DFS KBO: Saturday Cheat Sheet

Friday's KBO action featured quite a few unexpected results. Topping that list was the Heroes' 2-0 loss to the Eagles, with Ee Whan Kim, who entered the day with a 6.88 ERA, tossing 4.1 scoreless innings and the Eagles' bullpen completing the game without allowing a single hit. Ben Lively, who had allowed just one run on five hits over 15 innings in his previous two starts, allowed five runs in four frames as the Tigers beat the Lions 13-5. Elsewhere, rookie Hyeong Jun So continued his strong stretch, holding a quality Bears lineup to two runs in five innings in a game the Wiz would eventually win by a 5-4 score on Jeong Dae Bae's walkoff 11th-inning homer. Meanwhile, in a more predictable result, the Dinos defeated the Wyverns 9-5, with Eui Ji Yang going 4-for-5 with a homer and seven RBI and Jamie Romak homering twice, while the Twins fell to four games back after their bullpen squandered a quality start from Chan Heon Jung, leading to a 5-3 loss to the Giants. 

Saturday's slate kicks off another two-game series, which yet again features just one matchup between top-six teams. The action kicks off at the slightly earlier time of 4:00 a.m. ET.

Pitchers

Aaron Brooks ($10,200) hit a rare rough patch in August, posting a 5.89 ERA in his final three starts of the month, though whether or not that was due to the back issue which caused his next start to be slightly delayed or simply a matter of bad luck (that ERA came with a stellar 20:2 K:BB) is unclear. Whatever the reason, he's fully past that stretch now, as he's posted a 1.27 ERA, a 0.70 WHIP and a 19:2 K:BB in three September starts. The middle of those outings came against the Eagles, who he'll face here, and included 10 strikeouts against just four hits, one run and zero walks in seven innings. He's easily the top arm on the slate and faces easily the worst lineup in the league, clearly justifying his expensive price tag.

Chae Heung Choi ($8,200) faces a decent Heroes lineup in the league's most hitter-friendly park, but he's worth a look nonetheless given his recent performances. His 3.74 ERA and 1.33 WHIP are solid enough marks on their own, and they're backed by a strong combination of a 19.2 percent strikeout rate and an 8.5 percent walk rate. Those numbers are inflated by an awful start in mid-August against the Bears, in which he allowed 11 runs on 17 hits. In the five outings since then, he owns an excellent 1.63 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP, striking out 29 batters in 27.2 innings.

Duk Joo Ham ($5,000) had been exclusively a reliever over the past three seasons and was quite a good one, saving 53 games. In their search for competent starting pitching, the Bears moved him into the rotation at the start of September, and he responded brilliantly, allowing just one hit in six scoreless innings against the Wyverns in his first start since 2017. His followup outing against the Heroes was considerably less impressive, as he allowed three runs while lasting just 4.1 innings, though the fact that he got his pitch count up to 91 is encouraging. He doesn't have the easiest task against the Twins' second-ranked lineup, and he doesn't have much of a resume as a starter, but getting a pitcher who owns a 3.43 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP and a 24.7 percent strikeout rate for this cheap is hard to pass up. 

Top Targets

Eui Ji Yang ($5,900) is the dominant force at the catching position in Korea. Sorting the pool by DraftKings points per game proves that very conclusively, as he's scored 9.6, far above the next-highest mark of 6.5. That dominance is reflected in the conventional statistics, where he leads the position in more or less all of them, including homers (19), runs (58), RBI (89), steals (5) and all three components of his .327/.404/.568 slash line. The 33-year-old is not letting up as the season nears the finish line, as he's riding a 17-game hitting streak in which he's posted a .412/.446/.676 slash line while driving in 23 runs and striking out just five times.

The Wyverns deserve some stack consideration in this one against Je Seong Bae, who owns a 5.57 ERA and an 8:11 K:BB in his last four starts, though the season-ending injuries for Tyler White (finger) and Dong Min Han (thumb) leave them short on reliable bats. Jamie Romak ($4,900) is worth a look even without his teammates, however. The Canadian slugger owns a strong .273/.388/.513 slash line with 24 homers on the season. He's been even better in September, hitting .317/.388/.633 in 16 games while homering six times, scoring 14 runs and driving in 17 more.

Bargain Bats

The Giants also could be worth a look as a stack against Dinos righty Myung Gi Song, whose 9:9 K:BB and 1.66 WHIP over his last four starts suggest he's deserved worse than his 4.34 ERA over that stretch. The Giants have a number of similarly decent hitters, though it's been Chi Hong An ($3,100) who's hit the best lately. In his last nine games, he's hitting a remarkable .519/.594/.815 while driving in 11 runs. His .757 OPS on the season is somewhat of a disappointment given that he's posted marks of .886, .954 and .792 in that category for the last three seasons, though that's reflected in his price, and his success in recent seasons suggests his hot streak could continue for a while longer.

