MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 9/9/19

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Sep 9th, 2019
Now part of an elite 44-homer, 30-steal club, Christian Yelich could be in line for dinger number 45 tonight. What other pricey plays should we consider?

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.

Jacob deGrom, P, New York Mets ($10,600)

After winning the Cy Young a year ago with only 10 wins, and rightfully so, can the New York Mets ace do it again with only eight (what he currently has) or nine wins?

It will be an interesting exercise, but it is certainly not due to poor performance. deGrom is up there on the stud meter tonight with a slate-best 31.1% strikeout rate, and his 2.76 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over 176 innings pitched show he has been nearly as impressive as he was a season ago.

Facing the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are a middle-of-the-road offense, deGrom should be primed and ready for a monster night.

Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers ($4,700)

It's getting to the point where Christian Yelich is so good, I am starting to feel bad for opposing pitchers like Robert Dugger, who opposes Yelich tonight.

Let's understand that Dugger, who in a small sample size of only 18 innings pitched, has a 15.2% strikeout rate and an 8.9% walk rate. That comes on the heels of a 19.9% strikeout rate in Triple-A this season.

While Yelich equally hammers lefties and righties, he's even more preposterous with the platoon advantage -- this season, he owns a 1.194 OPS and .738 slugging percentage against righty hurlers.

If you can afford what could be the back-to-back NL MVP, pay up for this man.

Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees ($4,400)

It may have been a rocky season for Aaron Judge, but this is one bad man that is blasting balls into orbit.

After another long ball raised his 2019 season total to 21 home runs, Judge has been absolutely en fuego at the dish. Since August 23rd in 62 at-bats, Judge owns .710 slugging percentage and 1.033 OPS to his name.

And lefties have still gotten blasted, despite Judge's poor campaign -- he has ripped them for a .656 slugging percentage in 2019, so consider the slugging outfielder.

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.