FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 4/18/23

We have some intriguing names to choose between at pitcher, but we can arguably poke holes in most of them tonight, making things a bit trickier. Coors Field headlines our bats again, and perhaps even more so than yesterday.

Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

Spencer Strider ($10,800) has logged exactly nine punchouts in each of his first three starts, helping him to a tantalizing 40.9% strikeout rate. The only problem? It's also come with a 12.1% walk rate, and that's led to mixed fantasy results of 55, 33, and 33 FanDuel points.

This isn't the easiest matchup for Strider, either, as the Padres' active roster checks in with a 112 wRC+ and 21.2% strikeout rate against right-handed pitchers dating back to last season. Worst of all, they have the league's highest walk rate (10.9%) in the split, which could be particularly troublesome for someone like Strider.

It's worth noting that San Diego does have a 24.7% strikeout rate versus righties in 2023, though, giving us some room for optimism. There's no question that Strider is capable of leading the slate in scoring if he can keep the free passes in check, and that upside makes him a no-brainer in tournaments despite the concerns.

And speaking of tournaments, Blake Snell ($7,400) remains a classic boom-or-bust option, and while business hasn't been booming so far in 2023, this salary should definitely get our attention.

The results haven't been pretty, and Snell has been wild even by his standards (15.2% walk rate), but he's still put up a solid 24.2% strikeout rate and 13.5% swinging-strike rate. Given that the southpaw has exceeded a 30.0% strikeout rate in each of the past five seasons, it's reasonable to expect those punchout numbers to rise as he gets settled into this campaign.

Similar to Strider's matchup in that same game, Atlanta could make Snell's life difficult, though, as their active roster boasts a 113 wRC+ versus lefties, and they just so happen to also own the best walk rate (10.8%) in said split. There's no question that his struggles could continue. And yet, how often do we find guys capable of a 30% strikeout rate at a salary below $8,000?

Both Strider and Snell are fly-ball pitchers, so they should also benefit from cooler temperatures in San Diego.

For someone who could be a little more consistent this season, we have Logan Gilbert ($9,700), who has logged a promising 3.08 SIERA, 29.9% strikeout rate, and 6.0% walk rate through his three outings. While Gilbert wasn't a huge strikeout pitcher in 2022, he's added a splitter to the mix this season, which could be contributing to his early-season success.

The Brewers are off to a strong start this year, but they aren't a bad matchup for strikeouts, as their active roster has the seventh-highest strikeout rate versus right-handers (23.5%) since the start of 2022. Gilbert also got up to a season-high 94 pitches last week, so he should be just about fully stretched out.

I'm not sure I can talk myself into Chris Sale ($7,700) after three underwhelming starts, but you might be surprised that he actually has a 3.83 SIERA and 29.7% strikeout rate. Sure, he hasn't helped his cause with a 10.9% walk rate and a scary amount of hard contact, but a .406 BABIP, 52.6% strand rate, and 41.7% homer-to-fly-ball rate all suggest he's had poor luck along the way, too. The Twins were tough on lefties last year, so this probably isn't the best spot to take a chance on Sale, but buying low isn't the craziest thought.

Nathan Eovaldi ($9,100) is one more to have on your radar. This is one of the slate's warmest games, and high winds could also be a factor, so Eovaldi might be in danger of letting up some home runs -- except he's facing the Royals. Against righties, Kansas City's active roster has the second-worst wRC+ (83) and fourth-worst ISO (.134) going back to last year. Things look even worse if we just look at 2023, as they've posted the very worst wRC+ in the split (63).

Eovaldi has recorded a 27.9% strikeout rate and 13.3% swinging-strike rate so far, and while he's yet to go six innings this year, he should be able to get there against this particular opponent. Note that this is actually a repeat matchup against the Royals, and things didn't go great for Eovaldi the last time, but a .529 BABIP ruined what otherwise could have been a strong outing.

Hitting Breakdown

The Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates are combining for a 12.5-run over/under at Coors Field tonight, which effectively means that both teams have implied team totals above six runs. No other team on the slate comes close.

That's because not only do we have a pair of weak starters taking the mound in Jose Urena and Vince Velasquez, but we have temperatures nearing 70 degrees and roughly 14 MPH winds blowing out to right.

The Pirates get to face Urena, and he's performed abysmally even by his low standards, producing a 6.42 SIERA, 12.7% strikeout rate, and 14.5% walk rate thus far. Even his decent ground-ball rate has evaporated, leading to him already giving up five home runs in just 10 innings pitched. Bryan Reynolds ($4,400), Carlos Santana ($3,200), and Jack Suwinski ($2,700) are probably our best bets for power on Pittsburgh, and all three will have the platoon advantage.

Velasquez is right there with Urena as one of the worst arms of the slate, coming in with a 5.90 SIERA, 16.4% strikeout rate, and 11.5% walk rate in three starts. In his case, he has a long history of coughing up home runs, and this year's 54.5% fly-ball rate won't do him any favors tonight. C.J. Cron ($3,800) remains the clear power threat in this Rockies lineup, and then everyone else is once again getting fairly modest salaries across the board.

The New York Yankees have the top non-Coors implied team total (4.82) and are taking on left-hander Jose Suarez. Suarez scuffled in his two 2023 starts, which includes a middling 13.3% strikeout rate. His 10.1% swinging-strike rate points to a potential bump in punchouts moving forward, but given his career 20.3% strikeout rate, he'll probably still settle in with a below-average mark.

Suarez allowed a 40.7% fly-ball rate to right-handed batters in 2022, so the hope is for guys like Aaron Judge ($4,300) and Gleyber Torres ($3,700) to take advantage, and Anthony Volpe ($2,800) is a nice value if he's batting leadoff.

Whenever we see Josiah Gray on a slate, it's pretty much an auto-stack alert, and that's what we have in the Baltimore Orioles tonight. Gray has allowed 2.33 home runs per nine innings over his young career, and he's close to that mark in 2023 after allowing 4 dingers in 16 2/3 innings.

Note that Gray has bumped up his ground-ball rate to 50.0% and limited walks to 6.9%, so it's possible he's making some improvements this year. But those positives have come at the cost of his strikeout rate (18.1%), and given that the home runs haven't gone away yet, this still looks like someone to continue attacking.

Left-handed batters have done the brunt of the damage over Gray's career, so Cedric Mullins ($3,400), Adley Rutschman ($3,900), and Anthony Santander ($2,800) are among the standouts, and the right-handed Ryan Mountcastle ($3,600) be able to get in on the fun, as well.

I noted Blake Snell as a value play in the pitching section, but he also has the highest 2023 walk rate (15.2%) out of anyone on the slate, and the Atlanta Braves will absolutely punish him if he continues to be all over the place. At his salary, Snell could also be fairly popular, making the Braves' bats even more appealing for tournaments.