3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 4/20/22
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, as well, 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.
Luis Severino, SP, New York Yankees ($9,000)
There are some interesting pitching options on the main slate tonight.
Carlos Rodon ($10,800) headlines the starting pitcher group in terms of salary, but there's a reason I'm not so bullish on him. Rodon faces a New York Mets squad that's been cookin' at the plate. So far this season, they boast a .340 wOBA and a lowly 19.2% strikeout rate. That makes me a bit nervous about Rodon.
One player I don't hold similar reservations about is Luis Severino, who has a dream matchup on tap. Severino faces the Detroit Tigers, a team that recently placed offseason signing Javier Baez on the Injured List. The Tigers' lineup has struggled to gain its footing this season. They have recorded a team wOBA of .277 (third-worst), an isolated power of .106 (fourth-worst) and a 25.6% strikeout rate (sixth-highest).
After struggling with injuries for a while, Severino appears to be back to his old self, and he can demolish Detroit. Severino has pitched to a 2.43 SIERA and 31.4% strikeout rate in eight innings this season. Obviously, we need to be careful not to take too much from eight innings, but Severino's strikeout ability coupled with the matchup makes him one of the elite hurlers tonight.
We project him for 32.2 FanDuel points, second-most on the slate.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 1B, Toronto Blue Jays ($4,100)
The Toronto Blue Jays are going to be a very popular stack today.
Picking up right where they left off in 2021, the Jays are off to a white-hot start at the dish, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been a big reason why. Toronto ranks 10th in team wOBA this season (.327), and their .174 team ISO clocks in fifth-best in the league. They are a terrifying proposition for any opposing pitcher, and they boast the heftiest implied total (4.89) on today's main slate.
Nick Pivetta isn't likely to slow down the Jays. I've certainly taken my fantasy spin on the Pivetta Train a time or two, and it's typically not a fairly enjoyable journey. Last season, in 155 innings, the right-hander whiffed 175 batters. That's the good news. Here's the bad news -- he sported a nearly double-digit walk rate, and he gave up way too many fly-balls (43.0% rate).
The numbers get even juicier for same-sided batters. For Pivetta's career, he's recorded reverse splits with a .476 slugging percentage allowed to righties, including 1.72 home runs per nine.
Fire up Vladdy with supreme confidence.
Carlos Correa, SS, Minnesota Twins ($3,000)
The Minnesota Twins face Daniel Lynch, and, boy, are there some interesting splits when we break down the southpaw.
Lynch is a talented prospect who has some upside -- but to stick in the big leagues, he's going to need to find a way to do better versus right-handed batters. While Lynch has absolutely owned lefties, righties have torched him for a .527 slugging percentage, 39.3% hard-hit rate and 1.71 HR/9.
The Twins sport an implied team total of 4.67 runs and -- like the Jays -- are one of the slate's top stacking options.
Carlos Correa should be smack in the heart of it the Twins' lineup, and as a righty, he's in a spot to deliver against Lynch. He's got a 137 wRC+ against lefties since the start of 2019.
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.
