MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 8/21/19

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Aug 21st, 2019
Justin Verlander has been outstanding this season, and he has a sensational matchup with the lowly Tigers tonight. What other studs should we be considering?

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 let,s take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

Justin Verlander, P, Houston Astros ($12,200)

Arguably fantasy's #1 starting pitcher, Justin Verlander gets to improve upon teammate Aaron Sanchez's performance and continue his scintillating 2019 season.

Over 169 2/3 innings pitched this season, the Houston Astros ace just continues to age like a fine wine, recording a 34.9% strikeout rate (career-best), 5.2% walk rate, and a 15.7% swinging-strike rate. If those numbers weren't impressive enough, he gets to attack his old buddies, the Detroit Tigers, who we have bashed recently as one of the league's worst offenses.

The Astros are also absurdly favored tonight with a moneyline of -550, so if you are looking to set yourself up with a solid floor and high ceiling potential, don't overthink this one and roster Verlander.

Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers ($4,800)

The Christian Yelich statistics at Miller Park read like a video game -- in 2019, the lefty owns a .485 wOBA, 1.235 OPS, and has slammed 25 home runs in Milwaukee. Fade him tonight in St. Louis, tonight?

Naw fam, this could be just as big of a night against St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright. The veteran righty has thrown well in 2019, posting a 4.54 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), but he has been tattooed by lefty bats for a .502 slugging percentage and 43.6% hard-hit rate.

The Brewers will look to rebound after two losses to open the series,

Matt Chapman, 3B, Oakland Athletics ($3,900)

As a heavy investor in the artist formerly known as pitcher J.A. Happ, this season has been quite the disappointing effort. The veteran southpaw owns an 18.9% strikeout rate and a 40.1% hard-hit rate (career-worst mark) over 125 innings pitched.

Like Wainwright, opposite-handed hitters have been a real thorn in his side. Righties have bombed him for a .512 slugging percentage, 41.8% fly-ball rate, and 42.6% hard-hit rate this year. It's no surprise that guys like Matt Chapman have a combined 42 extra-base hits in 402 plate appearances.

We've got the Oakland Athletics pegged for an implied team total of 5.08 runs, so if you're looking for some exposure to this juicy scoring affair, peep Chapman.

Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. 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.