John Ferguson | Fri, May 15th 2020, 12:59pm EDT

DraftKings Korean Baseball DFS Value Plays: Saturday (5/16)

Welcome to another edition of our KBO DFS value plays! We rolled out our first lineup of the season last week to test the waters and got a great response from DFS players and even nailed a few picks! So, we will keep things rolling here as we wait for more professional sports to resume stateside.

Putting together lineups for the KBO is no different than putting together your standard MLB DFS lineup aside from the fact that you may not know who any of these players are. Numbers don’t lie though and you can still analyze these players the same as you would for typical MLB DFS.

For Saturday, there are two slates to choose from, an early, full five-game slate that locks at 12 am EST and a late three-game slate that locks at 3 am EST. Their biggest contest for Saturday is an $11 entry with a grand prize of $25k to first place. This used to be a $10 entry with a $20k prize so the stakes have raised a little. To build your roster select 2 P’s, 3 OF’s, and one of each of the following positions: C, 1B, 2B, SS, and 3B while staying under the $50,000 salary cap. The scoring format is exactly the same as the classic MLB format. It is important to remember that Saturday’s contests lock at 12 am EST as opposed to the weekdays that have 4:30-5:30 am lock times, so you have all day Friday to tinker with lineups. It’s also worth noting that there has been some poor weather recently that resulted in the Kiwoom Heroes vs. LG Twins game getting rained out on Friday, so double-check the weather before the slate locks.

There are also some solid resources out there to help you build these lineups. The best I have found so far that I have really enjoyed is the free KBO lineup building model over at Occupy Fantasy. These guys have done a solid job of giving you a thorough, yet, user-friendly model that incorporates some key statistics you would want to know for setting your lineups at both DK and FD, including things like park factors and team totals from betting lines which are two of my favorite things to look at for this process. KBO DFS (@DfsKbo) has also been a sharp follow on Twitter and MyKBO Stats is a must for deep diving.

Let’s get started with some picks for the full slate to kick off our weekend!

Set Daily KBO Lineups at DraftKings for Your Chance to Win $25,000!

Pitchers

Warwick Saupold (HAN) vs. LOT: $9,700
With only five games in a slate, it’s hard to get too cute with pitching options, so we will go with the most expensive option for Saturday in Aussie, Warwick Saupold. Saupold has strung together back-to-back quality starts to begin his second season in the KBO. His first game of the season was a complete-game shutout against the SK Wyverns where he only allowed two hits but also only struck out two while putting up 31.5 FPTS. His second matchup was against a tougher opponent in the Kiwoom Heroes. He wasn’t able to register a win in that one but still allowed just two earned runs over six innings with five Ks. He’ll get his first home game of the season on Saturday against a Hanwha Eagles team who have won their last two games but dropped five straight before that.

Young-gyu Kim (NCD) at SK: $6,200
I’m going after the obviously-great matchup in this one as Kim and the 8-1 Dinos will take on the last place (1-8) SK Wyverns. Kim deserved a better result in his first outing of the season where he only allowed three earned runs over five innings with four Ks and no walks. The Dinos lost control thereafter, resulting in an 8-10 loss to the LG Twins and Kim netting just 8.5 FPTS without a win. The outcome should be much different in this one as the Wyverns have dropped seven straight and haven’t surpassed two runs in either of their last three games.

Catcher

Se-hyuk Park (DOO) at KIA: $2,700
Catcher is a tough spot to pick in KBO with platoons and just high volatility with pretty much every pick. Doosan Bears catcher Se-hyuk Park is really attractive at just $2,700. He’s coming off a solid performance on Friday where he went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in the Bears’ 13-4 drumming of the Kia Tigers. He’s only had two games below 5 FPTS this season, giving him the safe floor you need at the catcher position.

Others to consider: The Heroes have two solid catchers who have basically been in an even platoon with Ji-young Lee ($3,500) and Dong-won Park ($4,300). There are two problems with starting them though. First, you would need to wait for a confirmed starting lineup to see who is in for the day. Second, you would need to hope the game isn’t rained out again as it was on Friday. If you’re willing and able to do this, both are solid plays.

