3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 6/3/19
Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-priced 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 pitcher, by far the highest floors for production.
For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce well too, 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.
Taking up so much salary, and playing such a big role in your lineup's ceiling, you're not going to want to whiff on these guys, so lets take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.
Aaron Nola, P, Philadelphia Phillies ($9,600)
Considering we only have three games on tonight's slate, the pitching options at our disposal are pretty solid, with three arms priced to at least $8,000.
Nola's 4.12 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) ranks second among pitchers on the slate, and his 26.2% strikeout rate sits well ahead of the 23.8% belonging to Walker Buehler, who is the only arm in action tonight with a better SIERA (and a higher salary) than Nola.
If we expand our view to include 2018, the gaps between Nola (3.58 SIERA, 26.8% strikeout rate) and Buehler (3.50 SIERA and 26.6% strikeout rate) are tiny, and they're the only pitchers on the slate with SIERAs better than 4.00 in that time.
Nola's matchup helps give him a nice boost over Buehler here, too, facing down a San Diego Padres team that boasts a slate-low 3.56-run implied total, compared to a 3.88-run implied total for the Arizona Diamondbacks against Buehler.
For as much as the Padres are a great real-world matchup for right-handed pitchers, ranking bottom-10 with an 85 wRC+ in the split, they are one of the best fantasy matchups you can ask for, with a 27.3% strikeout rate against righties that sits as the clear-cut highest in the majors.
Alex Bregman, SS, Houston Astros ($4,400)
In one of the better matchups on the slate for offensive players, the Houston Astros go up against Seattle Mariners southpaw Wade LeBlanc, who owns a shaky 4.92 SIERA over six starts this season, taking a step back from 2018's 4.33 mark and bringing his career average to 4.43. His swinging-strike rate has fallen for the second straight season, and at 8.4%, it's his lowest since 2012, meaning his drop in strikeout rate (17.3%) isn't likely to turn around any time soon.
He's also giving up some huge contact, even by the standards of this power-heavy 2019 season, allowing a 41.2% hard-hit and 41.2% fly-ball rate with only an 8.8% soft-hit rate.
Alex Bregman has picked up right where he left off in his breakout 2018 season, with a .394 wOBA and .284 ISO over 256 plate appearances in 2019. That brings him to a .395 wOBA and .256 ISO over the last two seasons, while he's also got a higher walk rate (14.3%) than strikeout rate (12.6%).
Bregman is the second-most expensive bat on this short slate, but he's well worth paying up for.
Dan Vogelbach, 1B, Seattle Mariners ($3,700)
On the other side of that game, Houston's Corbin Martin will be making his fifth big league start. His first four have been really rough, struggling to the tune of a 5.05 SIERA with an 11.8% walk rate. Those walks don't appear to be a new issue, either, with a 12.1% walk rate in his six career Triple-A starts too. His 1.42 ERA at that level this year was outstanding, but it did come with a worryingly low 4.60 xFIP, which gives us plenty of reason to temper our expectations for the 23-year-old this season.
Vogelbach has burst on the scene in 2019, posting a .385 wOBA and .313 ISO over 201 plate appearances. That ISO might not be sustainable, as 23.1% of his fly balls have gone yard this year, but he's also a guy who can make some terrific contact, owning a 41.3% hard-hit and 45.1% fly-ball rate over 347 career plate appearances in the majors.
He's been especially deadly in his 163 plate appearances against righties this season, with a .424 wOBA, .346 ISO and 17.8% walk rate, and he should have little issue giving Martin a hard time on Monday.
Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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.
