MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 9/24/19

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Sep 24th, 2019
Aaron Judge has been on fire at the plate lately, and against a struggling Yonny Chirinos, he could add to that power surge tonight. What other expensive options 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.

Gerrit Cole, SP, Houston Astros ($12,300)

Another day, and another opportunity to roster the pitching monster known as Gerrit Cole.

As if you needed a reason to roster the likely winner of the AL Cy Young, Cole tops our main slate in terms of strikeout rate (39.1%) and the dude has hit 50 or more FanDuel points in seven consecutive starts. That's not only a great floor, but his ceiling is obvious.

And to maximize that ceiling, Cole squares off with the Seattle Mariners -- over the last 30 days, the Mariners clock in 23rd in team wOBA (.292) with a hefty 25.3% strikeout rate and only a .147 isolated power (ISO).

Cole looks primed to finish 2019, assuming this is his last full start prior to the playoffs, with a flourish.

Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees ($4,600)

As the New York Yankees prepare for the 2019 playoffs, it looks like Aaron Judge is finally rounding into form during a disappointing campaign. That's bad news for the Tampa Bay Rays and Yonny Chirinos tonight.

Chirinos has exhibited poor same-sided splits this year -- he's allowed a .457 slugging percentage and allowed 1.91 home runs per nine (HR/9) innings pitched over 271 plate appearances.

Meanwhile, Judge is on a pretty hot tear. After homering on Sunday, that gives him four long balls in his last six games and he's up to 26 on the year -- not bad for a guy that had only seven home runs through the month of June.

If you can afford the pricey hitter, think about rostering the Yankees slugger.

Ronald Acuna, OF, Atlanta Braves ($4,400)

The Atlanta Braves have slammed their way to an NL East title, perhaps exceeding expectations and zooming past the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals this season. Ronald Acuna has been a big reason why.

The precocious young slugger has blasted his way to a 41-homer, 37-steal season, all at that ripe old age of 21. And he's done that by destroying left-handed pitching. This season, he has bombed southpaws for a .908 slugging percentage and .544 slugging percentage, homering once every 12.5 at-bats.

That could make things rough for Danny Duffy and the Kansas City Royals, who look to finish their year on a high note after recording their 100th loss on Sunday. Duffy's allowed 1.48 HR/9 and a 41.7% hard-hit rate in this split in 2019, and Acuna could launch another one tonight.

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.