3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 8/19/22
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.
Shane McClanahan, SP, Tampa Bay Rays ($11,200)
We have six arms priced at $10,000 or more on today's main slate -- six! -- but there's one arm I just can't quit, and that's Shane McClanahan of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Projected to lead the way at 43.3 FanDuel points, it seems like the young southpaw, who could be the AL Cy Young award winner, is primed for a monster evening. If you need a quick refresher on McClanahan's superlatives, they include a 32.2% strikeout rate and a 50.6% ground-ball rate on the season, good for supporting a magical 2.64 FIP.
The Kansas City Royals don't swing and miss an overly egregious amount (21.3%), but their isolated power and team wOBA marks are both in the bottom third of the league.
If you can afford him, McClanahan makes for an awesome play.
Joc Pederson, OF, San Francisco Giants ($3,400)
At the top of our projections tonight, is a game that features some Coors Field's bats -- including the San Francisco Giants, who are rocking a 6.02 implied team total.
That leads us to a likely play of Joc Pederson against Jose Urena, who's allowed a .448 slugging percentage and a pretty ugly 0% K-BB% walk rate in this split. Yikes.
Primarily operating on the strong-side of the platoon, Pederson has done what he does best in 2022 -- smash right-handed pitching. He's ripped 17 long balls on his way to a .239 ISO mark, including a 44.9% fly-ball rate.
At a pretty affordable price for what we think is the best stack of the day, Pederson should be in your lineups.
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals ($4,800)
Young lefty Tommy Henry takes the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire this season.
The young hurler has posted fairly pedestrian marks of an 11.0% walk rate -- which mixed in with a 44.4% fly-ball rate and 36.0% hard-hit rate can lead to big-time problems.
Enter the St. Louis Cardinals, who boast a strong implied team total of 4.78 runs. They have pummeled left-handers all season, including possible NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt. He has logged a .402 batting average this season, including a silly 273 wRC+ and 1.361 OPS mark on the year.
He's a spicy meatball tonight -- and even at an elevated price, he comes in projected as our second-best hitter at 16.8 FanDuel points. Lock him in.
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.