Dong Yeop Kim ($2,500) has featured here quite frequently of late and will continue to do so until his price reflects his numbers. To be fair, his price is an accurate representation of his early-season form, as he struggled enough to be sent down twice and had a .702 when he rejoined the team on August 2. The demotions clearly had their desired effect, as he's hit .387/.412/.642 in 33 games since returning to the lineup. He's a great bet to stay hot Saturday, as he'll get the platoon advantage in the league's most hitter-friendly park against Heroes lefty Seung Ho Lee, who owns a 4.91 ERA on the season.

Stacks to Consider

Wiz vs. Ricardo Pinto: Mel Rojas Jr. ($5,700), Jae Gyun Hwang ($5,500), Baek Ho Kang ($5,300)

Stacking against Pinto has become a recurring feature of this column. That will remain true even after he allowed just one run in six innings against the Giants his last time out, as his 1:5 K:BB in that outing hardly suggests he was dominaent. He's easily the worst qualified starter in the league this season, as his 6.66 ERA and 1.90 WHIP rank last among that group by considerable margins. He's struck out just 12.7 percent of opposing batters while walking 11.7 percent. His numbers are even worse when looking at just his last 11 outings, as he owns a 9.77 ERA and a 2.17 WHIP over that stretch.

Somehow, the likely MVP is cheaper than three other hitters on this slate. Rojas has a clear claim to that title, as he leads the league in homers (37), RBI (103), slugging percentage (.680) and OPS (1.092). After struggling to a .426 OPS in the final 17 games of August, he's bounced back to hit .397/.486/.707 in 16 September games, walking (10) more than he's struck out (9). He hasn't homered in eight games, which practically counts as a drought given his ridiculous standards, but that could change against Pinto, who's allowed six homers in his last four starts.

Hwang may not be quite as hot as Rojas lately, but he's certainly seeing the ball well, posting a .371/.430/.629 line over his last 18 games. He's been one of the best hitters in the league for the majority of the year, as he owned a .674 OPS on June 26 but has hit an excellent .332/.403/.574 in 64 games since then. His .977 OPS over that stretch would rank sixth in the league among qualified starters had he been able to keep it up since the beginning of the campaign.

Kang rounds out this rather expensive stack and will get the platoon advantage against the right-handed Pinto. He's had hit struggles at times this season, posting a mediocre .255/.339/.349 slash line over a 28-game stretch from mid-July to late August, but he's been back to his usual level for quite a while. In his last 24 games, he owns a .376/.458/.613 slash line, homering five times.

Tigers vs. Min Jae Jang: Preston Tucker ($5,500), Hyung Woo Choi ($4,800), Ji Wan Na ($3,800)

The generally unimpressive Tigers lineup has moved up to sixth in scoring on the year after a strong recent run, capped by them scoring 25 runs in their two-game series against the Lions. That strong run should continue Saturday, as Jang has looked very overmatched this season. Pitching mostly out of the pen, he's struggled to a 7.46 ERA and a 1.86 WHIP in 35 innings of work. He owned an even worse 8.65 ERA in six starts before being removed  from the rotation in mid-June. He's allowed a respectable four runs in nine innings of relief since then, though his 4:4 K:BB over that stretch hardly suggests he's dramatically turned things around. On the season overall, his 4.7 percent walk rate is quite good, but he can't miss bats, striking out just 11.7 percent of opposing hitters.

Outside of a handful of brief slumps, Tucker has been one of the best hitters in the league all year. His .300/.401/.579 slash line is good for a .980 OPS, good for fifth among qualified hitters. He's filled up the leaderboard, ranking fourth in homers (28), tied for fifth in RBI (89) and tied for sixth in runs (79). While he's gone hitless in three of his last four games, he hit a pair of homers in the other contest. Even with those hitless games included, he owns a .293/.383/.732 slash line in his last 10 contests.

Choi doesn't cost quite as much as Tucker, though he's actually caught him in OPS following an extended hot streak, edging him out for fourth place with a .981 mark. He's maintained a very high level of performance for well over a month, hitting .389/.460/.656 over his last 34 games. He's been even hotter over his last three contests, going 8-for-15 with two homers, five RBI and six runs scored. Batting back-to-back in the heart of the Tigers' order, he and Tucker make for arguably the toughest duo of lefties in the league.

Na follows that pair out of the fifth spot in the order, and while he won't get the platoon advantage here and can't compete with their season-long numbers, he's been similarly on fire recently. He's gone hitless just once in his last 16 games, hitting .377/.507/.623 over that stretch while driving in 15 runs. His overall .301/.399/.468 slash line is quite good for his modest price, and it represents a huge step forward from his .186/.305/.364 line in limited at-bats last season.