MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 5/12/22

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle May 12th, 2022
On a shortened main slate, Nick Castellanos looks ready to pop. Who else should we think about?

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.

Brandon Drury, 3B, Cincinnati Reds ($3,800)

Boy, has Brandon Drury of the Cincinnati Reds been scorchingly hot at the dish lately, and we want to take advantage of this.

On the season, it's clear that Drury deserves the full-time third base gig over teammate Mike Moustakas. Drury has slammed six long balls already this season, and he's nearing both 20 runs scored and driven already on the year. The standard metrics like batting average (.267) and OPS (.912) are delightfully solid, too.

JT Brubaker is whiffing a ton of batters (26.1%), but he's also walking a ton (12.2%), and the batted-ball profile (35.7% hard-hit rate, 45.7% fly-ball rate) is horrid. With few good options tonight, Drury is an excellent one.

Corey Seager, SS, Texas Rangers ($3,200)

Our top projected hitter of the day, Corey Seager faces off against a pitcher making his 2022 major league debut, which could make for a spicy opportunity.

Let's look at Jon Heasley's minor league track record. Last season, spanning 105 1/3 innings pitched in Double-A, Heasley allowed 1.54 HR/9 and a 41.1% fly-ball rate. In his cup of coffee last season in the Majors, he allowed identical 39.6% hard-hit and fly-ball rates, as well as a 12.5% barrel rate.

Heasley posted a 44.0% fly-ball rate against lefties like Seager a season ago, so there's clearly a reason to believe in the possible upside for Seager. He's also at an affordable salary and could be part of a big-time Texas Rangers stack.

Nick Castellanos, OF, Philadelphia Phillies ($3,600)

This slate is bereft of a ton of great options, but one we can give a long look to is Nick Castellanos of the Philadelphia Phillies.

While the righty-hitting outfielder hasn't been at his peak, his .209 isolated power and 38.3% fly-ball rate are very solid marks on the season.

Those marks could get highlighted against Tyler Anderson. He's been solid this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he has had trouble in his career against right-handed hitters. Spanning 2,075 hitters, righties have popped Anderson for a .461 slugging percentage, including 1.45 HR/9 and a 39.1% fly-ball rate.

All of it adds up to Castellanos being a great play.


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.