MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 7/29/22

Alek Manoah has been on point in 2022, and he has another great matchup tonight. Who else should be on our radar?

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.

Alek Manoah, SP, Toronto Blue Jays ($10,200)

Taking the reigns of a monster Friday main slate, Alek Manoah is the guy I am riding with this evening.

While Gerrit Cole ($11,000) may be the headliner due to his hefty price point, he faces a Kansas City Royals with just a 20.7% strikeout rate. The same goes Justin Verlander ($11,100), who's against a really good Seattle Mariners offense.

So Manoah is my pick to click. He faces a Detroit Tigers team that ranks second-worst in team wOBA (.276) and worst in ISO (.108), and they also carry a 23.5% strikeout rate.

Manoah is projected for the most FanDuel points on the main slate (38.9 FanDuel points).

Anthony Rizzo, 1B, New York Yankees ($3,600)

While we normally don't recommend a ton of lefty-on-lefty crime, it's nearly unavoidable tonight with Kris Bubic on the mound.

Bubic has been downright awful against same-sided lefty bats. On the season, he's been pummeled by them to the tune of an 8.82 FIP and 2.70 HR/9, and he's walked more (17.6%) than he's struck out (12.2%).

From a batted-ball perspective, he's allowed a 45.1% hard-hit rate, too -- all of which adds up to rostering first baseman Anthony Rizzo tonight. Rizzo has performed well against lefties over his career with a 117 wRC+.

Cody Bellinger, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers ($3,300)

This could just as easily be a Freddie Freeman recommendation -- but we recommended Freeman yesterday. Let's look at his teammate, Cody Bellinger, tonight.

The reason we are so bullish on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Bellinger is because of Chad Kuhl's struggles at home, particularly against left-handed batters. On the season, he's allowed a .524 slugging percentage and .383 wOBA in this split -- including 1.83 HR/9.

Bellinger hasn't been great this season, but his 94 wRC+ and .201 ISO against righties is certainly playable.

He should be ready to rock 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.