MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 5/28/19

Trevor Story should have no trouble taking advantage of Tuesday's home matchup with Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks. Who else can give you big upside on tonight's 15-game slate?

Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-priced studs. These guys take up by far the biggest chunk of your cap space, but they also offer the highest ceiling, and in the case of pitcher, by far the highest floors for production.

For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce well too, increasing our chances for runs and RBI. For pitchers we want big strikeout numbers, while the ability to go deep in a game and pick up a win is also valuable.

Taking up so much salary, and playing such a big role in your lineup's ceiling, you're not going to want to whiff on these guys, so lets take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

Stephen Strasburg, P, Washington Nationals ($10,600)

A salary of $10,600 isn't especially high for the top-priced pitcher on a 15-game slate, and Strasburg's reasonable price-tag also comes with our top-projected fantasy score on the slate.

Stras has shown both a solid floor and great ceiling this year, failing to crack 30 FanDuel points only once while eclipsing 50 four times so far in 11 starts.

His 3.20 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) is right in line with what we've seen him post over the last few years, and his 30.6% strikeout rate is tied for his best since his 2010 rookie season. That also comes with a 14.6% swinging-strike rate, which is on pace to crush his previous career-high of 12.9%.

He does draw a tough matchup today against an Atlanta Braves team that sits 12th in wRC+ on the year. Their strikeout rate takes a slight climb against righties (to 22.0% -- still not a super enticing mark but also not too scary).

This slate lacks any obvious stud pitching options, but if you're paying up at the position tonight, it makes sense to pay all the way up for Strasburg's top-end strikeout potential.

Trevor Story, SS, Colorado Rockies ($4,600)

Story and the Colorado Rockies will welcome righty Merrill Kelly and the Arizona Diamondbacks to Coors Field tonight, and accordingly, the Rockies have a slate-high 6.14-run implied total.

Kelly has really struggled so far in his first big league season, with a 5.23 SIERA, 16.9% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate through 10 starts. Especially concerning at Coors, he's getting cracked for a 40.8% hard-hit rate and 37.0% fly-ball rate.

Story has been a monster at home this season, with a .409 wOBA and .312 ISO over 106 plate appearances, and even without the platoon advantage, he has a career .380 wOBA and .286 ISO against righties at Coors. Kelly is one of the more favorable righty matchups he could ask for, and Story's upside is through the roof in this spot.

Eduardo Escobar, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks ($4,600)

The Diamondbacks may be underdogs here, but this game has a huge 11.5-run over/under, and their implied total (5.36) means they're still one of the top offenses to target on the slate.

The Colorado Rockies will be defending their home field with Antonio Senzatela. Senzatela finished with a 4.55 SIERA in his 2017 rookie campaign and a 4.50 last year, and he's seen that fall to an ugly 5.18 through eight starts in 2019. His strikeout rate is down to a career-low 14.4% while his walk rate is up to a career-high 9.6%, and he's also allowing the most hard-contact (42.6%) of his career.

Even good pitchers are rarely safe at Coors, and with his struggles, Senzatela has allowed a career .347 wOBA and 1/45 home runs per 9 innings at home.

The switch-hitting Escobar has a strong .376 wOBA and .263 ISO through 233 plate appearances this season, and he's always been the kind of hitter who can benefit at Coors. He's on pace for his third consecutive season with a fly-ball rate north of 43%, and his 42.4% hard-hit rate is on pace to top last year's 38.2% as a career-best clip.


Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.