3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 5/6/22
Stacks are an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. They can push a team to the top of a GPP by driving upside. However, they're also viable in cash games, namely smaller (two-person or three-person) stacks that mitigate the volatility of a full four-person stack.
This article is your home throughout the 2022 Major League Baseball season for the day's top stacks. The primary goal is to identify the highest-scoring upside stack. Still, game theory will play a role in contrarian stacks making the cut as GPP options. Nevertheless, chalky stacks will make appearances in this space, too.
Beyond my analysis in this space, I strongly suggest numberFire premium members using our DFS Sharpstack tool and hitting heat map tool. The DFS Sharpstack helps plug stacks into optimized lineups, allowing you to change parameters and lock or exclude players and teams. Meanwhile, the heat map offers a one-stop-shop for the opposing starting pitcher, implied total, park factor, and other notable goodies.
Now, let's look at the top stacks on today's main slate.
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels square off with a woefully underqualified starting pitcher tonight. Joan Adon has only pitched 14 innings in Double-A and 4 innings in Triple-A. Further, according to FanGraphs, he had a 4.97 ERA and 4.63 Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP) in 87 innings in High-A.
Frankly, it's malpractice that the Washington Nationals have him in their rotation. Unsurprisingly, he's been a disaster. In 28 2/3 innings in The Show, he has a 6.59 ERA and 1.67 WHIP, and he has allowed 1.57 homers per nine innings. In addition, Adon has allowed a .312 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) to righties and a .439 wOBA to lefties.
All of the Angels' top hitters are viable stacking options. However, my favorites include Mike Trout ($4,300), Shohei Ohtani ($4,200), Taylor Ward ($4,000), and Jared Walsh ($2,900). Obviously, Ohtani and Walsh have the platoon advantage, setting them up to add to Adon's woes against left-handed hitters. Trout is always a viable option.
However, it's time to take Ward seriously. The right-handed hitter has had a .266 Isolated Power (ISO) and 139 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) in 216 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers since last year.
Minnesota Twins
The Oakland Athletics haven't listed a replacement for Cole Irvin tonight, but Zach Logue traveled to Minnesota to be on standby. So presumably, Logue will stand in for fellow lefty Irvin tonight. The fill-in option has had only a 4.00 ERA and 4.30 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) in 245 1/3 innings pitched in Double-A and Triple-A since 2019.
Logue has been a punching bag in four Triple-A starts this year. He's had a 5.63 ERA and 6.28 xFIP, and he coughed up five homers in 16 innings. Therefore, it's unlikely he will turn his 2022 campaign around at the game's highest level.
The Minnesota Twins are the beneficiaries of Logue taking the bump tonight. They're stackable from top to bottom against the mediocre-at-best lefty.
However, Byron Buxton ($4,100) is a must-use player. Since 2019, in 208 plate appearances, he's had a .346 OBP, .303 ISO, and 157 wRC+ against lefties.
Others I like on the Twins tonight include Gary Sanchez ($2,600), Gio Urshela ($2,400), and Jose Miranda ($2,000).
Boston Red Sox
While the Angels and Twins face a pair of young pitchers in over their heads, the Boston Red Sox draw a veteran who's been a mess for multiple big-league seasons.
Vincent Velasquez's career-low ERA was 4.12 in 2016. His second-best mark was a 4.37 ERA as a rookie in 2015. Since 2017, Velasquez has posted a 5.23 ERA with 1.64 homers per nine innings allowed in 482 innings.
Somehow, it arguably gets even better for Boston. The 29-year-old righty hasn't had answers for lefties or righties. Since last year, lefties have ripped him for a .354 wOBA, and righties have crushed him for a .371 wOBA. Thus, all of Boston's hitters have a great matchup tonight.
My two favorite options in this stack are on the left side of Boston's infield. Since 2019, Xander Bogaerts ($3,600) has had a .379 OBP, .221 ISO, and 139 wRC+ against righties. Meanwhile, Rafael Devers ($3,700) has had a .362 OBP, .297 ISO, and 148 wRC+ against righties.
Finally, J.D. Martinez ($3,900), Trevor Story ($3,200), and Alex Verdugo ($2,800) are each excellent picks to complete a four-person stack.
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.
