FanDuel Pitching Primer: Wednesday 4/14/21
Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-salary 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 pitchers, the high-salary options typically come with the highest floors, too.
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.
With your high-salary picks playing such a big role in your lineup, you need to be right on these guys, so let's take a look at a few top-end options you can count on to anchor your lineup today.
High-Salaried Option
Dustin May, Los Angeles Dodgers
vs Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Salary: $9,000
Same game, different name?
That could be the tune tonight, as we just saw Dustin May's teammate, Trevor Bauer, obliterate the Colorado Rockies a game ago. Even with Bauer seemingly toying with this Colorado offense, the Rockies were shut out again on the way to a 7-0 Dodgers victory.
Those Colorado Rockies are really struggling, man, especially against righties. Whiffing at a 27% clip with a .082 isolated power (ISO) mark, May is $2,000 below what Bauer was yesterday, and it makes too much sense to pay up for.
Our algorithm pegs him for a slightly lower point total on the night, but as the former NL Cy Young Award winner showed us, there's some major juicy upside here.
Mid-Salaried Play
Zach Plesac, Cleveland Indians
at Cleveland Indians
FanDuel Salary: $8,300
That matchup last night between Cleveland Indians starter Shane Bieber and Lucas Giolito was as juicy as it gets for starting pitching. Holy crap, that was outstanding. Now the real question is, can Zach Plesac replicate that performance?
To be honest, Plesac has shown some outstanding stuff so far in a young 2021 season. Over two starts, he's averaged 38.5 FanDuel points per game, whiffing nearly a batter per inning.
With Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez out of the lineup, these Chicago White Sox have shown a propensity to swing and miss (23.4% strikeout rate). Expect a big night from Plesac.
Low-Salaried Play
Justin Dunn, Seattle Mariners
at Baltimore Orioles
FanDuel Salary: $6,400
On tonight's main slate, there are only four pitchers with a salary under $6,500. Let's just say that if you want to jump down here, you are entering a much riskier area. No question.
But for a low-salary option, Justin Dunn is intriguing. Now, Camden Yards is still a hitting haven. However, there's plenty of reasons for optimism, too. As Dunn leans on this slider more, that could be an impressive wipeout pitch against a Baltimore Orioles lineup that swings and misses at a 29.6% strikeout rate.
If you are pivoting down for some monster bats, peep Dunn.
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.
