MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 9/16/22

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Sep 16th, 2022

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.

Blake Snell, SP, San Diego Padres ($10,100)

Two southpaws, Blake Snell and Max Fried, seem to be the top pitching plays on today's slate, and by the slimmest of margins, I am going with the San Diego Padres' starter.

Here's the reason why -- Snell's matchup against his division rival, the Arizona Diamondbacks, is far easier than what Fried stacks up against with the Philadelphia Phillies. With Bryce Harper back in the fold, the Phillies have burst their way to a .347 wOBA and .216 isolated power (ISO) in the last two weeks. The Diamondbacks? Marks of a .171 ISO and .306 wOBA in that time.

We project Snell for 34.2 FanDuel points, 0.9 fewer than Fried, but I'm siding with Snell.

Bo Bichette, SS, Toronto Blue Jays ($4,500)

Hotter than the surface of the sun, Bo Bichette has a great matchup tonight at home against Jordan Lyles.

Lyles has really struggled in the second half of the season, allowing 1.53 HR/9 since the break. He's also been bad away from home, posting a 4.91 FIP in the split and allowing 1.46 HR/9. None of those are good clips.

Bichette has been good against right-handed batters this season, rocking a 131 wRC+ against righties and a 41.7% hard-hit rate in the second half.

Lock in Bichette as a core piece of Toronto Blue Jays (4.92 implied total) stacks.

Francisco Lindor, SS, New York Mets ($3,700)

Involved in a super tight divisional race, the New York Mets will need to lean on the excellence of Francisco Lindor down the stretch.

Lindor has been great this season, posting a 127 wRC+ and .448 slugging percentage in 632 plate appearances. His 39.8% fly-ball rate ranks among the best fly-ball rates of his career.

Tonight, he faces Mitch Keller of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Keller owns a 4.50 xFIP against lefties and logged a poor 6.3% K-BB% rate on the year.

I think Lindor can smash in this matchup.


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.