FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 5/7/22
Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!
Pitchers
Corbin Burnes ($10,900)
Despite a recent 1.8% salary increase, Burnes will take the mound in an ideal spot against an Atlanta Braves lineup with a 26.6% strikeout rate and a low 71.0% contact rate against right-handers the past two seasons.
Today's most expensive pitcher has been in great form through 32.2 innings this season, recording a 2.25 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating and a sizzling 35.5% K-rate.
numberFire's currently rank Burnes as Saturday's top option with a 36.3 FanDuel point expectation and 7.2 strikeouts.
Sean Manaea ($9,500)
At his second lowest salary point this season, Manaea stands as numberFire's second ranked pitcher with a 36.2 fantasy projection and 6.7 strikeouts.
San Diego's left-hander has overall been solid through five starts this season, accounting for a 11.6% swinging strike rate and a 3.48 expected FIP.
Today's matchup presents an underrated opportunity to rack up strikeouts against a Miami Marlins' lineup with a 30.1% K-rate and a .283 weighted on-base percentage (wOBA) against lefties.
Stacks
Zach Davies will face off against a Colorado lineup with a sneaky 4.2 implied run total on Saturday night.
Despite producing a 3.92 expected Earned Run Average, the veteran right-hander has been overall lucky this season when comparing his unsustainable .250 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) to his career norm (.289) and 4.79 FIP.
C.J. Cron (16.9% barrel rate, 39.7% fly-ball percentage), Randal Grichuk (38.6% fly-ball rate, .280 expected average), and Ryan McMahon (37.8% fly-ball percentage, 13.6% barrel rate) profile as better targets against Davies' ground-ball tendencies (45.4%) while Sam Hilliard (10% barrel rate) and Brendan Rodgers (7.7% barrel percentage) offer some value.
In a matchup against Marco Gonzales, the heart of Tampa Bay's lineup offers several intriguing options against a low-strikeout lefty with a 19.0% career K-rate and a 8.7% swinging strike rate.
Tampa's top hitters from the right side including Wander Franco (.348 expected average, 7.5% barrel rate), Yandy Diaz (.381 expected wOBA, .299 expected average), Harold Ramirez (.365 expected wOBA), and Manuel Margot (.326 expected average) can be plugged into potential stacks while Mike Zunino (11.1% barrel rate) offers power at a value salary.
Josiah Gray will take the hill against a Los Angeles' team projected for a slate-high 5.1 runs. Although the 24-year old has accounted for a 3.86 expected FIP and a 28.7% strikeout rate in 26.0 innings this season, Gray has continued to struggle versus lefties (5.21 expected FIP) and with his control (13.0%).
With these weaknesses in mind, Shohei Ohtani (10.4% barrel rate), Jared Walsh (10.3% barrel rate, .270 expected average), and Brandon Marsh (8.9% barrel rate, 46.7% hard hit rate) are ideal options from the left side while Mike Trout (27.6% barrel rate, .484 expected wOBA) and Anthony Rendon (9% barrel rate, .366 wOBA) are other stack options to consider.
