MLB

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

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.

Shohei Ohtani, SP, Los Angeles Angels ($10,500)

It's hard to search for superlatives that represent the excellence of a guy like Shohei Ohtani.

When he's not hitting mammoth home runs, he's taking the ball in the starting rotation, and he's been brilliant there, too.

Spanning 60 1/3 innings pitched, Ohtani has some stats that would make your head spin, including a 25.1% K-BB% rate, only 1.19 HR/9 allowed, and a 27.3% hard-hit rate. He's been basically the staff for this Angels team.

And his opponent tonight -- the Kansas City Royals -- have been dreadful at the plate this season. While they are hard to strike out (20.1% K Rate), their .298 wOBA is the seventh-worst mark in the entire league, and their .132 ISO mark is the fifth-worst in the league.

Ohtani is pegged as the top hurler on the day (37.5 FanDuel points), making him a great play. Our second-best option, Carlos Rodon ($10,500), is projected for nearly six points below Ohtani, so if our projections hold true, he's clearly the top option for our rosters.

Willson Contreras, C, Chicago Cubs ($3,600)

With the Pittsburgh Pirates making the strange decision to call up Jerad Eickhoff for the start today, it seems like an easy idea to jam in some Chicago Cubs into your lineups.

Boy, do I think that's ever a great idea.

Eickhoff only threw 19 2/3 innings last season, and he was absolutely torched for a 9.78 FIP, including 4.12 HR/9. That's right, essentially, a hitter homered every other inning off of Eickhoff. The batted-ball metrics for Eickhoff are downright horrid, too -- a career 40.6% fly-ball rate, paired with a 34.4% hard-hit rate.

For his career, Willson Contreras boasts a 111 wRC+ mark against right-handed batters, including a 35.5% hard-hit rate. Contreras seems like a no-brainer in tonight's contest.

Ryan Mountcastle, OF, Baltimore Orioles ($3,400)

The steep demise of Patrick Corbin has been very steep.

He's been absolutely slammed this season, and it doesn't look like his role as a prominent starter in the bigs is going to be valid any longer.

Corbin, like many aging arms, has really struggled giving up home runs. This season, he's given up homers in droves to both lefties and righties -- and the numbers for a guy like Mountcastle include 1.29 HR/9, including a 39.0% hard-hit rate.

It's only been 305 plate appearances, but Ryan Mountcastle has really performed well in this career against lefties. It includes a 111 wRC+ mark, a .220 ISO, and a 36.4% hard-hit rate.

Get Mountcastle into your lineups if you can.


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.