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Mark Strausberg's KBO DFS lineup picks for contests on FanDuel and DraftKings on 7/18/20. Daily fantasy baseball analysis for pitchers, hitters, and DFS stacks.
Welcome back RotoBallers! I am excited to be previewing the 7/18/20 KBO DFS slate. Why? Because I finally get to preview a Chang Moo Koo outing! He's got an amazing arsenal of pitches and we'll get to him in a minute. But speaking of an arsenal, let's talk about some of the tools you have at your disposal.
I'm going to assume you are checking out Rotoballer.com each day to see our amazing team of writers' previews each day. But have you checked out the RotoBaller Premium Slack chat? It's a great space to chat during the day about the lineups. I've been known to visit the chats at least once or twice a day, if not more. But it's not just my insights you will see on there, but many others. I will add that I've been having a pretty good week and I have the chat in part to thank. I would try and check it out before this slate locks at 5:00 AM on Saturday, July 18, 2020.
Make sure to double check the starting lineups before lineup lock if you can. And of course, you can always follow me @MarkStrausberg for my KBO updates, as well as other picks on Twitter if/when I post updates. Now that the schilling is done, let's talk about the must start of the slate, Chang Moo Koo.
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KBO DFS Pitchers
How dominant has Chang Mo Koo (DK $10400, FD $28) been? He is absolutely tearing up the league. Think Pedro Martinez's 1999 and 2000 seasons. That's how dominant Koo is. Now, just like Pedro those years, not every game is going to be something special. He is going to take a loss every now and then this season. At some point that zero in his perfect 8-0 record will become a one and it could be tonight.
His opponent tonight is the KT Wiz, who are the only team in the last two months who have managed to get more than two runs off of Koo. Even in that game, he still managed to have a K:BB ratio of 4 to 1! He is number one in just about every starting pitching category. That tends to happen when you have a 1.48 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 82 Ks in 73 IPs.
Have I painted the picture yet of how dominant Koo is? Maybe player comps or stats don't do it for you; let's just go to the footage...
Koo Chang-mo's final strikeout may have been his prettiest. pic.twitter.com/CjAf6jxEET
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) July 7, 2020
Maybe you're not convinced but I'll keep it simple: Koo is a must-start in any FanDuel cash game lineup. Same for DK, but since you need to start two pitchers in DK, he will also be in every one of my GPPs lineups as well. This is one of his harder matchups, as the KTW rank X in HRs, but they also rank X in strikeouts. As I said, he is not going to be amazing every game, but unless you are an absolute contrarian player, you are crazy to fade him. I will get creative elsewhere.
And that starts with Ben Lively ($7400, $23), whose 5.40 ERA and 1.35 WHIP are not pretty. But Lively did play in MLB for a few years and showed some promise. He was obviously driven to make it to the majors...
This picture has been stuck in my head my whole baseball career, and has kept me pushing myself. But today that wish becomes true!@Phillies pic.twitter.com/Blv1fUjHrp
— Ben Lively (@BenLively19) April 19, 2017
There is just this very down-to-earth quality about Lively that makes me want to see him succeed. He did actually have a pretty successful year last year in the KBO when he had a 3.95 ERA and K/9 rate of 9.16, the latter of which is not too far off from Chang Mo Koo territory. The Lotte Giants have struggled as of late and have the third least amount of runs in the league. After nearly two months on the injured list, I think Lively gets his first W of the season tonight.
Or I wouldn't blame you for rolling the dice on Jong Hoon Park ($9300, $24). Park got tagged for nine runs against defending champ Doosan Bears four starts back. However, he's given up just two runs each of his last three starts and struck out and averaged six strikeouts a game. Park definitely makes bats miss and is currently tied for 6th in the league in strikeouts. Those strikeouts give him a reliable floor and I look at the Doosan game as the aberration not the trend. Let others be scared off by his inflated 5.20 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. I'd start him with little fear.
Other starters to consider are:
In case I wasn't clear enough, I'd start Chang Mo Koo first and foremost. If and only if you are playing a bunch of lineups, you can start getting aggressive. I am making these recommendations only for those who like playing double figure lineups and GPPs.
- Woo Chan Cha ($8500, $23) is today's answer of "Who's pitching against the Eagles?" Even against the Eagles, I'd fade Cha and go with the three options above. But for those that love to play the match-up game, he's your pick.
- Or for those who prefer going with the hot hand, Se Woong Park ($7000, $24) pitched a beauty last time out. He did not give up a single earned run on his way to a victory against the Doosan Bears. "Inconsistency" is the word that comes to mind when describing Park. He has had some good games and he has some bad ones. I don't think tonight will be the former. However, it wouldn't shock me if it is.
