FanDuel MLB 3-Man Challenge Helper: Friday 6/14/19

Sometimes, you just don't have time to track the weather, check the splits, and wait for the batting order to be posted to build a full nine-man FanDuel MLB roster. It happens. But that no longer means you can't build some lineups, thanks to FanDuel's MLB 3-Man Challenge game style.

The premise is simple: build a three-player roster for a $7 salary cap, and only hits and RBI count toward netting FanDuel points. One player is your MVP, and his points are multiplied by 1.5, and you just need to roster players from at least two different teams. That more or less covers it, but you should familiarize yourself with the basic strategy for the new game style to help you in tonight's marquee 3-Man Challenge contest.

That being said, which options stand out at each price range for today's 3-Man Challenge slate?

$3 Tier

Charlie Blackmon - Here we go with Coors Field again. The Colorado Rockies are at home with a massive 6.65-run implied total and a juicy matchup against San Diego Padres righty Cal Quantrill. Charlie Blackmon went yard twice last night, and he tends to dominate right-handed pitchers. Dating back to 2017, Blackmon has made 508 plate appearances at home against righties. In that sample, he has a massive .483 wOBA and .368 ISO. Quantrill hasn't been egregious over his five major league starts, but that sample is not even as big as his seven games in Triple-A this year, where he posted a worrying 4.72 xFIP. Even without the platoon advantage, we can still target the other usual suspects in the Rockies' lineup like Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story.

Hunter Renfroe - On the other side of that game, Jeff Hoffman shouldn't scare you off the Padres offense. Hoffman owns a career 4.88 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) with a 5.09 xFIP at Coors Field. Renfroe's career-high 91 mile-per-hour average exit velocity has helped him to a .357 wOBA and massive .346 ISO so far this season. He has an outstanding 51.9% hard-hit rate, and pairing that with a 43.0% fly-ball rate is a recipe for big upside in Colorado.

Gary Sanchez - No player is hitting barrels on a higher percentage of plate appearances this season than Sanchez (15.5%), who also sits second in the majors in expected slugging percentage (.686). Making some of the best contact in the majors, he's nearly always going to be worth considering in a format that values home runs as heavily as this one. And while Chicago White Sox righty Lucas Giolito has looked pretty terrific through 12 starts in 2019, he's still letting hitters get the ball in the air a bunch (40.0%) and his 5.7% home-run-to-fly-ball rate is likely unsustainable. There's still plenty of room for home run upside from opposing hitters.

$2 Tier

Wil Myers - Back to the Padres, Wil Myers is sporting the highest barrel rate of his career in 2019, and his hard-hit rate sits at a career-high 50.8%. His .327 wOBA is nothing to write home about, but he's sporting a .200 ISO and has plenty of home run upside at Coors. Our models project him as the highest-scoring $2 hitter on the slate, and he's tied with the fourth-highest fantasy point projection overall.

David Dahl - It's nice to get Dahl and his career .368 wOBA and .216 ISO in the $2 tier, especially considering he's hitting at home with the platoon advantage tonight. He's not a huge fly-ball guy (33.7% fly-balls for his career), but that doesn't mean he can't get in on the fun at Coors. That's not a worryingly low rate or anything, and at home, against right-handed pitching, he has a career .419 wOBA and .272 ISO over 300 plate appearances.

C.J. Cron - Sandwiched between the two Coors Field teams, the Minnesota Twins' 6.00-run implied total is the second-highest on the slate as they take on righty Brad Keller and the Kansas City Royals. Keller has an ugly 4.85 SIERA across 226 major league innings. C.J. Cron ranks in the top 7% of hitters in both barrel rate and expected slugging percentage this season, and same-sided matchups haven't limited his power much, showing a .230 ISO against right-handers in 2019 after posting a .236 in 2018.

$1 Tier

Marwin Gonzalez - Sticking with the Twins, the switch-hitting Gonzalez gets a nice boost with the platoon advantage against Keller, who has an especially rough 4.85 xFIP against left-handed bats over his career. Gonzalez is no killer from the dish, but over the last three years, he has a sound .347 wOBA and .187 ISO against right-handed pitching, which is more than enough to make him a great play for $1 against Keller.

Josh Reddick - It may only rank fourth on the slate, but we shouldn't turn up our noses at the Houston Astros' implied total, which sits just shy of 5 runs tonight. They're up against Toronto Blue Jays righty Aaron Sanchez, whose 5.26 SIERA on the season leaves plenty of room for upside, especially considering he hasn't finished with a mark better than 5.10 since 2016. Like Gonzalez, Reddick is an often-unexciting hitter, but he has a capable .334 wOBA and .159 ISO over the last three seasons, making him a reasonable way to get exposure to Houston on Friday.

Ian Kinsler - You don't have many choices if you want a $1 Coors Field play tonight. Ian Kinsler has an ugly .282 wOBA on the season, but he's also showing some reasonable pop, turning a 33.0% hard-hit rate and 43.0% fly-ball rate into a .183 ISO. That puts him on pace to top a .175 ISO for the third time in the last four seasons, with fly-ball rates above 40% in each. That's not exactly earth-shattering power, but you don't need earth-shattering power to go yard at Coors. We have him projected only 0.02 home runs behind Gonzalez, who has the highest mark among $1 hitters.

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.