3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 9/8/21
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 Atlanta Braves square off with journeyman southpaw Sean Nolin tonight. The veteran lefty last appeared in the Majors in 2015 before toeing the slab for the Washington Nationals on August 12.
Nolin's 3.80 ERA and 3.98 expected fielding independent pitching (xFIP) in 47 and 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level, per FanGraphs, paved the way to his return to The Show. However, they're hardly sterling marks, and he's found the going tougher in the Majors this year, surrendering a 5.71 ERA, 4.13 xFIP, and 4.33 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), and allowing 2.08 homers per nine innings.
Obviously, a sample of 49 right-handed batters is small, but they've creamed him for a .578 slugging percentage and .403 weighted on-base average (wOBA). Interestingly, he's been worse against lefties, too, coughing up a .679 slugging percentage and .450 wOBA to 30 of them. All of Atlanta's lineup merits stacking consideration as a result of Nolin's well-rounded ineptitude.
My favorite option is switch-hitter Ozzie Albies ($4,200). He's unloaded on southpaws for a .365 on-base percentage, .246 isolated power (ISO), and 148 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) since 2018. The other hitter I'll highlight is Jorge Soler ($3,400). The slugging outfielder has a .284 ISO against southpaws since 2018, and it's surged to a .311 ISO this season.
Tampa Bay Rays
Nathan Eovaldi isn't a pitcher I typically go out of my way to stack against. He's pitched at a high level this year, and he's tamed the Tampa Bay Rays twice this year. However, he was knocked around for six runs (five earned) in 5 and 1/3 innings on July 31. In addition, Fenway Park can be a house of horrors for pitchers. Last night's dozen-run outburst by the Rays illustrates the pitfalls for pitchers.
Further, the Rays are both awesome against righties and since the trade deadline. They rank third in wRC+ (110) and fourth in ISO (.194) against righties this season. And since the trade deadline, they rank fourth in wRC+ (122) and second in ISO (.240). The sky's the limit for this offense.
Narrowing my favorite stacking options down to a trio leaves Brandon Lowe ($3,400), Austin Meadows ($3,500), and Joey Wendle ($2,600). Wendle's the least productive of the group, and that's relatively speaking, tallying a fantastic 127 wRC+ against righties. Meadows has amassed a .300 ISO and 145 wRC+ with the platoon advantage in 2021. Finally, Lowe's been the most successful member of the trio, crushing righties for a .370 on-base percentage, .310 ISO, and 156 wRC+.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are the last of today's highlighted stacks, opposing a rookie starter, Luis Gil, who's yet to allow a run in three starts for the New York Yankees. Kudos to the young man for hitting the ground running, but I'm expecting the other shoe to drop tonight.
In 46 and 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level, he hasn't been nearly as dominant, recording a 4.66 ERA and 4.55 xFIP. In addition, his control leaves much to be desired, with a 14.1 percent walk rate in Triple-A and a 10.9 percent walk rate for the Bronx Bombers. Nibbling and issuing free passes against Toronto's vaunted lineup can have dire consequences for his ERA.
The Blue Jays rank second in wRC+ (111) and tied for second in ISO (.196) against righties this year. A look at their ranks in those categories since the trade deadline, tied for eighth and sixth, respectively, suggests their offensive output is slipping. However, that's not the case. Their wRC+ and ISO have nudged up to 112 and .200.
Alejandro Kirk ($2,100) is coming off of a two-homer performance. Yet, his salary is only $100 above the minimum. Also, don't dismiss this as point-chasing, as he has a 111 wRC+ against righties in his young big-league career.
While the entire lineup is stackable, the other hitter I'm specifically honing in on is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,500). He's torn the cover off the ball in same-handed matchups this year, amassing a .411 on-base percentage, .321 ISO, and 181 wRC+.
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.
