3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 7/21/22

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?

Javier Baez, SS/2B, Tigers ($2,600)

I'm always interested in Javier Baez when the Detroit Tigers are taking on a lefty. That's the case today as they do battle with Zach Logue, and on a three-game slate, Baez's upside is easy to like at this salary.

We all know what kind of boom-or-bust bat Baez is, but if you're going to use him, this is the split to do it. Baez has mashed his way to a .394 wOBA this year versus southpaws, striking out only 17.8% of the time in the split.

With an implied total of 4.03 -- the slate's second-highest -- the Tigers should be a popular offense this afternoon, and Baez figures to be a chalky value bat. We rate him as the fifth-best point-per-dollar hitter.

Eric Haase, C/OF, Tigers ($2,300)

Speaking of the Tigers, Eric Haase is another quality low-salary play from Detroit.

A righty, Haase carries a solid .352 wOBA with the platoon advantage, and he hit fifth the last time the Tigers faced a left-hander.

In a small sample against righties, Logue has permitted a .377 wOBA, 56.0% fly-ball rate and 2.35 dingers per nine across 103 total batters faced. His strikeout rate is just 16.5% in the split,

Our model slots Haase as the slate's top point-per-dollar hitter, projecting him for 11.7 FanDuel points, and like everyone in this piece today, the multi-position eligibility is handy.

Joey Wendle, 3B/SS, Marlins ($2,200)

As weird as it is to say -- outside of Detroit, I have a hard time getting excited about any of the offenses.

I'm not going to load up on the Miami Marlins at home against Jon Gray, but Joey Wendle checks some boxes as a one-off value pick.

Wendle hit leadoff in each of his past seven appearances before the break, and that alone makes him intriguing at $2,200. Against righties in 2021, he amassed a .335 wOBA, and while Gray is a good pitcher, he hasn't been as lethal away from home this year, recording a meh 23.9% strikeout rate in his travels.

We forecast Wendle to put up 10.7 FanDuel points, ranking him as the number-two point-per-dollar stick.