KBO Top Hitter Stacks
Starting Chang Mo Koo does not leave you with tons of options. And I wanted to go with some of the lesser owned team stacks, but the sites have really been tightening the prices on punt plays. Therefore, I am going to go with the chalk teams for most of my stacks, but I will go with some of the cheaper bats on those teams.
LG Twins
If you got the salary space, spend up for Roberto Ramos ($4700, $15) and Hyun Soo Kim. And on DK, I might spend up and grab Kang Nam Yoo ($4600) as a catcher if he plays. But I'm going to opt for a trio of more affordable plays. It starts with Ji Hwan Oh ($3500, $10) who is well ahead of pace for a 20/20 season. Oh will joined by OF Hyung Jong Li ($3500, $5 ***FANDUEL MINIMUM ALERT***) who has a meager OPS of 1.074. Our third cheaper member is the veteran Chung Woon Lee ($2900, $10) who should be able to easily take advantage of the LvR matchup tonight. Lee's experience should easily pay off in a multiple-hit night when facing Shi Hwan Jang and his 1.73 WHIP. Lee has been hitting even better over the last couple weeks and will likely bring his average up over .300 before the end of the weekend.
Doosan Bears
Fade is too strong of a word. But even if I have the money to afford Doosan's two top left-handed bats, Jose Fernandez ($6200, $17) and Jae Hwan Kim, I will probably spend that money elsewhere. Same for Jae Il Oh. But I definitely like OF Kun Woo Park ($4900, $13) who has a 1.025 OPS over his last ten games and has doubled his HR total in July. He's still a little on the higher side, so I am even more inclined to go with the reasonably priced Kyoung Min Hur ($4300, $10) who is one of the hottest hitters in the KBO recently. He is hitting .537 over has last ten games! And if that's not sweet enough, he's chipped in three stolen bases since Independence Day. Se Hyuk Park ($4000) brings an extremely high floor at Catcher for those of you playing on DK. Joo Hwan Choi ($4000, $14) is coming off an 0-for-4 night, but despite that, he's still hitting .368 his last ten games and is quite the palatable option at second base on DK for only $4k.
NC Dinos
Aaron Altherr has been a little cold in his last few games, but one of my biggest spend-ups on this slate is Sung Bum Na ($5700, $16). Na was out with injury for four days and I would be surprised to see him in the field tonight. However, I expect him to DH and add to his 15 HRs tonight. Byung Wook Jo has yet to pitching six innings this year and I expect Na to prevent that from happening tonight. But I said I am going with some of the cheaper options, so I am hoping that Hee Dong Kwon ($3100, $11) is in the starting lineup. He's only $3100 but is hitting .298 and has 9 HRs. Of course, this isn't the first time I've recommended Kwon either:
#KBO #DFS thoughts:
-Rucinski and Flexen are top guys 2nite, but love Min Woo Kim as SP2 on DK.
-Like value plays in OF, esp. on DK: J Bae (KTW), Kwon (NCD), and Choi(HAN)
-Like SAM hitters. Ja Wook Koo in particular
-Like Fernandez as chalk play— Mark Strausberg (@MarkStrausberg) July 10, 2020
Don't confuse NCD 1B Jin Sung Kang ($4100, $12) with Wiz 1B Baek Ho Kang. The latter is a far more productive player. However, the Dino option still brings plenty to the table. He doesn't start every game and is rarely in the heart of the order, but the fact remains he is hitting .349 with 9 HRs. And while I prefer the Bears' Hur at 3B, I'll probably have a few builds that include Suk Min Park ($4400, $10) as well.
Other stacks/hitters to consider:
- I mentioned above that I like Lively to get his first win tonight. He'll need the Lions bats to do their part, but they are a great value play that will enable you to start Chang Mo Koo and get some bigger bats into your lineup. Ja Wook Koo ($4400, $11) is ridiculously underpriced on DraftKings having averaged double-digit DKFPs this season. He also has a nice little hitting streak going having last failed to get a hit over two weeks ago. The extremely affordable and left-handed Hae Min Park ($3000, $9) should get the start tonight against the right-handed Se Woong Park and his 5.21 ERA. Hae Min Park has swiped a base each of the last two nights, but is also hitting .297 and provides just enough power to make him a steal at his price. Dong Yeop Kim ($3300, $8) was much better the first week of July than the second week this month. However, I think he gets a lot closer to his production earlier this month over the next two weeks and I'd jump on him now before his price goes back up.
- Won Joon Choi is better than his numbers, but I suspect he will be on a limited pitch count tonight. The Doosan bullpen is one of the worst in the league, so the Kia Tigers make for a sneaky stack tonight. Left-handers Preston Tucker and Hyung Woo Choi make for expensive but great one-offs against the right-handed Choi tonight.
Good luck in your KBO DFS lineups tonight!
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