FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 5/14/22
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!
Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.
Pitchers
Chris Bassitt ($10,100)
Today's most expensive pitcher has been in good form overall through 36.2 innings this season, recording a 3.51 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating and a 11.1% swinging strike rate.
Bassitt will take the hill in a mouth-watering spot against a Seattle Mariners' lineup with a projected 32.5% K-rate and .252 weighted on-base average (wOBA) against right-handers.
New York's 32-year old veteran currently ranks as numberFire's second rated pitcher with a 33.0 FanDuel point projection and 6.0 expected strikeouts.
Zac Gallen ($9,900)
Arizona's right-hander is in a similar high upside opportunity against a Chicago Cubs' team accounting for a 33.9% strikeout rate and a low 66.2% contact percentage in this particular split the past two seasons.
Through 28.1 innings, Gallen has displayed noticeable improvement in his fourth major league season, producing a 1.82 Expected Earned Run Average and a career-best 3.7% walk percentage (career 9.1%).
The 26-year old currently rates fifth among his position with a 29.2 FanDuel point projection and 5.1 expected strikeouts.
Shane Bieber ($9,100)
After a rough start against the Toronto Blue Jays, Bieber's FanDuel salary has moved down 7.1% to his lowest point this season.
While most of Bieber's numbers are currently below his career norms, Cleveland's ace has still been relatively solid with a 3.62 expected FIP and a 12.7% swinging strike percentage.
With a weak matchup against a Minnesota Twins' lineup with a 22.8% K-rate and a .292 wOBA against right-handers, Bieber's bargain salary point presents a buy-low opportunity for a potential huge bounce-back effort.
Stacks
After last night's high scoring affair in Coors Field, the Rockies should be today's most popular stack with their matchup against Carlos Hernandez.
In his third stint as a starting pitcher, Kansas City's right-hander was really struggled through 22.2 innings, recording a 5.69 expected FIP and a poor expected 6.05 ERA.
Colorado stacks can start with their hottest hitter in C.J. Cron (14.3% barrel rate, .386 expected wOBA) followed by other power options including Ryan McMahon (11.1% barrel percentage, .339 expected wOBA), Sam Hilliard (11.9% barrel rate, 47.6% hard hit rate), and Brendan Rodgers (10.6% barrel rate, 45.5% hard hit percentage).
Even with Friday's 14-run performance, a Kansas City stack could be overlooked despite their sneaky 5.0 implied run total and favorable matchup against German Marquez.
In his seventh year pitching in Coors Field, Marquez has gotten off to a rough beginning this season, accounting for a 5.10 expected ERA, a 17.7% strikeout percentage, and a career-worst 22.2% home run to fly-ball percentage.
Several Royals' hitters from the left side can be utilized to attack Marquez's biggest weakness (.334 wOBA, 4.03 expected FIP) including Andrew Benintendi (7.2% barrel percentage, .333 expected wOBA), MJ Melendez (7.1% barrel rate, .347 expected wOBA) and Ryan O'Hearn (.374 expected wOBA, 40% hard hit rate) while Salvador Perez (10.1% barrel rate, 41.6% hard hit rate) and Hunter Dozier (10.7% barrel percentage, .456 expected slugging) can round out a potential stack.
In an underrated spot against Dallas Keuchel, New York's explosive lineup offers several intriguing options with their intimidating right-handed bats.
Through five starts in 2022, Chicago's veteran left-hander has been in concerning form with a subpar 4.76 expected FIP and a 11.2% walk rate (career 7.2%).
To best counter Keuchel's ground-ball tendencies, we can target several fly-ball inclined hitters in the middle of New York's batting order including Aaron Judge (38.6% fly-ball percentage, 29.3% barrel rate), Giancarlo Stanton (26.8% barrel rate, 36.4% fly-ball rate), Josh Donaldson (40.2% fly-ball percentage, 13.9% barrel rate), and Gleyber Torres (44.0% fly-ball rate, 11% barrel percentage).
