FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 4/30/22
Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!
Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
Pitchers
Clayton Kershaw ($10,500)
In his first three starts this season, Los Angeles' veteran left-hander has been in stellar form through 17.0 innings, accounting for a 13.6% swinging strike rate and an impressive 1.72 expected Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) rating.
Despite his recent success and favorable matchup against a weak Detroit Tigers' lineup with a 24.5% strikeout rate and a .253 weighted on-base percentage (wOBA) against left-handers, Kershaw's FanDuel salary comes at a relative bargain after it moved down 2.7% since his last start.
numberFire's models project Kershaw as tonight's second ranked pitcher with a 33.0 FanDuel point projection and 6.13 expected strikeouts.
Gerrit Cole ($9,800)
After a rough beginning to the season, New York's right-hander had his best performance in his last start, producing an expected 1.63 FIP, nine strikeouts, and a season-high 57.0 FanDuel points.
Cole will have a good chance to prolong his success on Saturday night against a Kansas City Royals lineup with a 23.6% strikeout rate and a .288 wOBA against right-handers including five projected starters with K-rates over 22.4% and contact rates lower than 76.1%.
The 31-year old currently stands as today's top rated pitcher with a 35.8 FanDuel point projection and 6.8 expected strikeouts.
Nathan Eovaldi ($8,500)
Overall, Boston's ace checks off all the requirements of a pitcher in ideal form after the 32-year old recorded a 3.48 expected FIP and a 27.0% strikeout rate through 21.2 innings.
With Coors Field on tonight's seven-game slate, Eovaldi stands as a great value option against a Baltimore lineup with a 27.6% K rate and a .270 weighted on-base percentage including 66% of their expected hitters with strikeout percentages over 25.1% and contact rates under 70.1%.
Stacks
Connor Overton will take the mound in baseball's most intimidating pitching environment against a Colorado team projected for a slate-high 6.2 runs. The 28-year old journeyman was average at best in his brief Major League stint last season, accounting for a 4.26 expected FIP and a 23.8% strikeout rate mostly in a bullpen role.
With slight splits against lefties (.429 wOBA, 6.17 FIP), a core Rockies' stack can start with Ryan McMahon (16.7% barrel rate, .371 expected wOBA) and Charlie Blackmon (7.1% barrel rate, .335 expected wOBA) while additional options in good form include C.J. Cron (15.8% barrel rate, .287 expected average), Connor Joe (.366 expected wOBA, .282 expected average), and Randal Grichuk (.287 expected average, .332 expected wOBA)
Outside of Coors Field, the Dodgers offer high-ceiling options in their opportunity at home against Detroit's right-hander Beau Brieske.
In his first big league start last week, the 24-year old was shaky in his debut, producing a low 6.6% swinging strike rate and a concerning 5.18 expected FIP.
Los Angeles' lineup is filled with hot hitters with power at multiple positions including Gavin Lux (.331 expected average, 12.8% barrel rate), Freddie Freeman (14.5% barrel rate, .312 expected average), Will Smith (12.8% barrel rate, .310 expected average), Max Muncy (15.2% barrel rate, $3,300), and Cody Bellinger (.338 expected wOBA, and 13.3% barrel rate)
The Red Sox offer another potential undervalued stack in their mouth-watering matchup against Spenser Watkins.
Despite producing a 2.77 Earned Run Average through 13.0 innings this season, the 29-year old journeyman is due for serious regression after he also accounted for a 5.35 expected FIP and a measly 6.5% swinging strike rate.
Boston's top hitters from the right side including Xander Bogaerts (.305 expected average, 8.5% barrel rate), J.D. Martinez (10.3% barrel rate), and Enrique Hernandez (9.7& barrel rate) offer intriguing upside against Watkins' reverse splits while Rafael Devers (.320 expected average, 11.1% barrel rate) and Alex Verdugo (.376 expected wOBA, 8.3% barrel rate) are other mid-range options to consider.
