MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Monday 5/23/22

David Peralta and the Diamondbacks could feast on their former ace. Which other value options will help save salary on Monday's slate?

With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.

As a result of this, the primary method of selecting hitters is to "stack" certain teams in good spots to produce. Most of the top stacks on a given day come with hefty salaries. In addition to that, a vast majority of pitchers with the upside to win tournaments are high-salaried hurlers.

Therefore, crushing your value plays can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament. That could be a low-salaried pitcher piling up strikeouts, or it could be a low-salaried hitter swatting a long ball.

Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?

Alec Bohm, 1B/3B, Philadelphia Phillies ($2,800)

The Phillies could post a crooked number today.

Their 115 wRC+ against left-handed pitching this season is the eighth-best mark in baseball, and they'll draw struggling Atlanta lefty Tucker Davidson on Monday.

Davidson's unsightly 5.87 ERA isn't unlucky. He's posted a 5.73 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) behind it, and that's also come with a 13.5% strikeout rate. While Davidson's done a decent job of limiting hard contact so far (30.3% hard-hit rate), a 48.0% flyball rate is terrifying if that were to change.

The Fightin' Phils have some pretty high salaries across the board, but Alec Bohm is still in their two-hole at an affordable mark. Bohm has a .736 OPS against left-handed pitching this season, and he's been just fine against right-handers (.721), as well, if Davidson is pushed out early.

Both Bohm and J.T. Realmuto are powerful right-handed sticks who provide a bit of salary relief to get back to Jean Segura, Rhys Hoskins, and Nick Castellanos.

Andrew Benintendi, OF, Kansas City Royals ($2,800)

With two key aces in plus matchups on the slate, low-salaried stacks with high totals are in high demand. They're in Arizona.

The Royals visit the thin air at Chase Field on Monday, and both teams are tossing out low-whiff right-handers.

K.C. will draw Zach Davies, who has a 4.40 SIERA that's elevated due to a low swinging-strike rate (8.8%). He's survived on a low hard-hit rate (28.0%) this season, but with four prior consecutive seasons above 33.0%, consider me a skeptic that it holds.

The Snakes also have the worst bullpen xFIP (4.47) in the bigs when he departs.

There's one Royals bat who's a lock for quality plate appearances against righties. It's Andrew Benintendi, who's posted a stellar .885 OPS and 161 wRC+ in the split this season.

Slowly but surely, Kansas City is starting to turn around their offensive efforts of late, so Bobby Witt Jr., Whit Merrifield, and Hunter Dozier are also great low-salaried access to a friendly hitting environment tonight.

David Peralta, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks ($2,600)

The better matchup in Phoenix is on the other side, though.

The D-backs draw one of their former aces, Zack Greinke. Grienke is now 38 years old and far from his prime at the top of the Arizona rotation, and his 2022 campaign has been a struggle. He's lost the ability to throw the ball past hitters (8.8% swinging-strike rate), and it's been particularly disastrous given the hard contact against him (44.8% hard-hit rate).

It might surprise you to know the Arizona offense has a 94 wRC+ against righties this season. They've been much worse against southpaws (76), so this is the split to stack them in.

A huge reason why might be the splits of David Peralta in the heart of their order. Peralta has struggled mightily to a .397 OPS against lefties, but that's a .885 mark against orthodox hurlers. He's going to always be low-salaried due to his work in the other split, but against a struggling right-hander, sign me up.

Given Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler hover over this slate, the Diamondbacks are my top stack of the day when factoring in salary. Peralta, Pavin Smith, Daulton Varsho, and Christian Walker all have plus marks against right-handed pitching, and Grienke is one of the best right-handed matchups in the game at present.