MLB
3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 9/29/22
Mike Trout has been on a tear recently, and he's got a great matchup tonight. Which other top options should we think about?

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.

Carlos Rodon, SP, San Francisco Giants ($10,800)

Leading our projections by a healthy margin tonight, Carlos Rodon is not an arm we can passively ignore.

Rodon has been absolutely brilliant this season. Spanning 172 innings pitched, he's logged a 32.8% strikeout rate while allowing just a 29.0% hard-hit rate.

And the Colorado Rockies, his opponent tonight, haven't been all that lately. They rank 20th in team wOBA over the last two weeks (.290), and their .129 isolated power (ISO) and 24.7% strikeout rate aren't so hot, either.

The Rockies also struggle mightily on the road with a league-worst .275 wOBA this year.

Rodon is the bee's knees tonight, and we have him going for 41.7 FanDuel points.

Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels ($4,500)

I'm hoping Mike Trout's recent run of bad luck (health-wise) is just a blip, because man, that dude has been brilliant recently.

In the last month, covering 94 at-bats, the slugger has ripped 10 long balls with a .277 batting average and .997 OPS. While he isn't running much, he's pounded his way to 38 home runs over 415 at-bats this season, and his .342 ISO is one of the best marks of his brilliant career.

Cole Irvin gets the start tonight for the Oakland Athletics, and he's been hit hard by righties, as evidenced by his .424 slugging percentage, 18 dingers allowed, and 45.0% fly-ball rate in the split.

We project Trout as the sixth-best hitter on the day, forecasting him to score 12.1 FanDuel points.

Thairo Estrada, 2B, San Francisco Giants ($2,800)

While hurler Ryan Feltner is probably doing back flips getting out of pitching in Coors, he's got to figure a few things out if he wants MLB success.

Same-sided righty bats are absolutely torching Feltner this year. He's posted a .521 slugging percentage allowed in this split and giving up 1.76 HR/9. A 35.6% fly-ball rate certainly exacerbates the situation.

While a lot of the big boppers in the San Francisco Giants lineup seem to be lefties, a two-hitting Thairo Estrada could make for an outstanding play on this tiny main slate. He's posted a solid duel threat combo of 14 homers and 19 steals, and his 111 wRC+ is nothing to sneeze at.

Given the matchup and Feltner's struggles against righties, I will be rostering him a ton today.



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.

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