MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 6/25/21

Bo Bichette has been been incredible for the Blue Jays, and he's got an incredible matchup tonight. What other options should we consider?

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.

Carlos Rodon, SP, Chicago White Sox ($11,200)

A monster 13-game main slate on Friday provides us with a plethora of options at the pitching slot. And while Carlos Rodon sticks out because of his high price point, he's a great option to consider tonight.

First, let's dive into Rodon himself -- finally harnessing his wealth of incredible potential, Rodon presently sports a 36.6% strikeout rate over 73 2/3 innings pitched, putting him inside of the league's elite.

His matchup is juicy as hell, too -- he faces a Seattle Mariners team that ranks third-worst in team strikeout rate (26.6%), and their team wOBA mark of .291 is one of the worst in the league.

Per our projections, Rodon is the best option on tonight's slate. Ride with him.

Bo Bichette, SS, Toronto Blue Jays ($4,300)

Man, the Dark Knight, Matt Harvey, is simply a shell of his former self. Tonight, the right-hander not only has to face a really good Toronto Blue Jays lineup, but it's at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, which plays very hitter-friendly.

While Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is likely a popular option, as many Jays should be, I like Bo Bichette quite a bit as well. Rightfully, Vladdy has gotten a ton of pub, but Bichette is no slouch, either -- he's crossed home a whopping 62 times, smashing 14 homers and swiping 12 bags. Fold in an 8 MPH wind blowing out, and this could be a recipe for a disaster.

The Toronto Blue Jays boast an implied team total of 6.54 runs, so they'll be very popular. As usual, Bichette offers massive upside.

Nick Castellanos, OF, Cincinnati Reds ($4,100)

Most of the time when we analyze pitching, some underlying advanced metrics like FIP reveal that a pitcher is dealing far better than his traditional numbers like ERA. In the case of Drew Smyly, that's the opposite -- and that's not good.

Smyly sports a 5.11 ERA but a 5.74 FIP in 61 2/3 innings pitched this year -- and his 45.1% fly-ball rate leading to 2.30 home runs per nine (HR/9) certainly isn't helping matters.

Enter Nick Castellanos, who's smashing the baseball and plays in a very homer-friendly environment. Castellanos is going to be popular as the Cincinnati Reds' third-highest implied team total of 5.47 runs will attract plenty of attention.



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.