MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Tuesday 7/27/21

Kris Bryant and the Cubs have a juicy spot tonight on the main slate. What other top flight 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 ($10,500)

Let's try this again as we are going to pick another Houston Astros hurler to roll with after Luis Garcia struggled yesterday, although Garcia did get punchouts.

Lance McCullers gets the start tonight against the Seattle Mariners. Now, if you recall, the Mariners have been striking out at a 26.0% clip against righties, which is something that of course is appetizing.

And McCullers may finally be putting some things together. Over 91 2/3 innings this year, he's logged a sparkling 27.8% strikeout rate, which includes a 54.4% ground-ball rate. He's among the league's elite with only 0.59 homers per nine allowed. McCullers is the slate's top arm, per our model.

Trea Turner, SS, Washington Nationals ($4,300)

From a season-long perspective, has anyone been better than Trea Turner of the Washington Nationals?

He offers an elite power/speed combo and is a batting-average monster. Turner has been ridiculous. The shortstop has posted 18 home runs and 21 steals on the year, and his .887 OPS is pretty atypical of someone who alternates between first or second in the order.

Turner and the Nats are in a great spot tonight versus Matt Moore. Moore has posted a 5.68 FIP and allowing 1.93 homers per nine. He's also doled out free passes 10.4% of the time.

Expect a big night from Turner, who can be a core piece of Washington stacks.

Kris Bryant, 3B, Chicago Cubs ($4,000)

This year has been a bit of a resurgence for Kris Bryant, and while he may get moved at the trade deadline, if he's in the lineup tonight, he could post a big number.

Vladimir Gutierrez is coming down to earth a bit for the Cincinnati Reds. He sports a double-digit walk rate, and his strikeout rate has fallen precipitously to 15.5%. Add that with a rising home run rate (1.82 per nine), and this is why the Chicago Cubs sport the highest implied total of the day.

The Cubs will be popular, but Bryant is worth a long look.



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.