Stacks are the backbone of cashing daily fantasy baseball lineups. Correlation drives upside, creating the potential to place high or even win GPPs when your selected stacks explode offensively.
This column will do the digging and the dirty work to determine which stacks are worth rostering each day. Scoring upside will fuel the stacks that get the nod. Sometimes that will lead to chalky selections, but contrarian stacks will get their fair share of love too.
In addition to utilizing the touted daily stacks in handbuilt lineups, numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. Our hitting heat map tool is also available to premium members looking for more stacking options. It provides valuable info such as implied total, park factors, and stats for identifying the quality of the opposing pitcher.
Let's take a look at the top stacks on today's main slate.
San Francisco Giants
The Arizona Diamondbacks haven't announced a starter when I'm writing this. However, Corbin Martin seems like the likeliest candidate after getting called up on Monday.
The Diamondbacks have called Corbin Martin back up. Jon Duplantier is optioned back to Triple-A.
No word yet on if -- or when -- Martin will slot into the rotation.
— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) June 14, 2021
My infatuation with stacking the San Francisco Giants is largely a product of expecting Martin to toe the slab tonight. The 25-year-old righty has been roughed up for a 9.00 ERA in a pair of starts for the Snakes this year. He hasn't been particularly sharp at the Triple-A level, either, recording a 5.32 ERA and 14.5 percent walk rate. If he gets the ball, this would be San Francisco's second look at him, having previously hung a half-dozen runs on him back on May 25.
My favorite options to stack include Mike Yastrzemski ($2,700), Brandon Crawford ($2,900), and Brandon Belt ($2,600). All three have roughed up righties this year. Yastrzemski owns a .354 on-base percentage, .287 isolated power (ISO), and 139 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against righties in 2021, per FanGraphs. Crawford smashed his 15th homer of the year last night, and he's in the midst of a superb season at the dish. Belt's an above-average hitter against righties, too.
Cleveland Indians
When Matt Harvey starts, it behooves gamers to stack against him. The Cleveland Indians have the good fortune of facing him tonight. You have to go back to 2018 for a season in which Harvey's ERA was below seven. In 126 innings pitched since 2019, Harvey's been pummeled to the tune of a 7.64 ERA and 5.22 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) with 2.07 homers per nine innings allowed.
Lefties have generated a .338 weighted on-base average (wOBA) against Harvey, and righties have torched him for a .580 slugging percentage and .418 wOBA. Harvey's inept against all hitters at this point in his career.
Despite Harvey's greater struggles with righties this year, my favorite options from the Tribe are a few who will bat left-handed against him. Switch-hitting leadoff man Cesar Hernandez ($2,900) is a lineup-spot-driven option. Jose Ramirez ($4,100) is the superstar in the stack, owning a .338 ISO and 150 wRC+ against righties this year. Eddie Rosario ($2,800) and Bobby Bradley ($3,400) cap off my favorite four-person stack from the Indians.
Cincinnati Reds
No, I'm not suggesting a stack at Coors Field tonight. Having said that, I'll likely have some exposure via one-off plays, Fernando Tatis Jr. ($5,000) being my favorite. Rather than stack the San Diego Padres, I'd much prefer to stack the Cincinnati Reds in their plus matchup with Brett Anderson at homer-friendly American Family Field.
The Reds hung a 10-spot on the Milwaukee Brewers last night. Tonight, they'll aim at increasing Anderson's already bloated 4.99 ERA, 5.09 SIERA, and 1.59 homers per nine innings allowed. Anderson's pitch-to-contact approach has resulted in a laughably low 11.5 percent strikeout rate.
Anderson's inability to strike hitters out could bite him in the butt tonight, facing a lineup with some thump in a park with a park factor of 1.080 for taters, per FantasyPros. My two favorite options on the Reds are a pair of power-packed outfielders.
Nick Castellanos ($4,300) has ripped lefties for a .409 on-base percentage, .269 ISO, and 172 wRC+. He's been even more deadly on southpaws this year, obliterating them for a .440 on-base percentage, .362 ISO, and 223 wRC+. Aristides Aquino ($2,200) smashed a homer last night, and he has a .276 ISO against lefties since 2018.
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.