3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/12/19

Carlos Carrasco, P, Cleveland Indians

Price: $10,500

With bad weather set to put a damper on the Washington game tonight, Carlos Carrasco is really the only viable pitching option at or above $10,000, and he's well worth paying up for.

The Cleveland Indians are modest -154 favorites, and with this game's low 7.5-run over/under, the Kansas City Royals' 3.42 implied total is 0.3 runs lower than anyone else on the slate.

As a team, the Royals sit bottom-10 in the majors in wOBA this season, though they have limited opposing pitchers' fantasy value a bit by striking out at a bottom-five rate. Their active roster has a hefty 23.2% strikeout rate last season, but that's down to 20.0% in the young 2018 season -- the difference between ranking 15th and 27th. With this year's small sample still skewing things a bit, we can expect their rate to climb some moving forward.

Carrasco has given up eight earned runs in 9 1/3 innings this season, but he's pitching far better than that might indicate. He's fanned 16 batters already, good for a 34.8% strikeout rate, and while we can expect some regression on that mark, he's posted strikeout rates of at least 28.0% in three of the last four seasons. We can still count on him putting up top numbers in that category. He also hasn't posted a skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) worse than 3.35 since 2013, and through two starts in 2019 he's sitting at a 2.81.

With the low implied total and high strikeout upside, Carrasco's a top play in all formats, and it's no surprise to see him projected as our model's top fantasy pitcher for Friday's slate.