MLB Daily Fantasy Picks For Wednesday, June 9: Continuing Riding With Gerrit Cole

Major League Baseball action returns today with 15 games, including an afternoon matinee matchup between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres at 4:10 p.m. EST. Gerrit Cole and Yu Darvish headline the starting pitchers. The only nationally televised game of the day is at 9:30 p.m. EST on ESPN between the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels.

For daily fantasy, here are three star players and three value targets for today’s MLB action. All salaries courtesy of DraftKings DKNG

Star- SP Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins ($11,200)
Cole is the most expensive starter of the night, by a sizeable margin, but for a good reason. He has a 2.26 ERA on the season and saw it rise above 2.00 after a rocky outing against the Rays in his last start. He is fifth in the league with 12.37 strikeouts per nine innings. The Twins are near league average in terms of runs per game and strikeouts, giving Cole a decent matchup as well.

Value- SP Casey Mize, Detroit Tigers vs. Seattle Mariners ($6,800)
Mize shut down the Mariners in mid-May, pitching 7 ⅔ innings of one-run ball. He added on seven strikeouts in what has been his best start of the season to date. His ERA is down to 3.34 from its peak of 5.23 in April as he has finally found his footing in the big leagues. He went seven innings in his last start against the White Sox, taking the loss after giving up three runs in a solid start.

Mize is on the cheaper end of starters for today and is pitching far better than his price indicates.

Star- 2B Jose Altuve, Houston Astros vs. Boston Red Sox ($5,100)
Altuve is batting .302 on the season with nine home runs and 27 runs batted in. His play over the past few weeks has been strong as he has reached base in eight of the last nine games. The 2020 season, where he batted just .219, appears to have been an anomaly as Altuve is back to his topline performance.

Value- OF Dylan Carlson, St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cleveland Indians ($3,500)
Carlson is having a strong second big league season, slashing .276/.360/.432 through 58 games. The Cardinals, who have lost six consecutive games and eight of their last nine, need a bounce-back game tonight against the Indians. Cleveland starter Jean Carlos Mejia has pitched just eight innings this season, albeit all of them scoreless, and gives Carlson a chance for a big night. He has multi-hit games in four on the last nine.

Star- SS Trea Turner, Washington Nationals vs. Tampa Bay Rays ($5,700)
Turner is on a seven-game hitting streak, driving in or scoring a run in all but one of them. For the season, he holds a .311 batting average with 10 home runs and 13 stolen bases, making him an all-around star in every fantasy format.

Value- 1B/OF Ryan Mountcastle, Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Mets ($3,800)
Mountcastle has hits in seven straight games and RBIs in every game as well. His total is 12/29 and 11 RBIs in that span. He is one of the hottest players in baseball right now and is not valued at his current production level. In daily fantasy, he makes for an appealing play for as long as he stays hot.