FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 7/31/22
Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups.
Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!
Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
Pitchers
Shane McClanahan ($11,200)
After a 3.5% decrease to his lowest salary point since June 20th, Tampa Bay's stud left-hander currently ranks fourth in value with a 3.46 rating and second overall with a 38.8 FanDuel point projection.
While some may be concerned with McClanahan's ceiling versus a low strikeout Cleveland Guardians' lineup with a 17.4% K-rate and 80.6% contact percentage, the current American League Cy Young frontrunner still offers enormous upside anytime he takes the mound with his elite 17.2% swinging strike percentage and 35.4% K-rate.
Dylan Cease ($10,900)
Despite a recent 7.9% spike to his highest salary this season, Chicago's 26-year old starter ranks fourth with a 37.9 fantasy expectation and third in value with a 3.48 rating.
Considering his layup matchup against an Oakland Athletics' unit with a weak .270 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and 22.3% K-rate, Cease should have no problem achieving Sunday's top strikeout prediction at 7.89 versus seven projected hitters with K-percentages between 20.2% and 28.7% and contact rates ranging from 70.5% to 79.2%.
Aaron Nola ($10,700)
Philadelphia's ace is another elite option to evaluate in a great spot versus a Pittsburgh Pirates' team accounting for a .267 wOBA and a minuscule 3.1 expected run total.
In his last ten starts, Nola has almost replicated his superb seasonal form (2.97 xFIP, 28.0% K-rate) with a 3.18 xFIP and 25.4% K-rate in 72.0 innings while also recording seven or more strikeouts in 60% of these appearances.
Even at his second highest salary point this season, the eight-year veteran currently rates second in value with a 3.76 rating and first overall with 40.2 fantasy expectation.
Max Fried ($10,400)
In a matchup versus an Arizona Diamondbacks' lineup with a 26.8% K-rate and a 73.6% contact percentage, Fried also stands first overall with a 40.2 FanDuel point projection.
Overall in his third largest sample size starting in the Majors, the 28-year old southpaw is trending towards several career-best metrics with his current 3.10 xFIP and an improved 4.4% walk percentage (career 6.8%)
With an above-average 11.6% swinging strike rate, Fried's strikeout expectation at 6.8 will likely depend on his success versus five Arizona hitters with K-percentages between 22.5% and 30.8%.
Stacks
In a 11-game main slate with several offensive spots, the Dodgers' offense is an important decision point with a 6.5 expected run total against German Marquez.
While the 27-year old right-hander has recently reduced his expected FIP to a 3.29 mark in his last four starts, the Rockies' right-hander has struggled with managing hard contact (career-worst 8.1% barrel rate, 17.5% home-run to fly-ball percentage) especially against left-handed bats (4.06 xFIP).
With these weaknesses in mind, the most potent Dodgers' bats from the left side are a prority including Freddie Freeman (11% barrel rate, .564 expected slugging), Jake Lamb (10.8% barrel percentage), Gavin Lux (.334 expected wOBA), Max Muncy (12.6% barrel rate), and Cody Bellinger (7.7% barrel rate).
After a 19-run outburst in their last two games against Kansas City's soft pitching, the Bronx Bombers will attempt to put up another crooked number versus Zack Greinke.
While Greinke remains a household name due to his prolonged baseball career, the 38-year old veteran has really regressed in his eighth year with the Royals, recording a concerning 4.58 xFIP, a 13.4% strikeout percentage, and an ugly 8.0% opposing barrel rate.
Considering his inability to induce swing and misses, the middle and top of New York's batting order are top targets on Sunday including current American League MVP favorite Aaron Judge (.707 expected slugging, 26.9% barrel rate), DJ LeMahieu (.372 expected wOBA, .444 expected slugging), Gleyber Torres (10% barrel rate, .442 expected slugging), Anthony Rizzo (11.2% barrel percentage, .472 expected slugging), and Matt Carpenter (17.3% barrel rate, .381 expected wOBA).
Oakland's journeyman Adam Oller will make his seventh career start against an undervalued White Sox's lineup with a sneaky 5.2 implied run total.
Through 32.1 innings this season, Oller can be characterized as a below-average MLB starter, when examining his unsightly 6.47 xFIP, 13.3% walk rate, and 13.9% strikeout percentage.
With overall neutral splits, Jose Abreu (9.6% barrel rate, .385 expected wOBA) and Tim Anderson (.451 expected slugging, .349 expected wOBA) stand out as potential infield options while Andrew Vaughn (.418 expected slugging), Eloy Jimenez (20% barrel rate, .475 expected slugging), and A.J. Pollock (8.6% barrel percentage) can be utilized in the outfield.
