MLB

4 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Monday 4/11/22

Ji-Man Choi should bat cleanup for Tampa Bay on Monday, and he crushed right-handed pitchers in 2021. Which other value options stand out?

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

As a result of this, the primary method of selecting hitters is to "stack" certain teams in good spots to produce. While a single hitter may not have a stellar evening, the collective production of that stack can be enormous.

However, most of the top stacks on a given day come with hefty salaries. Therefore, low-salaried "one-off" plays can be crucial to making a lineup work.

Let's take a look at a budget arm and some top one-off options to round out your lineup.

Huascar Ynoa, SP, Atlanta Braves ($8,600)

On Monday's slate, just four pitchers had a strikeout rate above 25.0% in 2021 -- Alek Manoah, Ranger Suarez, Alex Wood, and Huascar Ynoa.

Ynoa, though, has by far the easiest matchup against the Washington Nationals. The Nats are expected to scuffle on offense most of the season, and against four right-handed starters for the Mets, they posted just a 30 wRC+ overall this past weekend.

The Braves' righty had a stellar first full season. He posted a 3.62 skill-interactive ERA and combined it with a 26.2% strikeout rate.

Ynoa is lower in salary than Manoah, Suarez, or Wood, and his matchup is a cakewalk compared to them. Manoah has the Yankees in New York, Suarez draws an improved Mets lineup, and Wood faces a Padres lineup that suppresses strikeouts.

He will likely be the most popular pitcher as a result, but this slate is short on quality arms, so it might be best to just swallow the chalk.

Ty France, 1B/2B, Seattle Mariners ($2,700)

The Seattle Mariners are a top value stack of the day.

Any team that draws Dylan Bundy might be. It may not be long before the salaries of opposing players facing him are much higher. Bundy is legendary for his propensity to give up homers, and last season, he posted a 38.5% fly-ball rate and surrendered 1.99 home runs per nine innings.

Surprisingly, the right-handed Ty France was Seattle's most productive hitter against righties in 2021, posting a 124 wRC+. He also has a solid 38.9% hard-hit rate against righties.

Seattle has plenty of productive lefties in their lineup below $3,000, as well, so this is a top place to be on the entire slate.

Mike Yastrzemski, OF, San Francisco Giants ($2,500)

Stacking a Giants home game probably isn't ideal because they effectively play in the ocean.

Balls just don't fly the same, and they spent another year in the bottom-five parks for hitters in 2021. However, their lineup is pretty sporty, so getting access to one-offs in good spots shouldn't be discouraged.

S.F. is platoon-heavy, but Mike Yastrzemski should play the whole game. He's projected to lead off, and he slugged right-handed pitching for a mammoth .278 ISO last season.

The matchup really can't get better. The Giants draw Nick Martinez at home. The former Rangers starter hasn't appeared in the bigs since 2017 and never posted an xFIP below 4.99. He's likely an average arm for the Padres this year at his absolute apex.

With a total of just 8.0 on FanDuel Sportsbook, this won't be a popular game to target tonight. San Francisco has a path to a monstrous outing.

Ji-Man Choi, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays ($2,400)

Another total of just 8.0 is in Tampa Bay, but the Rays hold a good chunk of that all to themselves.

They'll draw Oakland right-hander Paul Blackburn on Monday. Blackburn was serviceable in 2021, posting a 4.71 SIERA. However, he's a groundball pitcher; he posted just a 14.6% strikeout rate in 2021, and that leaves him vulnerable to damage when he's not at his best.

As a team, Tampa crushed right-handed pitching to the tune of a 111 wRC+ last season (second-best in MLB). They can push any righty to a space where he's not his best.

A lot of that came from the boost the Rays get at first base against righties when Ji-Man Choi taps in for Yandy Diaz. Choi mashed right-handed pitchers for a .223 ISO and 42.7% hard-hit rate in 2021. He was extra bases waiting to happen.

His low salary can help facilitate a Rays stack, or you can use his low salary to offset the higher salaries of the Phillies or Braves.