Garion Thorne gives his top studs and value plays for tonight’s five-game featured fantasy baseball slate on DraftKings.

There’s a lot of afternoon baseball today, which means tonight’s MLB DFS featured slate on DraftKings is only five games. Still, that leaves a lot of pitchers and players for consideration in your lineups.

Allow me to assist in narrowing things down. Let’s dive in and break down my top fantasy picks on the diamond.

Set your DraftKings fantasy baseball lineups here: MLB $100K Relay Throw [$25K to 1st]

PITCHER

Value

Jack Leiter, Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays, $6,500 – Look, there’s a lot of reasons not to love Leiter. His BABIP is unsustainably low (.225). His walk rate is far too high (11.9%). He’s not striking out batters like he did at the minor league level, either. Still, on a five-game slate, the former second-overall pick is the second-cheapest pitching option that isn’t an opener. That seems extreme for an asset that has registered a 2.28 ERA across his past four starts. Leiter might be flawed, but I trust him a lot more than Slade Cecconi ($7,300) or Jake Irvin ($7,100). It’s actually not even close.

INFIELD

Stud

Corey Seager, Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays, $4,500 – There’s some pros and cons with Seager’s viability on Thursday. On the one hand, the shortstop has not looked amazing since coming off the IL. On the other, Seager has a .377 expected wOBA in 2025 and he’s usually priced well-over $5,000. I’ll take my chances, especially in this matchup with Ryan Pepiot ($6,800). Tampa’s RHP does not like George M. Steinbrenner Field. Pepiot’s conceded nine of his 10 home runs at home this season, culminating in an inflated 4.78 FIP within the split.

Value

Nathaniel Lowe, Washington Nationals vs. Chicago Cubs, $3,800 – Lowe isn’t having the best season in Washington, and you’d much rather pay up for James Wood ($5,700) in this spot, but the veteran first baseman’s salary does make him interesting on Thursday. So does this matchup. While Drew Pomeranz ($4,000) will open for the Cubs, Colin Rea ($6,000) will still see a majority of the work. That’s great news for the Nationals. Rea has struggled to a 5.61 ERA in his last six outings, surrendering a whopping 2.14 opponent home runs per nine within that stretch. A majority of those long balls have come to LHBs like Lowe and Wood.

OUTFIELD

Stud

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians, $6,500 – As I’ve said before, there are just some slates where you can’t afford to fade Judge. This is one of those slates. The aforementioned Cecconi will take the mound for the Guardians, and he’s allowed five home runs this season in just 15.1 innings of work. Now he’s going to be taking the mound at Yankee Stadium? Sounds like a death sentence. As for Judge, he ranks in the 100th percentile in expected batting average (.332), expected wOBA (.471) and barrel rate (24.0%). You know the deal by now. He’s the reigning AL MVP for a reason.

Value

Jose Altuve, Houston Astros at Pittsburgh Pirates, $4,100 – I’ll admit that I’m still not used to thinking about Altuve as an outfielder. Nor am I used to seeing him with a salary this close to $4,000. What I am familiar with is Altuve’s ability to hit, which he has been showcasing for the past couple of weeks. It was a slow start to 2025 for the veteran, but since May 22, Altuve is slashing .370/.388/.696 with a 202 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. Small sample, yet the 35-year-old has a decade of All-Star performance to back it up. Mitch Keller ($7,500) has shut down opposing RHBs this season. However, Altuve should also get a couple hacks against an underwhelming Pirates bullpen.