MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 9/1/22

Xander Bogaerts is in an incredible spot to smash tonight. What other top plays should we consider?

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.

Brandon Woodruff, SP, Milwaukee Brewers ($10,500)

While Spencer Strider ($9,900), not Brandon Woodruff, leads our projections tonight, I'm more interested in Woodruff, who shapes us as the less popular of the two.

Woodruff is taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he has the stuff to deliver the goods. For the season, Woodruff owns a 3.19 SIERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 13.7% swinging-strike rate. Those are top-notch numbers.

Arizona is just 19th in wOBA (.307) for the season, so this matchup is a pretty nice one. The D-Backs' 3.54 implied total is the night's second-lowest.

On a tiny main slate, both Woodruff and Strider are great options who should post big scores. With Strider likely to be chalk, Woodruff is really appealing in my eyes.

Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox ($3,600)

If you take a quick peek at Glenn Otto's numbers, you see a minor leaguer who posted some gaudy strikeout totals. Unfortunately for Otto, that hasn't translated to success at the big league level.

Otto has struggled this season. Over 99 2/3 innings pitched, the right-hander has logged only a 4.6% K-BB% rate. Otto has been particularly vexed by same-sided right-handed batters, allowing 1.26 HR/9 in the split.

After smacking a long ball last night, Xander Bogaerts is primed and ready to go for another big game. With the Boston Red Sox sporting a slate-best 5.31 implied total, they're a great team to stack, and Bogaerts is a high-upside play.

Ronald Acuna, OF, Atlanta Braves ($4,200)

Poor Chad Kuhl.

The veteran righty doesn't have good numbers, and we are going to pick on him even when he's pitching outside of his home digs in Denver. Kuhl has recorded a 5.22 FIP, and he's struck out only 16.6% of batters on the season while allowing 1.50 HR/9.

The batted-ball data against Kuhl shows nearly everyone has hit him hard, so that means all bats are in play from the Atlanta Braves. Because of that, I'm gonna go with leadoff man Ronald Acuna.

While the power numbers may be down a bit (11 home runs, .413 slugging percentage) for Acuna, he can still do plenty of damage. Acuna has posted a 119 wRC+, and his career .239 ISO in righty-righty matchups shows he has plenty of pop in this split.

I am going to get Acuna in my lineups.



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.