Healy’s 8/18/23 MLB Breakdown

August 18, 2023
2:40 pm

Intro:
Excited to bring my MLB GPP cheatsheet back to the team at 4DEEP, where we will look to build upon all of our past success. Today, I’ll be covering the main slate beginning at 7:05pm. If you’re not familiar with this piece, it will be broken down into the following three sections. A cheat sheet with three tiers of players (each pricing tier is based on DraftKings positions/pricing and includes my preferred cash plays from each position), my favorite stacks to target and which players in said stacks I prefer, and lastly, my “Today’s Edge” section, which covers my edge play/fade of the slate, top HR picks, and the players I expect to be the top performers.

Cheatsheet:
I’m here to give you the players to consider for your 8/18/23 MLB GPPs. This isn’t a list of every player I will have, but rather the top guys I am including in my stacks/core, whether it be as a matchup-based play, ownership-based play, or even a leverage play, they will all be included in this core list.

$ Tier	SP	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	OF
Top Tier	Pablo Lopez	Adley Ruutschman	Triston Casas	Jose Altuve	Raf Devers	Trev Story	Tucker/Yordong/Robert
Mid Tier	Andrew Heaney	Elias Diaz	Ryan Mountcastle	Brendan Rodgers	Ryan McMahon	Gunnar Henderson	Jones/Eloy/Santander
Value Tier	Zack Thompson	Yainer Diaz	Jon Singleton	Pablo Reyes	Curtis Mead	Tom Edman	O’Hearn/Colas/McKinney

Pitching Pool:

Spencer Strider – ATL vs. SF – DK: $12.7k / FD: $11.5k
Pablo Lopez – MIN vs. PIT – DK: $10.6k / FD: $10.8k
Kyle Gibson – BAL @ OAK – DK: $8.2k / FD: $9.9k
Andrew Heaney – TEX vs. MIL – DK: $7.7k / FD: $8.6k
Zack Thompson – STL vs. NYM – DK: $5.6k / FD: $6.2k
Andre Jackson – PIT @ MIN – DK: $5.1k / FD: $5.8k

Stacks:

Astros: As with most rookies, Bryce Miller has been inconsistent across starts while maintaining very wide splits. LHH have crucified him, hoisting Yordong, King Tuck, and Jon Singleton atop my list for top options. While better to RHH, he is beatable if they aren’t striking out and Altuve, Bregman, and Diaz have low K rates vs. his put away pitches. 1-6 is my focus at what I expect minimal/no ownership.
Red Sox: Facing off with young Jhony Brito, the Sox are set up for a big night on offense. Brito hasn’t been able to put it together at the big league level, particularly against LHH. Only striking out lefties at a 14% clip while demonstrating a significantly lower ground ball rate. Devers is the top option, followed by Yoshi and Duran, and I certainly don’t mind mixing in Turner or Story into full stacks.
Orioles: While Luis Medina has looked a bit better after an AWFUL start to the year, the O’s with Mullins back will roll out at least six LHH, all which profile extremely well, along with Mountcastle and Hays. If this game were in a better ballpark, they would sit atop my stack list. Gunnar and O’Hearn are my preferred options.
White Sox: Never fun playing a chalky White Sox team who just isn’t very good, yet here we are, facing off with Pete Lambert, who is equally as bad. I’d grab at least two of the big three power bats of Robert, Vaughn, and Eloy and fill in others around them. Oscar Colas makes for a strong salary saver if needed at the bottom.