3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 5/4/18

Gerrit Cole, P, Houston Astros

Price: $11,000

Given that Friday's main slate includes all 30 MLB teams, we are relatively short on top arms tonight -- and that makes Gerrit Cole stand out among tonight's hurlers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks haven't been especially good against right-handed pitching this season, ranking 16th in wRC+ while also striking out at a top-10 rate. Oddsmakers give them Friday's second-lowest implied total (3.63) while the Houston Astros (-187 moneyline) are Friday's biggest favorites.

Cole is coming off a solid 2017 campaign, in which he notched a 3.97 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), bouncing back from a down year in 2016. He has inspired confidence in his capability of returning to the sub-3.50 range he had been in for his first three Major League seasons.

He has since come out on fire to open the 2018 season. Through six starts, he has a stellar 2.13 SIERA, which he has paired with a 5.2% walk rate (on pace to be a career-low) and an absurd 39.4% strikeout rate. That comes with a 16.0% swinging-strike rate, and having faced 155 batters already, this improved strikeout stuff is no fluke. Combining that with the D'Backs' strikeout-happy ways gives him a ton of upside, and makes him well worth paying up for tonight.