3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Thursday 6/16/22
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 can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament. That could be a low-salaried pitcher piling up strikeouts, or it could be a low-salaried hitter swatting a long ball.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Gleyber Torres, 2B/SS, Yankees ($2,900)
The Rays will likely toss out a bullpen game today in New York, so don't be afraid of baseball's best squad.
The Yankees will draw Jalen Beeks to start, and it could go plenty of ways from there. Tampa recalled Ralph Garza Jr. from Triple AAA Durham. Either way, the Bronx Bombers are huge home favorites, poised with a 4.66 implied team total against any combination of arms the Rays offer them.
Gleyber Torres should at least get one swipe at the lefty Beeks, and he could make it count. Torres has posted an insane 173 wRC+ versus southpaws this season, and it's a decent enough mark (100) against righties as well.
For how well they score consistently, the Yankees aren't that high-salaried outside of Aaron Judge. Torres, Josh Donaldson, Aaron Hicks, and the red-hot Jose Trevino all clock in under $3,000 on FanDuel.
Nick Castellanos, OF, Phillies ($2,700)
Our old friend Patrick Corbin is back on the bump, so we'll look to the other side again.
Corbin's dismal 5.82 ERA last season has been -- somehow -- surpassed by a 6.65 mark this season. His skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) has been under 5.00 in both periods, but at some point, the lefty's got to put pen to paper. We score FanDuel points off real runs -- not projected ones.
Washington also has the eighth-worst bullpen xFIP in baseball (4.20), so the top stack of the night is clearly the Fightin' Philadelphia Phillies.
I thought Nick Castellanos' salary was a typo. The former All-Star will hit cleanup and has a .803 OPS against left-handed pitching this season. He's not producing at Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber's level, but he's still not a scrub.
The Phils can work with an ace today. Castellanos, J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, and Rhys Hoskins are the right-handers you'll want against Corbin, who's ceding a 39.2% hard-hit rate to them. They are a four-person stack with an average salary of just $2,875, so say hello to Luis Severino.
Kole Calhoun, OF, Rangers ($2,500)
The Rangers' cruddy 88 wRC+ against right-handed pitching makes them a target more often than a stack, but Beau Brieske might allow us to celebrate "Opposite Day."
The Tigers' rookie has been blitzed to the tune of a 6.06 FIP and 42.3% hard-hit rate in nine appearances thus far. He's given up multiple runs in seven of those nine starts, so you're not looking at a shutdown spot -- even with Texas' offense fully capable of providing one.
Finding a stack from this team can be difficult, but Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien are heating up, and Kole Calhoun is a worthy value consideration.
Calhoun's stead in Arlington has gone better than many could have guessed. He's actually worked his way into the Rangers' cleanup spot against right-handers, and he's posted a solid .163 isolated power (ISO) against them.
Texas has a 4.68 implied team total, and there are other budget-friendly ways to access this matchup. Nathaniel Lowe, Jonah Heim, and Brad Miller have all flashed pop against right-handed pitching this season if they find the right spot in the lineup.
