MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Value Plays for Thursday 8/19/21

Elisha Twerski  —  @ElishaTwerski Aug 19th, 2021
Luis Urias has an excellent matchup tonight and we won't have to break the bank to roster him. Which other low-salaried plays should we target?

With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.

An 0-for-4 dud from a chalky high-salaried slugger is a lot more common than a total dud from a top-salaried NBA player or even than a stinker from a top quarterback or running back.

That means that it's not uncommon for value plays to end up doing the heavy lifting in carrying your lineup. The fact that they can be the difference between a good and a great lineup isn't much different than other sports, but value plays being able to make up for a whiff on a high-salaried play completely is somewhat unique.

Let's get right into it and take a look at the top value options on today's four-game main slate.

Jameson Taillon, SP, New York Yankees

FanDuel Salary: $8,700

There's no doubt that Brandon Woodruff ($10,700) and Luis Castillo ($9,700) are the top options on tonight's tiny four-gamer, but if you want to differentiate your lineup while also saving some cap, Jameson Taillon is worth a look.

Taillon enters tonight's bout with the Minnesota Twins in excellent form. Over his last eight starts (48 1/3 innings), the right-hander has accrued a 1.68 ERA, 3.46 FIP, and 22.4% strikeout rate. That's resulted in him eclipsing 30 FanDuel points in six of those outings, including outputs of 38, 40, 47, and 55. Not too shabby.

A matchup with the Twins isn't as juicy as what we'd ideally hope for, but it's a four-game slate, so beggars can't be choosers.

Since the start of August, Minnesota is right around or below the league average in strikeout rate (10th-highest), team batting average (23rd), OPS (17th), ISO (14th), wOBA (16th), and wRC+ (16th), per FanGraphs. We don't have to completely run away from this matchup.

Luis Urias, 2B/SS, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Salary: $2,700

The Milwaukee Brewers are undoubtedly in one of the better spots tonight against veteran southpaw Jon Lester. Lester's numbers this season are pretty ugly, and that's led by a 5.32 ERA and 5.30 SIERA. However, his struggles versus right-handed hitters are what make the Brewers a top stack tonight.

This season, righties have pummeled Lester to the tune of a .324 average, .922 OPS, .392 wOBA, and 1.85 dongs per nine frames. And he's faced 322 of them, so it's not as if we're dealing with a small sample here. Big yikes.

Luis Urias started the season in a scuffle, but over his last 65 games, he's garnered a .840 OPS, .219 ISO, .360 wOBA, and 124 wRC+. During that stretch, he's amassed an impressive .275 ISO when he's had the platoon advantage.

Avisail Garcia, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Salary: $3,000

Urias is a top value option when considering a Milwaukee stack, but don't forget about Avisail Garcia.

In 96 plate appearances against lefties this season, Garcia has accumulated a .338 average, 1.035 OPS, .250 ISO, .433 wOBA, and 171 wRC+. That'll play.

At just $3,000, the 30-year-old should be one of the top outfield options on this four-game main slate.