Thursday's slate of MLB action features two games in the afternoon and six at night. Both early and late DraftKings contests contain small fields of available players to choose from.
Sleepers are more difficult to find than usual, especially when it comes to pitchers. For example, plunking down $11,100 for Felix Hernandez is a much better value than hoping for the best with Jorge De La Rosa at $8,700.
However, there are still a few bargains to be found. Here are five low-cost options likely to outperform their price tags on September 10.
Afternoon
2B/3B Jedd Gyorko, San Diego Padres ($2,800) vs. Colorado Rockies
In early contests with only four teams' rosters available, Jedd Gyorko is a must-start. The Padres infielder has four home runs and nine RBI in his last seven games. He's also hit safely in 11 of his past 12 contests.
As Friar Figures pointed out, Gyorko has put up some big numbers against Colorado this year:
Even more importantly, Gyorko also owns a spectacular track record against De La Rosa—13 hits in 19 at-bats, with six of them going for extra bases. Gyorko boasts a .684 batting average, a .760 on-base percentage and a 1.105 slugging percentage when facing the Colorado lefty.
Evening
SP Jaime Garcia, St. Louis Cardinals ($9,900) at Cincinnati Reds
The above video contains highlights of Jaime Garcia's most recent start, in which he struck out nine Pittsburgh Pirates over seven scoreless innings.
Garcia only has 100 innings pitched in 2015, so his stats don't qualify among the league leaders. But if they did, his 1.89 ERA and 0.95 WHIP would rank second-best and fourth-best in baseball, respectively.
The lefty hasn't allowed more than four earned runs in a game all season, and he's yielded more than two earned runs on only four occasions. Since June 1, Garcia has held his opponents to one run or fewer in nine of 13 outings. The last home run he gave up was back on July 28, eight starts ago.
With an average of 20.1 fantasy points per game and a salary of $9,900, Garcia gives you over two points per $1,000, a better ratio than each of the more expensive arms available.
SP Alfredo Simon, Detroit Tigers ($5,700) at Cleveland Indians
Alfredo Simon is the third-cheapest pitcher on the board, but there's good reason to believe he can put forth a quality performance.
Simon was outstanding in two of his last four trips to the mound. He threw a one-hit shutout on August 20 and tossed seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball on September 5. However, in the two outings in between, he was torched for a combined 14 earned runs in only 9.1 innings.
MLB.com's Jordan Bastian noted that Simon's opponent Thursday is a cause for optimism:
The veteran right-hander is also 4-0 in four starts versus the Indians this year.
OF Rajai Davis, Detroit Tigers ($3,000) at Cleveland Indians
Rajai Davis is a part-time player, something that helps keep his cost down. But if he's in the Tigers lineup, Davis is a great buy.
The 34-year-old has just seven homers all season but three in his last two games. In that time, he's 4-for-9 with five RBI. Davis also tripled, scored a run and logged an RBI two days earlier, giving him a three-game total of 61 fantasy points.
In addition, Davis has great numbers in his career when facing Indians starter Danny Salazar. He's reached base eight times in 17 plate appearances against Salazar with two stolen bases and three runs scored.
SS Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta Braves ($2,800) vs. New York Mets
Andrelton Simmons is 5-for-12 with a double and two RBI in his last three games. What makes him a bargain, though, are his torrid stats when opposing Bartolo Colon, most notably a .529 career batting average:
So far in 2015, Simmons is 5-for-7 against Colon with two doubles, a triple and four RBI.
Playing at home has also been good for Simmons' fantasy value this season—he's averaging 6.4 points per game at Turner Field and only 4.9 per game on the road.
All prices courtesy of DraftKings. Statistics via MLB.com unless otherwise noted. Mark Vandeusen is an MLB Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @LucidSportsFan.
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