Brandon Brown
The 2024 MLB season is almost two months old and MLB Daily Fantasy players continue to set their MLB DFS strategies. Thursday’s MLB schedule is short, with most teams enjoying a day off, but there are still surprisingly good starting pitching options available in the MLB DFS player pool. Zack Wheeler, Grayson Rodriguez, Jack Flaherty, and Kevin Gausman will carry the ball today, but offering any of these four starters will require you to make some sacrifices elsewhere in your MLB DFS lineup.
Wheeler is the more expensive of these options, with a 2.52 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings, but he has also given up eight earned runs in his last two starts. Can you justify paying $11,000 of your cap space on FanDuel and DraftKings to add him to the mix? Before locking in any MLB DFS picks for Thursday, be sure to check out MLB DFS advice, strategies and projections from SportsLine’s daily fantasy expert, Mike McClure.
McClure is a daily fantasy pro who has earned more than $2 million in his career. And when it comes to daily Fantasy baseball, McClure is at his best. Recognized in the book “fantasy football (And Baseball) for Smart People: How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Fortune” As one of the top MLB DFS players, McClure’s proprietary projection model simulates each game 10,000 times, taking into account factors such as matchups and recent results. This allows that he finds the best values on each site.
On Wednesday, McClure highlighted Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes as one of his top picks in his group of MLB DFS players at both locations. The result: Cortes threw six shutout innings and struck out five in the win against the Mariners, returning 23.65 points on FanDuel and 39 on DraftKings. Anyone who included him in their lineup was on track for a profitable day.
Now, with the 2024 MLB season underway, McClure has secured his top MLB daily fantasy picks for Thursday, May 23. You can go to SportsLine now to see them.
McClure’s Top MLB DFS Picks for Thursday
One of McClure’s top MLB DFS picks for Thursday is Reds outfielder Jacob Hurtubise at $2,100 on FanDuel and $2,200 on DraftKings. The 26-year-old was drafted in the 39th round of the 2019 MLB Draft after playing collegiately at Army and used his unbelievable bat-to-ball skills, defense and speed to overcome any power threat on his way to the majors.
Hurtubise is now leading the way for the Reds after posting an impressive .434 OBP in 1,090 minor league games. He also stole 102 bases in 293 games and stole another 105 bags in 176 college games. He has reached base safely in five of the last six games since being called up on May 13.
McClure is also drafting Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar ($3,200 on FanDuel and $4,100 on DraftKings). The former consensus No. 1 overall prospect is having his best season in his 11th year in the big leagues, slashing .339/.431/.517 with seven home runs and 32 RBI this season.
Profar’s .939 OPS is 156 points better than his career best and the slugger enters Thursday on an 11-game streak where he has put up a 1.031 OPS. He is 2-for-3 in his career against expected Reds starter Frankie Montas, who has a 4.32 ERA on the season after allowing three home runs and seven earned runs in 9 2/3 innings in his last two starts. See McClure’s full group of MLB DFS players at SportsLine.
How to set your MLB DFS lineups for May 23, 2024
McClure is also targeting an undervalued player who is expected to explode for huge numbers on Thursday. The stars are aligning for him to return tournament winning value and he comes in at a price that won’t break the bank. You can just see who it is, and get the rest of McClure’s MLB DFS picks, here.
So what are the top MLB DFS picks for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see DFS millionaire Mike McClure’s complete player set and picks for FanDuel and DraftKings, all from the DFS expert who has earned more than $2 million.
