Brian Johnson (SP-BOS) - DraftKings salary: $4,200 - Johnson represents an interesting DFS play in FanDuel and DraftKings for Tuesday. He's getting the call to pitch in place of Eduardo Rodriguez (paternity list) Tuesday against the Blue Jays. Johnson has lost a bit of his prospect luster, but in two starts for Triple-A Pawtucket, the 26-year-old southpaw has posted a 1.69 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 10.2 innings. At the same level a year ago, Johnson posted mediocre peripherals (6.3 K/9, 4.2 BB/9) in route to a 4.09 ERA. Johnson has dealt with toe, elbow, and more interestingly, anxiety issues the past couple years, but if he's past that, he could help this year. The Blue Jays are off to a 2-10 start this year, and rostering Johnson would allow DFS players to load up on hitters.
Seth Smith (OF-BAL) - DraftKings salary: $3,700- The Orioles go up against Bronson Arroyo on Tuesday, so be prepared for a lot of DFS players stacking Orioles in this one. Arroyo has already allowed four home runs in 10 innings, so I would be writing up multiple Orioles hitters, but let's go with the lefty-swinging Smith. Smith should be in there against the RHP, as he has a 1.037 OPS against in 24 at-bats on the year and has historically hit them pretty well. Smith could be in line for a big day against a guy who looks to be on his last legs.
Mike Moustakas (3B-KC) - DraftKings salary: $3,700 - Moustakas has already gone deep five times in 12 games this season, as he's batting .293/.356/.683 in 45 plate appearances. Unfortunately for his counting stats, those five homers have resulted in just six RBI, though it's hard to really blame Moustakas for that one. The Royals will face Matt Cain (4.82 ERA, 1.82 WHIP) on Tuesday, and though Cain was better the second time out (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) versus Arizona, he seems more comfortable at home and this one is on the road. It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see Moustakas go deep in this one.
Blake Snell (SP-TB) - Snell had an up-and-down start in Boston Tuesday, allowing four runs on seven hits over five innings, though just one of the runs were earned. He walked two and struck out five in lowering his ERA to 2.76 in three starts. Snell brought an ugly 6:8 K:BB into this one, so the ratio was much improved, but in just over 100 career MLB innings, Snell still has a 5.3 BB/9, so it's tough to really trust that he's now some control artist. He also posted a 4.4 BB/9 in 485.1 career minor league innings, so this is really nothing new. Snell has the stuff to strike out more than a hitter per inning, but the walks are so prevalent to what he brings to the table that he's a tough one to predict from start to start. I also wouldn't touch him in DFS.
Steven Wright (SP-BOS) - Wright rebounded from an ugly 1.1 IP, 8 ER outing on April 12 to hold the Rays to three runs (one earned) over six solid innings on Monday. He walked one and struck out four in lowering his ERA from 13.50 to a still-lofty 8.36. He also didn't allow a home run after surrendering four in his last outing, so apparently the knuckler was knuckling better in this one. Wright could be faced with losing his rotation spot sometime next month once David Price (elbow) is ready to return, but this will certainly help his cause. Wright is scheduled to face the Orioles on Saturday, the same Orioles that took him for those eight runs last time out. This should be an interesting one to watch, but it's tough to recommend using Wright until he shows he can log at least back-to-back solid outings.
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