MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 9/8/21

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Sep 8th, 2021
Juan Soto has been straight fire at the plate, and he could be in line for another big evening. Who else should we consider for our lineups?

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.

Yu Darvish, P, San Diego Padres ($9,000)

Tonight's main slate is quite the quirky one. We have a plethora of arms at $9,000 and above, including a trio of them right at $9,000. Adam Wainwright owns a career 2.83 ERA at home in over 1,200 innings at Busch Stadium, but facing a tough Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, I'm staying away from the slate-high $10,000 arm.

The guy I am going with is Yu Darvish. He's our number-one arm, projected for 35.8 FanDuel points, and it's for good reason. As we saw in the Los Angeles Angels' pathetic offense yesterday when teammate Blake Snell shut them down, the Halos are really struggling at the dish. Over the last month, they've recorded a league-worst .285 wOBA, including a .130 isolated power (ISO) and 25.2% strikeout rate.

Darvish did indeed struggle his last time on the mound, but with a solid 3.77 FIP this season, including a 29.2% strikeout rate, I like him a lot tonight.

Juan Soto, OF, Washington Nationals ($4,300)

Despite having virtually no protection in this lineup with Trea Turner traded away, Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals has been straight fire at the dish, and he should keep that up tonight.

The Atlanta Braves' home park ranks inside the top-10 in terms of park factor, and Touki Toussaint has really struggled with lefty bats this season. He's allowed 2.08 HR/9 this season to them, and that certainly has Soto salivating at the dish.

One of the game's elite hitters, Soto boasts a 155 wRC+ this season, buoyed by a strong .514 slugging percentage. Expect big things out of the masher tonight.

Anthony Rizzo, 1B, New York Yankees ($3,600)

On the main slate, the over/under of 10.0 runs in this contest may surprise you a bit -- especially when I tell you that rookie sensation Alek Manoah is on the mound. Would you still be surprised if I told you that the New York Yankees were favored?

Part of that could be Manoah's struggles, especially to left-handed batters, and that's where bopper Anthony Rizzo comes in. In the midst of a wonderful rookie campaign, Manoah has had trouble getting lefties out, sporting a .431 slugging percentage and a not-so-nice 1.69 HR/9 allowed to opposite-handed bats.

With Rizzo's .196 ISO against right-handed pitching, he's likely to be a popular choice, and he could go deep tonight.

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.