3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Friday 7/30/21
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.
Lance Lynn, SP, Chicago White Sox ($10,700)
For me, the top choice at pitcher comes down to Lance Lynn or Corbin Burnes ($11,200). While Burnes is always worth a look, he has a fairly difficult matchup against the Atlanta Braves, who sit 11th in wOBA.
That pushes me to Lynn, who has been a boss this season. Logging a 3.15 FIP and 27.4% strikeout rate on the year, Lynn ranks among the league's best pitchers, and his matchup with the Cleveland Indians -- who are fifth-worst in team wOBA (.301) -- is a great one.
Per our model, Burnes (35.1 FanDuel points) and Lynn (34.2) are neck and neck from a projection perspective. Given Lynn's lower salary and better matchup, he's my pick.
George Springer, OF, Toronto Blue Jays ($4,200)
With the Toronto Blue Jays rocking a slate-best implied total of 5.78 runs, we gotta roster some of their hitters, right? Well, all signs point to yes.
Daniel Lynch will toe the rubber for the Kansas City Royals, and it's a matchup the Jays can exploit. While Lynch did fire eight scoreless innings in his last outing, that lowered his season-long marks to a 7.88 ERA and 1.75 WHIP. Yikes.
The Blue Jays hammer all pitching, especially lefties, which is where George Springer enters in. Springer has been hitting leadoff, and he's got a .368 wOBA and 41.5% fly-ball rate in July. Our projections have Springer as the Jays' top bat tonight, so finding a way to fit him into the mix isn't a bad idea.
Eric Haase, C, Detroit Tigers ($3,500)
It's not often we get to highlight catchers in this piece, but with the tear Eric Haase is on, he's worth rostering.
Haase has been a bit of a revelation at the catcher spot this season. Over 217 plate appearances, he's ripped his way to 17 home runs, including four long balls and 16 RBI over the last two weeks alone. It's no wonder that the Tigers rank in the top-10 in team wOBA over the last seven days.
And the Tigers are up against Matt Harvey, which should lead to more fireworks as Detroit carries a 5.07 implied total. Harvey is whiffing only 16.4% of batters in 2021 and is permitting an ugly 38.3% hard-hit rate.
Detroit is on the stacking radar, and Haase can be a core piece of Tigers stacks.
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.
