3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 8/5/21
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.
Framber Valdez, SP, Houston Astros ($9,700)
Options are a bit limited on today's main slate, but for tonight, we are gonna roll with the most expensive option in Framber Valdez.
Now to be fair, the Minnesota Twins offense is pretty decent -- though, over the last seven days, they have fallen off a bit after the trade of Nelson Cruz to the Tampa Bay Rays. They've logged a team strikeout rate of 21.5% over that span, which is neither great nor terrible, but their .324 wOBA ranks them in the middle of the pack (14th).
Per our model, Framber ranks second-best -- don't think twice and play him, especially with that elite 26.6% hard-hit rate.
Jonathan India, 2B, Cincinnati Reds ($3,600)
Is there going to be a player rocketing up draft boards more than Jonathan India of the Cincinnati Reds?
The dude is on a rocket ship to the moon with these recent performances, and the leadoff man has been an absolute boss. He's logged a .375 wOBA mark this season, including 11 home runs and 7 steals on the year.
With Wil Crowe on the mound, allowing 1.88 HR/9 this season, India could be in for a big score.
Yordan Alvarez, OF, Houston Astros ($3,700)
There may be no bigger target than the Houston Astros tonight -- they face Griffin Jax, and the young hurler could be in a rough spot.
Jax makes his second turn through the rotation tonight, and he's struggled with the long ball -- he's allowed 9 home runs over 64 2/3 innings pitched. Yowza.
That makes Yordan Alvarez a tasty target, especially with Houston boasting a whopping 5.69 implied team total runs scored. Get him into your lineups.
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.
