Daily Fantasy Baseball 2015: Best DraftKings MLB Pitcher Picks for June 12

Pitching will be huge on Friday in MLB DraftKings contests. There's a plethora of Cy Young Award winners and staff aces to choose from among the day's options. Though you can only draft two per contest entry, I've compiled my rotation based on the guys starting in Friday night's games.

Let's start with the Los Angeles Dodgers ace.

Clayton Kershaw, $12,800, at San Diego Padres

Even though this hasn't been the normal dominant season we've seen from Clayton Kershaw, he's still an absolute stud one-day fantasy player in most of his starts. He's averaging 24.2 fantasy points per game, and that'll hold down one of your pitching spots nicely.

Kershaw's ERA is a bit high by his standards at 3.36, but he's struck out 101 batters in just 80.1 innings pitched. He's gone at least seven innings in his last four starts, and he's failed to reach the sixth inning in just one of his 12 appearances.

He's coming off a dominant eight-inning performance in his last outing against the St. Louis Cardinals. Kershaw struck out 11 in that game and allowed just one hit. That's especially impressive against the Cardinals lineup. He's been good all season, but it seems as if Kershaw is about to hit another gear. Because of that, he's my No. 1 guy overall and top pitcher to draft for DK on Friday.

Felix Hernandez, $11,300, at Houston Astros

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

The bottom is falling out for the Houston Astros, so this is no time for the team to have to face "King" Felix Hernandez. Unfortunately for Astros fans, that's exactly what's on the horizon on Friday.

The Astros have lost seven games in a row. Houston's bats have gone a bit silent. It is 29th in team batting average and 25th in on-base percentage.

Aside from a treacherous outing on June 1 against the New York Yankees, Hernandez has been nasty of late. He's gone at least seven innings in four of his last five starts and struck out 81 batters in 82 innings.

He's likely to deliver another strong outing.

Danny Salazar, $9,400, at Detroit Tigers

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

As strikeout pitchers go, no hurler accumulates K's at a higher rate than the Cleveland Indians' Danny Salazar. This season, Salazar leads the majors with 11.82 strikeouts per nine innings. On Friday, Salazar and the Indians will take on the struggling Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

So far this season, Salazar has had four double-digit strikeout performances. One of those came against the Tigers on April 24, when he fanned 11 Detroit hitters in seven innings of work.

Salazar has only had fewer than six punchouts in two of his 10 starts. He will be part of a marquee pitching matchup with David Price, but with Salazar's dominant strikeout numbers, he's the best fantasy fit.

David Price, $10,700, vs. Cleveland Indians

David Banks/Associated Press

In his last four starts, David Price hasn't allowed more than two runs. He's pitched into the seventh inning or longer in all of those games and struck out 11 or more twice. With Price matched against Salazar, the Indians vs. Tigers game figures to be low-scoring.

Price did face Cleveland earlier in the season and allowed three unearned runs in 5.2 innings pitched. If he can maintain his recent form, he'll be a cinch to eclipse the 20.6 fantasy points he logged in that initial meeting this season.

Michael Pineda, $8,900, at Baltimore Orioles

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

After having his last start skipped in an effort to control his innings, Yankees starter Michael Pineda will return to the mound on Friday on the road against the Baltimore Orioles.

Per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Yankees manager Joe Girardi confirmed the reason for Pineda's extended rest: “It’s only because of innings. This is a guy that has not thrown a lot of innings since 2011. He probably threw [76.1] last year; 2011 he threw 171. With these days off, we feel like we can do that without overtaxing the other pitchers.”

So far, the way the Yanks have handled Pineda has produced great results. In 11 starts, Pineda has struck out 76 batters in just 70.1 innings pitched. Because of the extra rest, Pineda should be fresh for Friday's start and ready to pitch deep into the game if possible.