MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 8/7/19

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Aug 7th, 2019
Fernando Tatis Jr. has been on fire this year, and he has another great matchup tonight against Yusei Kikuchi. What other players should we consider rostering?

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.

Eduardo Rodriguez, P, Boston Red Sox ($9,000)

A small main slate means a chance to jump right into the pitching category, and while there aren't any aces priced above $10,000, Eduardo Rodriguez is primed for a monster night.

Let's peep his recent run of form, which has been downright fantastic. Over his last six starts, he has averaged 38.9 FanDuel points-per-game, recording a win in five of his last six starts.

Rodriguez clocks in fourth-best in terms of strikeout rate on the main slate, and he attacks a Kansas City Royals offense that ranks 23rd in team wOBA (.310) over the last month. In terms of upside potential and a porous offense to pitch to, Rodriguez is likely the best option on the board.

Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres ($4,300)

The precocious Fernando Tatis Jr. is one of the more expensive bats on tonight's slate, and the young rook has simply hammered baseballs all season long. Even better tonight is his matchup with southpaw Yusei Kikuchi, who has the second-highest implied allowed run total tonight.

Kikuchi has struggled this year with a 16.1% strikeout rate, and that lack of swing-and-miss ability could damn him against Tatis, who owns lefties. This season in 73 plate appearances, he's slammed them for a 1.118 OPS and 39.5% hard-hit rate, including a cool 17.8% walk rate.

Kikuchi has really struggled with the long ball, giving up 28 home runs in 118 innings pitched, and it looks like the San Diego Padres could add to that total tonight, led by the young shortstop.

Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox ($4,400)

Since we can't roster David Price and his team-leading .435 wOBA against righties (in his two plate apperances), Rafael Devers will have to do as a nice little consolation price against Glenn Sparkman and the Kansas City Royals.

Since the Boston Red Sox needed to add just one more prolific bat to this juggernaut offense, 2019 has been the breakout year for Devers. He has posted a .937 OPS and 23 home runs this year, including a 1.015 OPS and .614 slugging percentage against right-handed pitching.

That's bad news for Sparkman, who seems to be dripping with downside thanks to an implied allowed run total of a whopping 6.67 runs tonight. While the Red Sox have struggled with their pitching, their offense is certainly not to blame, and Devers may be in for a huge evening.

Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. 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.