First Base

Jae-il Oh (DOO) at KIA: $4,100
The top three leaders in fantasy points per game who are 1B eligible this season on DK all belong to the Doosan Bears. Jose Fernandez is one of the safest plays you’ll find, but you’re paying for him at $6,300. Last week, I featured Jae-hwan Kim here who has also been hot and is a discount compared to Fernandez at just $4,900. Today, I will pivot to Jae-il Oh who is the cheapest of the three at $4,100 despite his 14.5 PPG ranking second-most amongst 1B eligible players. Oh got in on the action against Kia on Friday going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two Ks. He’s capable of much more, however, as evidenced by the monster performance he had on Thursday going 4-for-5 with a two-run homer, a double, and another RBI on his way to 31 FPTS. His ceiling is just as high as Fernandez but you get him at a $2,200 discount.

Second Base

Hoon Jung (LOT) at HAN: $3,400
Dixon Machado has been one of my favorite plays at 2B so far in KBO, but today I’m going to dive a little deeper and grab Lotte Giants’ Hoon Jung. He has actually primarily listed as 1B by MyKBO Stats but is 2B eligible on DK. His 11.7 PPG ranks third-most amongst second baseman on DK though his salary has him ranked 13th. He has reached 18 FPTS in a game twice this season and has provided a solid floor around 7 FPTS.

Third Base

Sung-gyu Lee (SAM) at KTW: $3,000
I felt like the Samsung Lions would be a smash play in this series against the KT Wiz, but the Lions let me down on Friday losing 6-14. I’ll probably dabble in this series all weekend as the potential for some ugly scores should remain likely. A solid play from a value standpoint is Lions third baseman, Sung-gyu Lee. He went 0-4 with an RBI on Friday which obviously is a turnoff, but it was surprising he was in the lineup in the first place considering he got drilled in the head by a pitch on Thursday. As long as there are no ill effects today, he could be in line to bounce back. Before Thursday, he was rolling with 21 FPTS on Tuesday and 9 FPTS on Wednesday. He maxed out at 27 FPTS against Kia last weekend. His 8.9 PPG ranks second-most amongst 3B eligible players on DK despite his salary ranking him all the way down at 21st. Huge value.

Shortstop

Woo-jun Sim (KTW) vs. SAM: $2,500
Woo-jun Sim is due for a price increase most likely but his salary is still near rock bottom for Saturday. Batting leadoff, Sim was a big contributor in KTs 14-6 win over the Lions on Friday going 3-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, and a walk. He’s been a fairly reliable bat for an unreliable ball club. For fantasy purposes, he maxed out at 16 FPTS last week. Coming off his best game of the season, there is a pretty decent amount to get excited about for a player this cheap. Plugging him in helps you spend up elsewhere.

Outfield

Hyun-soo Kim (LG) vs. KIW: $5,300
Kim was quiet in his last game going 0-for-2 with two walks and just 4 FPTS. Before that, he had two performances over 20 FPTS combining for seven hits in 10 at-bats with three runs, three doubles, one triple, and five RBIs. he’s been a hot bat with five multi-hit games in eight games total and is sporting a .455 average with a 1.227 OPS. His 12.9 PPG ranks second-most amongst OF eligible players on DK while his salary has him ranked sixth.

Jae-hwan Kim (Doo) at KIA: $4,900
It’s just too hard to keep Jae-hwan out of your lineup here coming in just under $5k. His 16.6 PPG is the most of any OF eligible player on DK by 3.7 points. That’s a pretty sizeable margin for a guy whose salary ranks just ninth at the position. His ceiling this season has been an enormous 35 FPTS which he just hit three days ago against the Giants. He’s raked four HRs already this season while delivering a .419/.514/.871 AVG/OBP/SLG line. Before a down 2019 that saw him hit just 15 HRs, he had totals of 44, 35, and 37, respectively. The guy is a stud, plug him in at a discount.

Ah-seop Son (LOT) at HAN: $3,400

Son was someone I featured here last week and he remains incredibly undervalued on DK. He’s scored 20 FPTS or more on two occasions already on this young season. He’s put together a solid .407 average so far and leads the team with a .543 OBP. Entering his 14th season with the Lotte Giants, Son has registered a very respectable .323 career BA. He won’t completely bust often and getting a long-time vet with 20 fantasy point upside in the $3k range is a very solid value.