3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 6/2/22
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 -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a low-salaried batter racking up points -- can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Alex Wood, P, Giants ($7,400)
Our model has Alex Wood as the clear standout option among value hurlers.
Wood has been really solid so far this season, pitching to a 3.40 SIERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, 10.5% swinging-strike rate and 6.8% walk rate. He's had a single-game swinging-strike rate of at least 11.3% in three of his past five starts. He's also thrown at least 88 pitches in four of his previous five outings, including a high of 104 in that time.
The lefty draws a nice matchup with the Miami Marlins. Miami just went bonkers in a doubleheader at Coors, but they should come back to Earth today. Their 3.68 implied total tonight is the slate's second-lowest. For the season, they have been awful against southpaws, ranking dead last in wOBA (.273) in the split while also carrying the highest strikeout rate (29.7%).
We project Wood for 26.5 FanDuel points, and he's the lone pitcher below $8,000 who we forecast to total more than 24.0 FanDuel points.
Edwin Rios, 1B/3B, Dodgers ($2,600)
Thanks to some injuries on the Los Angeles Dodgers, Edwin Rios is playing nearly every day, and he's been an economical way -- sometimes the only low-salary way -- to get a piece of a Dodgers offense that is on the stacking radar for most slates.
Rios should be locked into a solid spot in the order today against righty Taijuan Walker, who has struggled to the tune of a 4.91 SIERA and 13.2% strikeout rate in 2022. Last season, left-handed bats tagged Walker for a 45.4% fly-ball rate, and LA carries a hefty 4.68 implied total into this matchup.
Rios sports a .357 wOBA overall and has 7 taters in just 88 plate appearances. He can mash in this matchup.
Jesse Winker, OF, Mariners ($2,600)
After a few years of pretty miserable numbers, Jordan Lyles has been decent thus far for the Baltimore Orioles, but he's still a guy we can pick on in DFS, especially on smaller slates.
Yesterday, I wrote up Jesse Winker versus a righty, and Winker scored all of 3.0 FanDuel points. I'm going back to the well today as Winker should once again be hitting leadoff. Last year with the platoon advantage, he amassed a .449 wOBA, 12.8% strikeout rate, and 10.4% walk rate.
Despite some improvements, Lyles is still having a tough time against lefties. In that split this year, he's permitted a .382 wOBA and 1.50 dingers per nine. He allowed 1.75 homers per nine to lefty sticks a year ago.
The Seattle Mariners hold a 4.61 implied total, and they might slip through the cracks a bit on this slate. This is another good spot for Winker, and he's easy to love at this salary.
