MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 9/16/19

Nolan Arenado had a strong weekend, and he gets to stay home tonight with a lefty on the mound. What other top flight options should we be considering?

Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-priced studs. These guys take up by far the biggest chunk of your cap space, but they also offer the highest ceiling, and in the case of pitcher, by far the highest floors for production.

For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce well too, increasing our chances for runs and RBI. For pitchers, we want big strikeout numbers, while the ability to go deep in a game and pick up a win is also valuable.

Taking up so much salary, and playing such a big role in your lineup's ceiling, you're not going to want to whiff on these guys, so let's take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

Stephen Strasburg, SP, Washington Nationals ($10,400)

The St. Louis Cardinals lead in the NL Central is down to only 2.0 games, and they face a stiff test with the Washington Nationals triumvirate of aces coming to town.

Part of the 'Birds struggle over the weekend is their absolutely anemic offense -- they clock in 21st in team wOBA (.313) and runs scored and 23rd in isolated power (.168, ISO).

On the main slate, Stephen Strasburg clocks in second-best in strikeout rate, and with this poorly hitting squad coming to the plate, he should be primed for a huge night.

Juan Soto, OF, Washington Nationals ($4,200)

While both of these teams are steaming towards likely playoff appearances, the Washington Nationals could make life a whole lot tougher on the Cardinals and Dakota Hudson tonight.

The precocious young Juan Soto has put together an incredible Age-20 season -- a .981 OPS, 34 home runs, 12 steals, and he could add to those gaudy totals tonight.

Hudson has been fantastic in 2019, but he has been hammered by lefties to the tune of a .453 slugging percentage, 44.5% hard-hit rate, and an ugly 13.7% walk rate.

Look for Soto and the Nats to add to the Cardinals misery tonight.

Nolan Arenado, 3B, Colorado Rockies ($4,700)

Staying home for another series, Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies is ready to go on a tear, and tonight he takes out his assault on Steven Matz.

Everyone knows how good Arenado is at the plate in Denver -- a .613 slugging percentage and a 1.014 OPS so far this season. But it's the struggles of Matz away from home that makes him an even juicier play.

While Matz owns a sparkling 1.94 ERA at home, he's been horrific on the road, logging a 6.08 ERA and 17 home runs away from New York. And this ain't no regular away from home start, either.

If you can fit the slugger tonight, you gotta do it.


Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.