3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Thursday 6/22/23
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, which is an early one, starting at 1:05 p.m. EST.
Arizona Diamondbacks
On this five-game slate, there's one true standout stacking option -- the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Arizona's 5.07 implied total is a slate-leading mark by a good distance. The Snakes are on the road for a clash with Jake Irvin. The right-handed Irvin has very few positives in his profile. Through 36 innings this season, he's pitched to a 5.75 SIERA, 16.3% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate. Lefties are absolutely destroying him to the tune of a .392 wOBA, 43.5% fly-ball rate and 1.86 homers per nine.
Given Irvin's woes versus left-handed hitters, Corbin Carroll ($4,200) and Ketel Marte ($3,900) are a high-upside one-two punch today. In fact, our model has them ranked as the slate's two best bats. Carroll has become one of the top dual-threat plays in DFS, smacking 16 dingers and swiping 21 bags. Marte has a .372 wOBA for the year and has been on fire in June, registering a .444 wOBA this month.
Pavin Smith ($2,700), Geraldo Perdomo ($2,800), Alek Thomas ($2,400) and Jake McCarthy ($2,600) will all hit from the left side, too. McCarthy has 15 steals to his name and is worth a look despite the fact he usually hits ninth. Perdomo swiped two bags on Wednesday and may hit leadoff. We rate Perdomo as the slate's second-best point-per-dollar play.
While I've talked about only lefties so far, we certainly don't need to shy away from Arizona's righties. Christian Walker ($3,600) has 15 taters and a .359 wOBA. Lourdes Gurriel ($3,100) hasn't maintained his gaudy .474 wOBA from May but will be in a juicy spot in the lineup. We project Gurriel as the slate's number-three bat, giving Arizona the top three hitters by our numbers.
San Diego Padres
When the San Diego Padres signed Xander Bogaerts ($3,000) in the offseason, I immediately thought of how nasty this lineup -- especially at the top -- could be against left-handed pitching. They haven't been as potent as I thought they'd be, but they're still pretty darn good versus lefties, racking up the eighth-best wOBA (.332) in the split.
San Diego (4.39 implied total) can do some work today against left-hander Alex Wood. After two quality seasons with the San Francisco Giants, Wood's numbers have dipped this year as he's got a 4.59 SIERA and 10.1% walk rate. He still misses a solid amount of bats, sporting a 10.8% swinging-strike rate, but righties are mashing him to the tune of a .362 wOBA and 39.5% fly-ball rate.
Fernando Tatis Jr. ($4,300), Manny Machado ($2,900) and the aforementioned Bogaerts bring a lot of upside to the table in this spot. Tatis' salary is way up there, but, man, he's worth the coin. He's got a .387 wOBA and is an elite dual-threat weapon, tallying 15 homers and 12 steals.
Gary Sanchez ($2,800) has been solid with the Padres (42.2% hard-hit rate and 44.4% fly-ball rate) and is another righty thumper we can turn to. Nelson Cruz ($2,300) is a sweet value dart throw. He hasn't been all that good this season, which is why the salary is where it is, but he's hammered lefties over the course of his long career (.390 wOBA).
Juan Soto ($3,500) is well worth a look despite the lefty-lefty matchup. After a slow start, Soto has his overall numbers up to the kind of production we've grown accustomed to for him as he's put up a .389 wOBA and .903 OPS. Against lefties, he owns a respectable .330 wOBA.
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals have a pretty mundane offense, but they can deliver the goods today in a clash with Tommy Henry.
Henry, a southpaw, isn't very good. He's got a 5.40 SIERA for the season, and he's striking out only 15.1% of hitters. Right-handers are tattooing him for 1.54 homers per nine and a 42.4% fly-ball rate.
The Nats come in at modest salaries and have a few righty sticks who catch my eye, starting with leadoff hitter Lane Thomas ($3,400). Thomas has been a standout performer for Washington this year, posting a .355 expected wOBA with 11 homers and 7 steals. He's been lights out versus lefties, too, slugging his way to a .445 wOBA and 40.5% hard-hit rate in the split. He's an outstanding option today, one who ranks fifth by our projections.
Stone Garrett ($2,200), Joey Meneses ($2,700) and Jeimer Candelario ($3,000) will also hit from the right side versus Henry and figure to be in meaty spots in the lineup. Garrett is my favorite of that bunch as he owns a .345 wOBA and 57.1% hard-hit rate versus southpaws this season. Our projections have him as the best point-per-dollar bat of the slate.
Facing a lefty, Michael Chavis ($2,000) would be a viable dart throw if he gets a start.
