3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Tuesday 9/21/21

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.

Kevin Gausman, P, San Francisco Giants ($9,900)

This main slate is a tough one. There are some top-end arms who look brilliant on the surface. But will they deliver the good tonight?

Brandon Woodruff faces a red-hot St. Louis Cardinals team that has won 11 out of 12; Alek Manoah has to tangle with one of the league's best offenses in the Tampa Bay Rays; Marcus Stroman is owed a similar fate, traveling to Boston to do battle with the Boston Red Sox.

Kevin Gausman, however, has perhaps the best matchup among the high-salary arms as he's going up against the free-falling San Diego Padres, who are doing their darndest to play their way out of the playoffs. The offense is the primary culprit. Over the last 30 days, they've logged a .277 wOBA and by far the league's worst isolated power (.117). That's pretty bad, fam.

We project Gausman as the second-best hurler tonight, so the upside is obvious. If you can make room for him, he is a great play.

Max Muncy, 1B/2B, Los Angeles Dodgers ($4,100)

The Los Angeles Dodgers in Coors should be a smash spot, but what may surprise you is that Antonio Senzatela has been surprisingly adept at holding down righties, keeping them to a .303 wOBA.

But Senzatela has been popped by lefties for a .445 slugging percentage and 36.4% hard-hit rate, and that's where Max Muncy becomes interesting. The lefty bopper has been very strong this season, mashing righties for a .283 ISO and 138 wRC+ mark. And now he's in Coors.

With the gaudiest implied team total on the board (6.35 runs!), LA is an offense we need exposure to, and Muncy makes for a brilliant play. He's the number-two bat, per our model.

Jose Altuve, 2B, Houston Astros ($4,200)

I so badly want to like and to roster Packy Naughton -- 1) the dude's name is Packy; 2) he does sport a nice 46.4% ground-ball rate; 3) he's allowed just 0.54 homers per nine this season in a small sample.

Okay, but here's the downfall -- the sinker-baller does not generate a ton of swings and misses, as evidenced by his 15.4% strikeout rate. He also gives out far too many free passes (10.5% walk rate).

That makes Naughton a pitcher we want to pick on, and Jose Altuve should feast atop a stellar Houston Astros lineup that is straight cookin' at the plate. Over the last 30 days, Houston owns a .344 wOBA mark, third-best in the league.

It's not easy to find room for Houston's high-salary bats and also stack the Dodgers, but Houston could break the slate. They have a 5.20 implied total and can be lethal versus left-handers. Altuve is the top Houston stick, according to our projections.

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.