MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 6/17/21

Josh Shepardson  —  @BChad50 Jun 17th, 2021
The Braves had an offensive outburst Wednesday night, and they're the top stack in a plus matchup tonight. Which other teams should we target?

Stacks are the backbone of cashing daily fantasy baseball lineups. Correlation drives upside, creating the potential to place high or even win GPPs when your selected stacks explode offensively.

This column will do the digging and the dirty work to determine which stacks are worth rostering each day. Scoring upside will fuel the stacks that get the nod. Sometimes that will lead to chalky selections, but contrarian stacks will get their fair share of love too.

In addition to utilizing the touted daily stacks in handbuilt lineups, numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. Our hitting heat map tool is also available to premium members looking for more stacking options. It provides valuable info such as implied total, park factors, and stats for identifying the quality of the opposing pitcher.

Let's take a look at the top stacks on today's main slate.

Atlanta Braves

The regression monster has finally reared its ugly head and begun the surface stats correction for John Gant. In his last two starts lasting only 5 and 2/3 innings, he's coughed up a dozen runs on eight hits, eight walks, and three strikeouts. According to FanGraphs, for the season, he has a 3.36 ERA that's significantly out of whack with his 6.07 skill-interactive (SIERA). Notably, he has an identical 16.3 percent walk and strikeout rate. Yikes.

The right-handed hurler has surrendered a .319 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to right-handed batters. The Atlanta Braves' top righties are in the stacking mix. Their lefties, however, have a more favorable matchup, teeing off against his .342 wOBA.

Ronald Acuna ($4,500) is my favorite option of the Braves righties. He's torched right-handed pitchers for a .373 on-base percentage, .314 isolate power (ISO), and 157 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) in 2021. Don't sleep on Austin Riley ($3,100), either. He's lit righties up for a .402 on-base percentage, .208 ISO, and 149 wRC+ in a fantastic 2021 campaign.

My favorite option in the stack is reigning National League Most Valuable Player Freddie Freeman ($4,300). He's in excellent form this year, hammering righties for a .381 on-base percentage, .245 ISO, and 133 wRC+. Others worth consideration for completing a four-person stack are switch-hitters Ozzie Albies ($3,200) and Abraham Almonte ($2,600).

Toronto Blue Jays

Michael King's full-season stats are aided by his bullpen work to open the year. Forced into the rotation due to injuries, King's struggled as a starter. In three starts totaling 11 and 1/3 innings, he has a 6.35 ERA, 4.96 SIERA, 1.59 WHIP, 9.1 walk percentage, and 18.2 strikeout percentage. The 26-year-old righty lacks the goods to keep a talented offense like that of the Toronto Blue Jays at bay.

For the season, the Blue Jays rank third in wRC+ (113) and first in ISO (.193) against right-handed pitchers. They're a juggernaut of late, too. Over the last 30 days, they rank second in wRC+ (129) and first with an eye-popping .212 ISO.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,400) is the headliner of this stack. Period. In 214 plate appearances against righties this year, he's scorched them for a .449 on-base percentage, .398 ISO, and 222 wRC+. Marcus Semien ($3,800) has also been great in his first year with the Blue Jays, ripping righties for a .367 on-base percentage, .243 ISO, and 145 wRC+.

Bo Bichette ($4,200), Cavan Biggio ($3,400), and Teoscar Hernandez ($3,300) are the others I'm considering stacking with Vladito and Semien.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are playing at Coors Field, something their offense should welcome after totaling only four runs in three games against the Cincinnati Reds. Their implied total is juicy, and Coors Field is the top-hitting venue in Major League Baseball. Those are two checks in the pros column for stacking them.

Further elaborating on the park factors at Coors Field, according to FantasyPros, it leads the way in runs (1.362), singles (1.230), and triples (2.177) while ranking second in homers (1.257) and doubles (1.345). Opposing starter German Marquez hasn't been immune to the pitfalls of pitching in his hitter-friendly home digs. In 342 and 2/3 innings pitched at home in his career, he has a 4.94 ERA and .333 wOBA allowed.

Christian Yelich ($4,300) and Omar Narvaez ($3,300) are excellent stacking options. Additionally, gamers should consider the recently hot duo of Luis Urias ($3,000) and Willy Adames ($2,600). Since June 1, Urias has a .346 on-base percentage, .227 ISO, and 122 RC+. Meanwhile, being traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Brewers has rejuvenated Adames.

Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.