3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 6/10/19
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.
Chris Sale, P, Boston Red Sox ($11,800)
After a shaky start to the year, Sale has bounced back to rank second among qualifying pitchers with both his 34.9% strikeout rate and 2.91 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA). These may not be in line with the absurd marks he posted in 2018 (38.4% strikeouts and 2.27 SIERA), but regressing to being just the second-most dangerous pitcher in the majors isn't all that bad.
After failing to strike out more than six in any of his first four starts this season, he has fanned double-digit hitters in all but two of his last nine games, with at least 12 strikeouts in three of his last six.
The Texas Rangers may have some serious power, with a top-10 group ISO (.196), but they have also struggled a lot with southpaws. In the split, they have the fourth-highest strikeout rate (26.4%) and eighth-lowest wRC+ (86) in the majors.
The Rangers have a lowly 2.94-run implied total while the Boston Red Sox are huge -270 favorites here, and both in terms of floor and ceiling, Sale is the slate's premier pitching option.
Charlie Blackmon, OF, Colorado Rockies ($4,300)
Blackmon's another guy who had an underwhelming start to the season but has quickly turned it around. His wOBA and ISO (.377 and .256) are both up from the marks he posted in 2018 (.368 and .211), and his 39.2% hard-hit rate and 38.44% fly-ball rate are both on pace to be career-highs.
He's making especially great contact against right-handed pitching, with 41.5% hard-hits and 43.5% fly-balls over 130 plate appearances.
Chicago Cubs righty Yu Darvish hasn't been allowing especially worrying contact this year, but he's having serious control issues, with his walk rate up to 14.9% and his SIERA sitting at 4.82 over 13 games.
This game will go down at Coors Field, where contact like Blackmon's is especially valuable, and accordingly, the Rockies boast a slate-high 5.76-run implied total.
Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Chicago Cubs ($4,400)
On the other side of that game, the Cubs own a strong implied total of their own (5.24 runs) and go up against righty German Marquez.
Marquez has turned in a solid 3.65 SIERA this season, though his 38.0% hard-hit and 13.3% soft-hit rate (both the most hitter-friendly marks of his career) are an obvious concern when he's pitching at home, where he's been tagged for a .342 wOBA over 42 innings this season.
He's also much less deadly against left-handed bats, with a 3.99 xFIP on the year (versus 2.86 to righties), opening the door for Anthony Rizzo.
Rizzo saw his production drop off to the lowest levels since 2013 last season, but he's back with a vengeance in 2019. His 90.7 mile-per-hour average exit velocity is his best mark of the last five seasons, as is his .557 expected slugging percentage, which ranks in the top 7% of hitters. He's been especially good against righties (.409 wOBA, .291 ISO on a 46.7% hard-hit rate), and that should mean big things against Marquez at Coors.
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.
