3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Wednesday 6/1/22
With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.
As a result of this, the primary method of selecting hitters is to "stack" certain teams in good spots to produce. Most of the top stacks on a given day come with hefty salaries. In addition to that, a vast majority of pitchers with the upside to win tournaments are high-salaried hurlers.
Therefore, crushing your value plays -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a low-salaried batter racking up points -- can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Garrett Whitlock, P, Red Sox ($7,000)
If you're looking for a low-salary pitcher, Garrett Whitlock is the one to zero in on for this slate.
Whitlock's transition to a starting role has gone very well. He's made 11 appearances (7 starts) and covered 38 2/3 frames, posting a 3.14 SIERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 12.8% swinging-strike rate and 6.8% walk rate. He's been excellent, and the only negative for his DFS outlook is that Whitlock has a single-game high of just 84 pitches this year, although he's trending in the right direction with at least 80 pitches in three of his past four starts.
The matchup is a good one against the Cincinnati Reds. Cincy is 24th in wOBA (.296) with the 5th-highest strikeout rate (24.2%).
We project Whitlock for 28.8 FanDuel points, the third-most on the slate, and he rates out as the top point-per-dollar arm.
Jesse Winker, OF, Mariners ($2,600)
Jesse Winker has been hitting leadoff against righties, and he should be at the top of the Seattle Mariners' lineup today versus Kyle Bradish.
Against right-handers in 2021, Winker registered some top-shelf numbers, including a .449 wOBA, 12.8% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate. While Winker has started slowly this year, he's still got a 42.3% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage. His output has been bogged down by a lowly .221 BABIP in the split.
Winker can feast in this matchup with Bradish, a rookie who big-leaguers have mauled for 2.22 homers per nine over his first 28 1/3 innings.
The Mariners' 4.55-run implied total has them on the stacking radar, and Winker should be a core piece to Seattle stacks.
Frank Schwindel, 1B, Cubs ($2,800)
The Chicago Cubs are a sneaky-good stacking option on this slate.
Their 3.96 implied total doesn't jump off the page, but they are taking on Jason Alexander, a lefty who is making his MLB debut at the age of 29. It's a cool story, but it might be a rough one for Alexander, who put up just a 17.5% strikeout rate this year in 47 2/3 innings in Triple-A.
Against southpaws, Frank Schwindel owns a .345 wOBA and 41.7% fly-ball rate for his career. He's hit third, fourth or fifth in eight straight games, so he'll likely be in the heart of the Cubbies' order tonight.
I probably won't full-on stack Chicago, but I like them as a place to go for mini-stacks or one-off plays.
