FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 5/20/23
Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process.
Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!
Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
| Team | Opp SP | Opp | O/U | Moneyline | Implied Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OAK | Hunter Brown | HOU | 8.5 | 260 | 3.2 |
| MIL | Zach Eflin | TB | 8 | 172 | 3.4 |
| CLE | Max Scherzer | NYM | 8 | 150 | 3.53 |
| MIA | Logan Webb | SF | 8 | 146 | 3.56 |
| COL | Jon Gray | TEX | 8.5 | 168 | 3.64 |
| ARI | Mitch Keller | PIT | 8.5 | 120 | 3.98 |
| CHC | Aaron Nola | PHI | 9 | 146 | 4 |
| SF | Braxton Garrett | MIA | 8 | -174 | 4.44 |
| NYM | Tanner Bibee | CLE | 8 | -178 | 4.47 |
| PIT | Brandon Pfaadt | ARI | 8.5 | -142 | 4.52 |
| TB | Eric Lauer | MIL | 8 | -205 | 4.6 |
| DET | Patrick Corbin | WSH | 9.5 | -108 | 4.75 |
| WSH | Alex Faedo | DET | 9.5 | -108 | 4.75 |
| TEX | Kyle Freeland | COL | 8.5 | -200 | 4.86 |
| PHI | Jameson Taillon | CHC | 9 | -174 | 5 |
| CIN | Jhony Brito | NYY | 10.5 | 130 | 5 |
| HOU | JP Sears | OAK | 8.5 | -320 | 5.3 |
| NYY | Luke Weaver | CIN | 10.5 | -154 | 5.5 |
Pitchers
Logan Webb ($10,800)
In a matchup versus a Miami Marlins' offense with a vulnerable .281 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 26.7%% K-rate against right-handers, San Francisco's Logan Webbs ranks second among Saturday's pitchers with a 33.4 fantasy projection.
Through 59.0 innings, the Giants' fifth year starter has produced career-best metrics with a 3.10 xFIP, a dominant 60% ground-ball rate, and six or more strikeouts in six of nine starts this season.
While Webb's salary has climbed by 8% to his highest point since the start of May, the 26-year old has a great opportunity to produce a quality start against six projected batters with K-rates between 22.1% and 39.4% and contact rates under 76.2%.
Hunter Brown ($9,600)
At the median salary during May, Brown ranks third at his position with a 33.1 FanDuel point projection and a 3.45 value rating versus an Oakland Athletics' team with a .294 wOBA and a 24.4% K-rate in their last 195 plate appearances.
In eight starts this season, the Astros' right-hander has started to establish himself in his first full season, accounting for a solid 3.60 xFIP, a 11.2% swinging strike percentage, and a 25.1% K-rate.
With Saturday's second highest strikeout prediction at 5.82, Brown has an appealing spot against seven Oakland hitters with K-rates between 22.5% and 34.4% and contact rates ranging from 62.2% to 75.0%.
Aaron Nola ($9,200)
Despite a disappointing 21.0 fantasy performance in his last appearance, Nola's salary has moved up 2.2% against a Chicago Cubs' lineup with a .323 wOBA and a 26.2% K-rate including seven batters with strikeout percentages over 24.9%.
While his current 4.43 xFIP and opposing 7.7% barrel rate is concerning, Philadelphia's right-hander is numberFire's top option with a 35.6 fantasy projection and 6.5 expected strikeouts.
Stacks
After producing an underwhelming ten runs in their last three games, the Bronx Bombers are in a prime offensive spot with a 5.5 run expectation against Cincinnati's right-hander Luke Weaver.
Through 27.1 innings, Cincinnati's 29-year old right-hander has produced at a subpar level, recording a 4.52 xFIP, 22.5% strikeout rate, and a career-worst opposing 13.1% barrel rate.
With a main weakness occurring versus left-handed hitting (5.39 xFIP, 9.1% walk rate), New York stacks can first involve their best lefty fly-ball hitters to counter his 42.9% ground-ball percentage including Anthony Rizzo (10.7% barrel rate, .367 expected wOBA and Jake Bauers (.383 expected wOBA, 22.7% barrel rate) while Aaron Judge (.463 expected wOBA, 29.1% barrel rate), Gleyber Torres (.354 expected wOBA, 7.6% barrel rate) and Anthony Volpe (11.1% barrel rate) rate well enough to be featured.
In a matchup versus JP Sears, the Astros stand as an undervalued stack with a 5.3 run total due to Oakland left-hander's concerning 4.69 xFIP and 10.5% opposing barrel rate.
To best attack his unique reverse splits (.338 wOBA, 5.51 xFIP), Yordan Alvarez (.399 expected wOBA, 17.5% barrel rate) and Kyle Tucker .(402 expected wOBA, 10.5% barrel rate) are premier plays while Jose Altuve (.372 career expected wOBA), Jose Abreu (9.8% career barrel rate), Alex Bregman (.345 expected wOBA), and Jeremy Pena (8.3% barrel rate) are options from the right side.
Jhony Brito will make his ninth career start against a Cincinnati unit ranked third among today's offenses with a 5.0 expected run total after he recorded a below-average 5.40 xFIP and a 15.1% strikeout percentage in 36.1 innings this season.
Ideal Cincinnati combinations should feature their top fly-ball power batters against Brito's heavy 47.0% ground-ball rate including Jake Fraley (36.2% fly-ball percentage, 7.5% barrel rate), Spencer Steer (39.4% fly-ball percentage, 6.9% barrel rate), Jonathan India (36.3% fly-ball percentage, .341 expected wOBA), and Luke Maile (.370 expected wOBA).
