3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 9/4/19
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 let,s take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.
Shane Bieber, P, Cleveland Indians ($11,000)
Lucky for us, there aren't a pile of expensive pitching arms on tonight's main slate. While Hyun-Jin Ryu used to fit that bill, he's been getting roughed up a bit as of late, so let's turn our attention to Shane Bieber, who's primed for a monster night.
Like Flaherty a night ago, Bieber has been on a similarly impressive run since about mid-July. Spanning his last eight starts, he has yet to post anything less than 37 FanDuel points in a single start, and he's posted 55 or more three times in that span.
That ceiling could be tested tonight against the Chicago White Sox, who clocks in 26th in team wOBA (.301) and provide some juicy strikeout upside with a team rate of 25.6%.
If you want to spend some coin on a pitcher, Bieber is an easy choice.
Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland Indians ($4,300)
Sticking on the same team, while Bieber has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, Francisco Lindor has possibly been its hottest hitter. It's safe to say that Wednesday could be another big scoring evening for the slugging shortstop.
After popping his 27th home run last night, Lindor owns six home runs in his last 11 games, and for good measure, he's fired in two stolen bases to boot. He could add to that power total tonight against Ivan Nova, who's been pretty dreadful in 2019 with a career-worst 14.0% strikeout rate.
With a strong implied team total of 5.60 runs, Lindor makes for a strong play.
Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox ($4,100)
Despite looking like they may miss the playoffs, Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox has been a breakout candidate for fantasy this season, logging a .579 slugging percentage and .948 OPS this season. Most of Devers' damage has been conducted against righties, where these numbers balloon to a .620 slugging percentage and 1.015 OPS.
Taking the mound for the Minnesota Twins is Jose Berrios, who's been poor as of late. In his last five starts, he has been rocked for a 7.58 ERA and 1.87 WHIP, recording quality starts in only two of those outings. He also hasn't hit double-digit strikeouts in any of those efforts.
With a struggling hurler on the mound, Devers could explode this 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.
