MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Monday 5/9/22

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle May 9th, 2022
Manny Machado is in a smash spot versus a struggling Kyle Hendricks. Which other high-salary plays do you need to plug in?

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.

MacKenzie Gore, SP, San Diego Padres ($10,100)

Carlos Rodon projects as the slate's top play, per our model, as we forecast him to amass 38.5 FanDuel points -- 9.6 more than anyone else. At home against the Colorado Rockies, Rodon is a really good play, but you don't need me to tell you that.

So let's get into MacKenzie Gore, who offers a lot of upside, too, and should come at a fraction of the draft percentage.

Gore has pitched to a 3.67 SIERA and 25.9% strikeout rate in his brief MLB career, and he's thrown 100-plus pitches in two straight starts. The former top prospect gets a dream matchup. He's taking on the Chicago Cubs, who have tanked offensively as of late. The Cubs rank 20th in wOBA (.304) with the 10th-highest strikeout rate (24.0%). Their implied total is a lowly 3.36 runs.

We project Gore for the second-best score of the day (28.9 FanDuel points). If Rodon slips up at all, Gore could challenge for the top pitching score of the night.

Jazz Chisholm, 2B/SS, Miami Marlins ($3,700)

This is a pretty funky slate in terms of offense. There are very few teams that have even a 4.00-run implied total.

The Miami Marlins are one of those teams, and their 4.35 implied total is actually a slate-leading clip. That's largely due to facing Humberto Castellanos, who has yet to allow a home run on the year but also sports a strikeout rate of just 14.5%. Castellanos has been popped by opposite-handed bats, allowing a .466 slugging percentage to lefties during his career.

While Jazz Chisholm stands below 6-feet tall, dude has plenty of pop in his bat. On the season, he's sporting a .621 slugging percentage, including a .310 isolated power (ISO).

Jazz is a high-upside way to get a piece of the Marlins.

Manny Machado, 3B, San Diego Padres ($4,600)

My evening shifts driving the bus for the Manny Machado Fan Club have been really busy lately, and things could be downright absurd tonight against a struggling Kyle Hendricks.

Hendricks currently sports a career-worst 57.5% first-pitch strike percentage, so it's probably is no surprise that he also has a whopping -- for him -- 9.0% walk rate in 2022, also the worst mark of his career. The free passes lead to some real disasters when you rock a 1.78 HR/9 mark, another career-worst clip.

The 29-year-old Machado has no problem pummeling same-sided arms, logging a .207 ISO and 119 wRC+ marks for his career in the split.

There are not a lot of great high-salary bats tonight, but Machado is one worth prioritizing.


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.