MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/16/19

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Stephen Strasburg, P, Washington Nationals

Price: $10,900

There's some depth to today's stud pitching options, as you'd expect with all 30 teams included on the main slate, but Stephen Strasburg's matchup helps him stand out ahead of the crowd.

The San Francisco Giants have struck out at the 11th-highest rate in the majors (24.9%) to start the season, and that number is backed up by the 12th-highest swinging-strike rate (11.6%). They sit a middling 16th in hard-hit rate, and their 18.2% soft-hit rate is the 13th-highest in the majors.

The Washington Nationals are the slate's second-biggest favorites (-210 moneyline), and the Giants' 3.37-run implied total is the second-lowest of the night.

For Strasburg, it's been a bit of a rough start to 2019, with a 5.40 ERA over three starts, but there's nothing to be concerned about yet. His 3.91 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) is still a strong mark, and not far behind his 3.33 from 2018. He's limiting hitters to some of the worst contact we've ever seen from him too, on pace for a career-low 25.5% hard-hit rate and career-high 23.4% soft-hit rate. We can expect some regression on those numbers, but they're certainly a good sign that he's still been pitching well in 2019.

He's also still showing plenty of strikeout upside, fanning 8 and 9 in his first two starts, and boasting a 27.0% strikeout rate on a 12.4% swinging-strike rate so far.