3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Tuesday 5/16/23

Stacking is an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. Correlation drives upside, giving your lineups a slate-winning ceiling when your stacks explode.

This piece will do the digging and the dirty work each day to determine which stacks are worth rostering on FanDuel's main slate. While we want upside, we also need to factor in game theory, especially in a sport as random as baseball.

Our MLB DFS heat map is a quick way to get a feel for the overall slate and which offenses are in a good spot. You can also check out our daily fantasy baseball projections to identify the slate's best bats.

Let's look at the top stacks for this main slate. We won't spend time talking about the Coors teams. The Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds have two of the night's top implied totals, but you don't need me to tell you to get exposure to Coors.

Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners own the night's best non-Coors implied total (5.49) for their Fenway Park matchup against Nick Pivetta.

Pivetta is more or less the same guy he's been for a while. Through 34 2/3 frames in 2023, he's sporting a 4.51 SIERA while allowing a 41.7% hard-hit rate and 42.7% fly-ball rate. That batted-ball profile has led to an eye-popping 2.08 homers per nine innings.

On top of the great matchup, the Mariners' offense comes at easy-to-love salaries, with just one player above $3,100. Julio Rodriguez ($3,500) is said player, and while he's off to a slow start, we know what kind of upside he brings to the table. Our projections rank Julio as the night's sixth-best stick.

Someone who isn't off to a slow start is Jarred Kelenic ($3,100). After a poor 2022 campaign, Kelenic is mashing this season, recording a .379 wOBA that's fully supported by a .377 expected wOBA (xwOBA). He's got eight homers with six steals, and he's put up a 40.0% hard-hit rate with the platoon advantage. He's a superb option tonight.

Ty France ($3,000), Cal Raleigh ($2,900), J.P. Crawford ($2,800), Eugenio Suarez ($2,800) and Teoscar Hernandez ($2,800) are all modest-salaried bats who are worth a look. Raleigh and Crawford will hit from the left side versus Pivetta. Kolten Wong ($2,300) would be an appealing dart throw if he's not hitting at the bottom of the lineup.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Kyle Muller has quickly become a featured pitcher in this article, and he's back on the rubber tonight at home versus the Arizona Diamondbacks, making Arizona one of the slate's premier stacking options. The Diamondbacks' 5.20 implied total is the second-best non-Coors clip.

Muller has struggled mightily this season, pitching to a 5.59 SIERA and 14.6% strikeout rate. A southpaw, Muller has permitted a 43.5% hard-hit rate and .395 wOBA to right-handed hitters, so righties should be our focus.

Christian Walker ($3,500) is one of my favorite plays today, and our projections are also a fan, ranking him as the night's seventh-best bat. Walker boasts an overall wOBA of .353, and he's mauling lefties to the tune of a .437 wOBA, 42.4% hard-hit rate and 45.5% fly-ball rate.

Lourdes Gurriel ($3,200), Ketel Marte ($3,100), Emmanuel Rivera ($2,700) and Evan Longoria ($2,600) will all hit from the right side against Muller. Longoria is the night's best point-per-dollar hitter, per our numbers, while Rivera is expected to bat second in the lineup

New York Mets

I wanted to go a bit off the radar for one stack. Enter the New York Mets.

The Mets' 4.66 implied total doesn't stand out too much, but I really like them in their date with the combination of Jalen Beeks and Yonny Chirinos. Beeks is forecasted to open while Chirinos handles a bulk of the innings, so Chirinos is our main target. The Tampa Bay Rays' right-hander is misfiring in 2023, registering a 5.81 SIERA and 9.5% strikeout rate. While Chirinos has been better in the past, this is his first meaningful action since 2019, and he's not looking good.

Pete Alonso ($3,800) and Francisco Lindor ($3,400) are the Mets' top bats. Alonso is mashing early on this season, posting a .398 xwOBA, which would be a career-best mark by a good distance. He's got a 44.6% fly-ball rate in righty-righty matchups. Lindor has tallied six dingers and four steals.

Brandon Nimmo ($3,100) will likely lead off, and Jeff McNeil ($2,700) is projected to be in the three-hole. Brett Baty ($2,600) will have the platoon advantage against Chirinos and may not have to bat versus Beeks if Beeks goes just one inning. Dan Vogelbach ($2,500) is a nice value play. He's slugged his way to a .373 wOBA versus righties this year.