MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/5/21

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Apr 5th, 2021
The first Monday of the 2021 season and one elite pitchers sits as the number one option. Who should you be paying up for tonight?

Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-salary 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 pitchers, the high-salary options typically come with the highest floors, too.

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.

With your high-salary picks playing such a big role in your lineup, you need to be right on these guys, so let's take a look at a few top-end options you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

Jacob deGrom, SP, New York Mets ($11,000)

For New York Mets fans, their season looks finally to get underway tonight after a COVID-19 issue within the Washington Nationals organization, and Jacob deGrom should be a heavily rostered option on tonight's main slate.

There's not too many more superlatives that we can add to deGrom's plate -- he averaged 43.2 FanDuel points-per-game in 2020, logging 104 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched. It's really no surprise he clocks in as the highest-expected hurler on the slate.

In a bit of a funky pitching slate, consider paying up for the righty.

Austin Meadows, OF, Tampa Bay Rays ($3,500)

The Tampa Bay Rays will look to continue to extend the misery of the Boston Red Sox, and Austin Meadows will look to continue his powerful start at the dish.

Beginning the 2021 season, Meadows has slammed two long balls already this season, and everyone's favorite fantasy darling Nick Pivetta, takes the hill. With a stiff wind, it's no surprise the Rays possess a juicy implied team total of nearly five runs.

Expect Meadows to continue his assault on baseballs this evening.

Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels ($4,500)

We may finally get to see Mike Trout in the playoffs, thanks to a surrounding cast of characters that seems finally ready to push this lineup to another level.

After a scintillating walk-off victory that features bombs from Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh, Trout and the rest of the Los Angeles Angels crew get to take on arguably the poorest hitter on tonight's main slate, Luis Garcia of the Houston Astros.

Garcia was solid last year, albeit mostly out of relief, with a 2.92 ERA in 12 1/3 innings pitched, his first cup of coffee in the big leagues. Garcia's lack of swings-and-misses (18.4%) combined with an inflated walk rate (10.5%) could lead to some big runs for the Angels.

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.