MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 7/21/21

Joey Gallo has showcased plenty of pop in 2021, and he's got a bountiful matchup tonight. Which other high-salary 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.

Lance McCullers, SP, Houston Astros ($10,200)

It's likely that the main slate tonight will be dominated by the two priciest arms -- which includes Lance McCullers and Robbie Ray ($10,600). But the matchup makes all of the difference in the world.

With Ray facing the Boston Red Sox, inside of hitter-friendly Sahlen field, no less (which ranks top-10 in both overall park factor and home run factor), the pivot to McCullers seems pretty obvious. Last night, Luis Garcia spun six scoreless innings, whiffing eight, against this same team.

That becomes even better when you look at the Cleveland Indians' offense, which has slowed to a .303 wOBA (23rd). Think about McCullers at the top-end for pitching.

Joey Gallo, OF, Texas Rangers ($3,700)

One stack that may not get a lot of love tonight is the Texas Rangers -- they are struggling as a team at the dish, ranking at the bottom of the barrel in most statistical categories. But that could all change on Wednesday.

Matt Manning holds the dubious distinction of logging single-digit walk and strikeout rates so far this season -- on the free passes, that's great! On the whiffs? Maybe not so much.

Manning's allowed a 43.4% hard-hit rate this year, making him an arm I want to target -- consider Joey Gallo and the entire Rangers crew.

Marcus Semien, 2B/SS, Toronto Blue Jays ($4,000)

Boasting a slate-best implied team total of 6.06 runs, the Toronto Blue Jays are probably going to be a bit chalky. But sometimes we gotta steer right into that skid, and I wanted a lotta Marcus Semien.

Garrett Richards was set to take the hill a day ago, but with inclement weather, that was pushed back 24 hours. Richards 48.0% ground-ball rate shows at times -- he has been tough to make solid contact against -- but the downside is that he's recorded only a 17.4% strikeout rate, and hitters have popped him for a 38.1% hard-hit rate.

Semien is actually at his best against same-sided arms, logging a 142 wRC+ mark in 2021, including a .259 isolated power mark. Spend up for Semien confidently.


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.