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, as well, 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.
Brandon Woodruff, SP, Milwaukee Brewers ($9,700)
Tuesday's slate is loaded with good pitching. We have options like Carlos Rodon, Michael Kopech. Julio Urias and Alek Manoah. But it's Brandon Woodruff who seems like a no-brainer.
He faces off against the bereft Cincinnati Reds' attack. Cincy clocks in last in team wOBA (.267), and they also carry a bloated 25.2% strikeout rate.
Woodruff has been good but not amazing so far in 2022 -- at least by his standards -- carrying a 3.89 SIERA. But his 12.5% swinging-strike rate hints at some positive regression for his 22.9% strikeout rate. And we know he's an elite arm as he's got a 3.36 SIERA and 29.1% strikeout rate since the start of 2020.
We project Woody for the third-best score of the day (35.5 FanDuel points), but we may be selling him short just a bit. He has the strikeout upside we're after and can cruise in this matchup.
Javier Baez, 2B/SS, Detroit Tigers ($3,200)
There are some very minimal totals on this slate -- which is becoming pretty common this season. Only the teams in Coors, the Houston Astros and the Detroit Tigers have an implied total north of 4.5 runs. Yikes.
Let's talk about Javier Baez for a minute. He faces Bryse Wilson, who has some metrics we just flat-out cannot ignore. On the year, the right-hander has logged 15 1/3 innings pitched, recording an ugly 4.70 ERA and 5.04 FIP. He owns a 15.2% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate, and 38.3% fly-ball rate.
Righties have really enjoyed great success against Wilson during his career, including a .495 slugging percentage and 1.41 HR/9.
While Baez can be an all-or-nothing guy, his 42.9% hard-hit rate and .368 wOBA show the kind of pop he possesses.
Baez, the highest-salaried bat in the Tigers' lineup, is one we need, and the Tigers are an easy stack to pair with a high-salary ace.
C.J. Cron, 1B, Colorado Rockies ($4,000)
Slugging first baseman C.J. Cron has been off to a very hot start. He's already ripped eight home runs this year, coming off a 2021 season where he bopped 28 long balls. His expected wOBA of .402 tells us his fast start is pretty legit.
Cron may add to those gaudy numbers very soon against Erick Fedde of the Washington Nationals. For his career, Fedde has really struggled against right-handed batters, including a .464 slugging percentage and 1.60 HR/9. Fedde should be in for a long day at Coors.
The Rockies have the slate's best implied team total (5.60 runs), and with this matchup, Cron could go bananas.
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.