3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 7/15/22

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.

Yu Darvish, SP, San Diego Padres ($10,200)

After a disappointing 2021 campaign for Yu Darvish, he has bounced back in a major way in 2022.

Last season, he logged a 4.22 ERA in 166 innings pitched, but that seems like a far cry at this point.

Spanning 101 1/3 innings pitched this season, Darvish's 3.32 FIP paired with his 0.80 HR/9 have been quite stellar. Admittedly, the whiffs are down a bit this season (22.4%), but he's also controlled the walks (4.9%), and hitters have logged only a 25.2% hard-hit rate against him.

And he is blessed with a wonderful matchup tonight -- the Arizona Diamondbacks rank fifth-worst in team wOBA (.301) and their 23.0% strikeout rate is 13th highest in the league.

Projected for 37.4 FanDuel points, tops on the day, I'm betting on a big night for Darvish.

Ronald Acuna, OF, Atlanta Braves ($4,400)

I'm going back to the well with another member of the Atlanta Braves, but this time, it's leadoff man Ronald Acuna.

The Braves face their inter-divisional opponent, the Washington Nationals, and Patrick Corbin seems to be at the tail end of his career. This season, his 17.5% strikeout rate is trending towards a career low, and the numbers specifically to right-handed batters are ugly. He's allowed a 39.0% hard-hit rate and 34.0% fly-ball rate to righties this year.

He's also allowed 1.47 HR/9 and a .495 slugging percentage to righties, so I think Acuna, and his team's 5.21 implied team total, are juicy enough for me to roster.

Luis Arraez, 1B/2B/3B, Minnesota Twins ($3,300)

So far, Michael Kopech has had a very up-and-down career, and there are a lot of reasons for it.

COVID-19 and injuries have certainly sapped him from some of his potential greatness.

The data surrounding Kopech is certainly a head-scratcher, too. He's only recorded a 30.9% ground-ball rate through 16 starts (78 innings pitched), and he's had a bit of a problem getting left-handed batters out. They've dinged him for a .427 slugging percentage, including 1.42 HR/9 and a whopping 60.3% fly-ball rate.

Luis Arraez has been at his peak facing righties this year, and he's sure to get a pile of at-bats from the leadoff spot. He's hitting .372 this season against righties, and he's actually walked (30) more times than he's struck out (20) in this split.

I gotta have Arraez on my team's tonight.

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.