:9 K:BB in 26.2 innings in that role. He entered the rotation in late August and has held his own, though his 1.45 WHIP and 28:20 K:BB don't fully support his 3.83 ERA. Still, he's coming off two of his best outings, allowing two runs on just five hits while striking out 10 in 11 innings. He probably wouldn't earn a recommendation on most slates, but he's good enough for consideration in this shallow pool.

Top Targets

Hyung Jong Lee ($4,700) has been limited to just 64 games this season after missing the early part of the season with a broken hand, but he's been quite good since he's returned to action. On the season as a whole, he's hitting .314/.392/.605, good for a .997 OPS, a number which blows a way his previous career high of .844. He's already homered 15 times in limited action, beating his previous career high of 13. The 31-year-old is only getting better as the season goes on, posting a .389/.450/.889 slash line with five homers and 14 RBI over his last nine games.

If there were enough trustworthy Wyverns hitters, they certainly could have been one of the top stack recommendations here, as they face Bears lefty Won Joon Jang, who allowed four runs in four innings in his only start of the season. Jeong Choi ($5,100) will get the platoon advantage against the southpaw and is worth a look even without any of his teammates. He had been on an extended slump from late August through late September, hitting .145/.200/.253 over a 23-game stretch. He seems to have sorted things out recently, however, as he's riding a five-game hitting streak, homering twice, driving in six runs and posting a 1.191 OPS over that stretch. 

Bargain Bats

While Chan Gyu Lim was mentioned above as one of the better pitchers on the slate, that's primarily due to a lack of interesting alternatives, as he's hardly been dominant of late. That means that the nearly-daily Dong Yeop Kim ($2,700) recommendation still looks quite good here. Kim remains wildly underpriced, even for his season-long .313/.352/.510 slash line. His overall .862 OPS doesn't reflect who he's been over the last two months, as he owns a 1.034 OPS in 49 games since returning from his second demotion of the year in early August.

The Dinos have plenty of options at various price points who are worth selecting almost any time they face a pitcher who isn't Eric Jokisch, who shut them down Tuesday. Won Tae Choi may be decent, but he and his 4.95 ERA certainly aren't Jokisch level, so plenty of Dinos should be in play here. Suk Min Park ($3,600) comes quite cheap for how he's been hitting lately. In his last 16 games, he owns a .417/.554/.542 slash line. He's seeing the ball extremely well, walking 15 times while striking out just three times over that stretch.

Stacks to Consider

Bears vs. Ricardo Pinto: Kyoung Min Hur ($4,900), Joo Hwan Choi ($4,300), Jae Il Oh ($3,900)

Pinto was awful over a 10-start stretch from mid-July through early September, posting a 10.80 ERA and a 2.26 WHIP. Suddenly, he followed that up with an excellent three-start run out of completely nowhere, posting a 0.95 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He was back to his previous form his last time out against the Dinos, however, allowing seven runs in 5.2 innings with a 4:4 K:BB. On the season overall, he's been easily the league's worst qualified starter, posting a 6.29 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. His poor combination of a 14.4 percent strikeout rate and 12.0 percent walk rate hardly suggest that he's underachieved.

The Bears have a deep lineup full of hitters who have been quite cold until very recently (or who are still cold), so selecting exactly who to include in this stack isn't easy. Hur, who has moved up to the leadoff spot for the last four games, seems like an obvious place to start. He's quite expensive for a player who has just five homers on the season, but he does just about everything else well and occupies a key spot in one of the league's best lineups. In his last 10 games, he's hitting .389/.477/.583 with 10 homers and 11 RBI.

Choi has locked down the number three spot in the order in the past few weeks, and it's hard to say he doesn't deserve to be there. Over his last 15 contests, he's hit an excellent .415/.500/.679 with a pair of homers. On the season as a whole, he's hitting a solid .310/.377/.481. His .858 OPS is well above the .697 OPS he managed last season, but it's not completely out of nowhere for the 32-year-old, who managed a .979 OPS in 2018 before the ball was de-juiced.

I've gone with the cheaper Oh rather than the Bears' two most expensive bats, Jose Fernandez and Jae Hwan Kim, though those are also defensible choices. Oh was simply awful in the back half of September, hitting .093/.183/.111 in the final 15 games of the month. He's reached base safely in all five games in October, however, going 4-for-13 at the plate with a homer, six walks and six RBI. He should get more opportunities to drive in runs out of the number five spot with the platoon advantage against a pitcher who puts plenty of runners on base in this one.

Giants vs. Dae Eun Lee: Ah Seop Son ($4,300), Byung Kyu Lee ($3,100), Yoon Suk Oh ($3,000)

While Dae Eun Lee is listed as the starter for this contest, this will almost certainly be a bullpen game. Lee's only start of the year came in his most recent appearance, in which he lasted just two innings and 37 pitches. It's conceivable he could wind up around 50 pitches and three innings in this one, but it's very unlikely he'll go much deeper into the game. Lee saved 17 games with a respectable 4.08 ERA as a 30-year-old rookie last season (having previously spent time in the Chicago Cubs' minor-league system and with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan), but his start to this season went terribly, as he was demoted in May after giving up nine runs in his first eight innings. His 3.37 ERA in 13.1 innings since returning to the roster in September is much better, but his 4:5 K:BB hardly suggests he's figured things out.

The platoon advantage may not matter much in this game, as Lee likely won't last too long, but we may as well kick things off with Son anyway. The veteran outfielder reclaimed the top spot among qualified hitters in batting average after his four-hit day Tuesday, giving him a .356/.421/.499 line on the season. Making excellent contact is nothing new for Son, who owns a career .325 batting average and who has hit .295 or better in every season since 2010. He certainly hasn't been fading down the stretch, hitting .409/.466/.621 over his last 16 games.

Son is no longer the only lefty occupying a key spot in the Giants' order, as Byung Kyu Lee has moved up to fifth in 10 of the last 11 games. The 36-year-old didn't make his season debut until the start of September, but he's been swinging quite a hot bat lately and clearly deserves to hit in the heart of the order. He's gone hitless just twice in his last 19 contests, posting a .397/.479/.603 slash line with three homers and 15 RBI over that stretch.

Leadoff man Oh won't get the platoon advantage during the first few innings, but he's still definitely worth a look as long as his price remains so cheap. He's been on fire over his last 11 games, hitting .476/.549/.762 with 16 RBI and 12 runs. Seven of those RBI came Sunday against the Eagles, a game in which he hit for the cycle while going 5-for-5. The hot streak is completely out of nowhere for Oh, a 28-year-old who owns a .683 career OPS and who had appeared in just 118 games prior to this year, but at his cheap price, it's a low-risk endeavour to bet that he can keep it going.