3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 6/18/18

Trevor Bauer, P, Cleveland Indians

Price: $11,200

Today our stud pitching decision comes down to Trevor Bauer or Gerrit Cole, who are priced a tier above everyone else.

Looking at their season-long numbers, Cole holds a 2.52-to-3.09 edge in skill interactive ERA (SIERA) as well as a 36.7%-to-31.1% edge in strikeout rate. Those are still great marks for Bauer, though, and if we add some additional weight to their recent performances, he looks even better.

Each guy has made three starts in June. In that stretch, Bauer has a stellar 2.19 xFIP, while his strikeout rate sits at 39.8%, held up by a 14.9% swinging-strike rate. He struck out at least 11 in each of those three games.

Cole's month includes a 3.62 SIERA, and his strikeout rate is down to 27.3% in the span on a 10.1% swinging-strike rate. Bauer posted higher strikeout rates than Cole in each of the last two seasons, which gives us even more reason to read into these recent trends.

Bauer also draws the better matchup today. The Chicago White Sox have been worse in both wRC+ (95) and strikeout rate (24.9%) against righties than Tampa has been (99 wRC+ and 22.2% strikeout rate).

Recent form and a superior matchup make Bauer the pick, and our models agree, projecting him for the day's top fantasy score among pitchers.