FanDuel Pitching Primer: Tuesday 5/25/21

In daily fantasy baseball, success starts with nailing the starting pitcher spot in your lineup.

When compared to hitters, pitching performance tends to be much more predictable and stable throughout the course of the season. You know what you're getting from a top-level ace when you roster him: probably a dominant effort with only one or two implosions per season. In contrast, even the game's best hitters have days at the plate when they go 0-for-4.

As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Which pitchers should you consider on today's main slate?

High-Salaried Play

Jacob deGrom, New York Mets

Vs. Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Salary: $12,000

We get to see Jacob deGrom on the mound today, so that makes Tuesday a great day.

After deGrom dominated in his lone rehab start (three innings pitched, eight strikeouts, no base runners allowed), it looks like he is locked and loaded to plow through the Colorado Rockies. The Rox have the worst road wOBA (.258) by a mile and also carry the fifth-highest strikeout rate (26.9%) away from home.

While it's fair to be worried that the New York Mets could be cautious with deGrom in his first start back, he could do a lot of damage even in a shorter-than-usual start.

And the superlatives on deGrom? Yea, those seem obvious. He's posted 40-plus FanDuel points in every start but one, and he's topped 65 points in three starts. Insane.

DeGrom tops our projections and is a guy to build around.

Mid-Salaried Play
Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox

Vs. St. Louis Cardinals
FanDuel Salary: $8,500

If you read yesterday's piece, you'll know that we highlighted Lance Lynn of the Chicago White Sox as being in a smash spot, and he dominated the St. Louis Cardinals over seven innings. Lucas Giolito gets the same dope matchup today.

Giolito snapped out of a funk with an 11-punchout outing in his last start, and a lot of his rate stats -- including a 29.3% strikeout rate and 14.9% swinging-strike rate -- tell us he's doing way better than his 4.35 ERA indicates.

The Cards are 21st in wOBA (.302), and Giolito could have another big day. At a $8,500 salary, he's easy to like.

Low-Salaried Play
Cole Irvin, Oakland Athletics

Vs. Seattle Mariners
FanDuel Salary: $7,200

While Jarred Kelenic has provided some fireworks for the Seattle Mariners' offense, Seattle is still an offense we can pick on in DFS. The M's are dead last in wOBA (.283) for the year and also have the fourth-highest strikeout rate (26.9%).

We can check out Cole Irvin, who mans the bump for the Oakland Athletics. Over 52 2/3 innings pitched, the lefty has posted respectable marks of a 3.85 FIP and a 4.6% walk rate.

There's definite risk in rolling with any low-salary pitcher on tonight's slate since there are several high-upside arms at our disposal, but if you're dead set on loading up with high-salary bats, Irvin isn't a bad option.

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.