3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Tuesday 8/2/22

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.

Corbin Burnes, SP, Milwaukee Brewers ($11,300)

It makes a recommendation a lot easier when the highest-salaried hurler on the main slate is easily the best one. Welp, here we are.

Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers has picked up directly where he left off a season ago. He's recorded a stellar 32.8% strikeout rate against only a 6.4% walk rate, including a reasonable 1.01 HR/9 on the season.

He faces a Pittsburgh Pirates team that is among the league's worst offenses. Their .288 wOBA is third-worst, and their 25.7% strikeout rate is the second-highest.

We project Burnes for 40.7 FanDuel points -- 5.1 more than anyone else -- and the Pirates' 2.99 implied total is the second-lowest of the night.

Matt Olson, 1B, Atlanta Braves ($3,800)

With it looking like a bullpen day for the Philadelphia Phillies, I'm firing up all of the Matt Olson I can get my hands on.

The Philly bullpen has been a bit up and down this season. They boast solid metrics as far as home runs allowed (0.86 HR/9), but they have struggled giving out free passes (4.13 BB/9) and permit a pretty average 42.0% ground-ball rate.

Enter Olson, who has been solid this year for the Atlanta Braves. He's posted an even .500 slugging percentage and 129 wRC+, logging a .247 isolated power (ISO).

I'm getting Olson in my lineups tonight, and he can be a core piece to Braves stacks (5.04 implied total).

Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins ($4,100)

If Byron Buxton is in the lineup, I'm using him, and stacking the Minnesota Twins seems like a very good opportunity.

Let's dive in as to why. Matt Manning returns from the 60-day Injured List, and quite frankly, even a healthy Manning is a guy we were likely to pick on. In 2021, he fired 85 1/3 innings, striking out only 14.8% of batters.

Manning also sports a very ugly batted-ball profile, surrendering a 39.2% hard-hit rate. When we dive deeper into his handedness splits, basically everyone rocked him. Are you're up for playing a game of "Who's Your Favorite Twin?"

All things considered, that makes me rock with Buxton tonight. While he did miss last night's game with some general soreness, the slugger (26 HR, 330 ISO) should be rostered if he finds his way into the lineup.

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.