MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 6/1/22

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Jun 1st, 2022
Julio Rodriguez is swinging a hot bat and has a winnable matchup versus Kyle Bradish. Which other high-salary studs need to be in your lineups?

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.

Robbie Ray, SP, Seattle Mariners ($9,700)

The season-long numbers for Robbie Ray -- fresh off of signing a large contract with the Seattle Mariners after winning the AL Cy Young award -- don't look so hot. Spanning 60 2/3 innings pitched, Ray has logged a 4.75 ERA while allowing 1.54 HR/9 and walking 8.4% of batters.

However, the advanced metrics show that Ray has some positives that just haven't hit yet. He's still punching out batters at a solid clip (27.1%), his barrel rate (8.8%) is among the league's lowest, and his 31.9% hard-hit rate is a career-best clip.

Today he gets to square off with a very poor Baltimore Orioles offense in a delightful matchup. The O's clock in with the 5th-worst team wOBA (.293), the 11th-highest strikeout rate (23.8%), and the 6th-worst ISO (.127).

We project Ray for 34.1 FanDuel points today, making him a top play on tonight's slate.

Julio Rodriguez, OF, Seattle Mariners ($3,600)

Staying in the same game, rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez has been outstanding. He could add to his solid rookie totals in a dream matchup against Kyle Bradish.

The young righty for the Orioles has really had a hard time containing same-sided bats. Some of these numbers may look like a misprint, but they aren't. Versus right-handd hitters, he's allowed a .495 wOBA, .783 slugging percentage, and 4.11 HR/9. Yes, he's allowed seven homers in 15 1/3 innings pitched in the split.

Obviously, the sample size is small, but Rodriguez can feast in this spot.

Rodriguez has been amazing this season with a 118 wRC+, and he's a great piece to Seattle stacks.

J.D. Martinez, OF, Boston Red Sox ($3,900)

With an implied team total pushing nearly five runs, the Boston Red Sox will likely be a popular play tonight. Scintillating Cincinnati Reds rookie Hunter Greene can certainly hit big-time numbers with the fastball, but he's also having some issues with it, too. Opponents are blasting his fastball for a 246 wRC+ this season.

In addition, like Bradish, Greene is struggling to put right-handed batters away. He's allowed an 8.37 FIP in the split, including 4.24 HR/9 and a whopping .653 slugging percentage. That's a lot of hard-hit balls.

In 146 plate appearances this season, J.D. Martinez has really socked righties -- bombing them for a .346 batting average, .216 ISO and .966 OPS.

Martinez makes for a great play on a night when Boston could go off.


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.