4 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for 8/14/20
In the world of daily baseball, stacks are often the backbone of the most successful -- and profitable -- lineups. Correlation is the key.
When an offense hangs runs in bunches, it means hitters are scoring runs and teammates hitting behind them are driving them in. By rostering stacks, you’re maximizing the fantasy scoring by essentially double dipping on a run-scoring event.
This is your daily home for the top stacks on the daily fantasy baseball slate. Whether you’re looking to identify the projected highest-scoring stacks or contrarian stacks that can help you separate from the pack in GPPs when they explode, they’ll be thrown under the spotlight here.
Gamers who are numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. The tool allows you to select the team and number of players from that team you’d like to include in your lineup. If you’re looking to identify other potentially high-scoring stacks beyond those featured in this space, check out our hitting heat map, a tool that provides valuable info such as implied total, park factor, and stats to identify the quality of the opposing pitcher.
Without further ado, let’s dive into today’s main slate’s featured stacks.
Cleveland Indians
Despite recording a 4.72 ERA and 5.16 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) last year, per FanGraphs, Ivan Nova's actually appreciably worse this year with a 5.74 ERA and 5.48 SIERA through three starts. Already lacking in punch-out ability, his 14.1 percent strikeout percentage from last year has cratered to 11.4 percent this year while his 5.8 percent walk percentage has exploded to 10 percent.
The Cleveland Indians are more than capable of continuing Nova's struggles with a big showing tonight.
Leadoff hitter Cesar Hernandez ($2,900) isn't flashy, but his lineup spot makes his a usable stacking option whose ceiling is elevated from the likelihood of being driven in when he reaches base.
The real fun starts with Jose Ramirez ($3,800) from the second spot. The switch-hitting third baseman is off to a solid start this year and has been Cleveland's most productive hitter against righties since 2017, with a .370 OBP, .272 isolated power (ISO) and 138 weighted runs created plus (wRC+).
Fellow switch-hitters Francisco Lindor ($3,600) and Carlos Santana ($2,900) are also excellent stacking options hitting third and cleanup, respectively.
However, Franmil Reyes ($2,700) is a piece I believe gamers would be misguided to leave off of stacks. Reyes can put a charge into the ball, as evidenced by ranking tied for 73rd out of 269 qualified hitters in fly-ball and line-drive exit velocity at 95 miles per hour, according to Baseball Savant. Out of 250 qualified hitters in 2019, Reyes ranked fourth in the same category, hitting fly balls and line drives at a blistering 98.2 miles per hour. He's tailor-made to punish a pitch-to-contact hurler like Nova.
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees were without Aaron Judge ($4,300) when they last played on Wednesday while he dealt with lower-body tightness that forced him out of Tuesday's contest early. If the time off was all Judge needed to get right and he's back tonight, he's the highest-upside option in the lineup. His nine homers lead the way this year, and ditto among qualified hitters for his .468 ISO.
If Judge is out, Wednesday's fill-in Clint Frazier ($2,600) quickly reminded people how good his bat is by going 3 for 4 with a double and a homer and makes for a solid option at a bargain price.
Gleyber Torres ($2,700) is off to a slow start but owns a .334 OBP, .218 ISO and 121 wRC+ against righties at home in his career and should be considered for stacks.
Luke Voit ($3,100), Aaron Hicks ($2,700) and Giovanny Urshela ($3,000) are three others who I want to specifically call out by name, but the entire lineup is stackable against Nathan Eovaldi. The hard-throwing righty has been mostly sharp this year, but his sub-40 percent ground-ball percentage (38.7 percent, to be exact) could make him homer prone against a power-packed lineup like that Yankees.
Additionally, Yankee Stadium has the ninth-highest park factor for homers (1.075), per FantasyPros.
Oakland Athletics
Small sample warning for what's to come, but a game at remodeled Oracle Park in San Francisco not only doesn't appear to be a hindrance to power hitters, it's actually been a boost in the games played there thus far this year. ESPN's 2020 MLB park factors give Oracle Park a park factor of 1.067 for homers. Although, the real draw for stacking the Oakland Athletics tonight is a matchup with what appears to be a totally shot Johnny Cueto.
The former front-of-the-rotation starter has been a shell of his former self since returning from Tommy John surgery last year. In eight starts spanning 34 and 1/3 innings since returning to the bump last September, Cueto's been knocked around to the tune of a 5.24 ERA and 5.45 SIERA. He's walked a whopping 12.2 percent of batters he's faced in those eight starts, and he's stuck out only 18.4 percent of them.
A combination of an elevated walk rate and depressed strikeout rate is a recipe for the opposition hanging a crooked number, and, even with Ramon Laureano ($3,400) likely beginning to serve his suspension tonight, the A's have no shortage of stackable options. Take a gander at the since-2017 stats table against righties for their hitters.
Matt Olson ($3,600) is the headliner of the group with a .354 OBP, .291 ISO and 142 wRC+. Matt Chapman ($3,700) isn't too far behind with a .341 OBP, .262 ISO and 132 wRC+. Beyond the two slugging corner infielders, the A's are stackable from top to bottom and can be mixed in matched with the two tater-mashing Matt's.
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds were one of the three stacks I touted on yesterday's small MLB slate. They lost yesterday, but they hung 6 runs in a game that featured 15 runs and 6 homers.
As I pointed out yesterday, Great American Ball Park is a homer-hitting haven and has the fourth-highest park factor for homers using FantasyPros three-year average methodology. The homer-amplifying nature makes Chad Kuhl's track record of inducing grounders at a low rate a poor park fit for him having success tonight.
I made the case for using Joey Votto ($3,200), Nick Castellanos ($4,000), Eugenio Suarez ($2,900) and Jesse Winker ($2,600) yesterday, and they're once again among my favorite stacking options. If you need a refresher on their bona fides, you can check out yesterday's piece as the stats still apply with them facing another righty at home tonight.
I will add Nick Senzel ($2,800) to the touted options after his big 3 for 4 showing with 1 double, 1 homer and 4 RBI yesterday. The young hitter is up to a .262 ISO and 126 wRC+ through 49 plate appearances this year with much improved batted-ball data that includes a surge in exit velocity, an uptick in launch angle, and more pulled baseballs. That's a combo that's perfect for an increase in power, and power's that standout tool to attack with stacks at Great American "Small" Park.
Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
