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.
Sean Manaea, SP, San Diego Padres ($9,900)
It shouldn't come as a complete and total surprise that the San Diego Padres enjoyed a lot of pitching success at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday.
Arizona checks the boxes for everything we want to target. They rank in the bottom-10 in the league in team wOBA, they have a healthy strikeout rate (24.4%), and they have an injured star in Ketel Marte. Yu Darvish dominated them Monday evening, allowing only six base runners and one earned run over seven innings on his way to a win.
Acquired directly prior to the start of the 2022 season, Sean Manaea is a man that's been pretty brilliant. Over his first 73 innings pitched in 2022, the lefty has recorded the following marks: a 3.65 xFIP, 25.5% strikeout rate, and only a 32.0% hard-hit rate.
The southpaw is projected as the top hurler on the day (37.2 FanDuel points), making him a great play at this lower salary than other stars like Nestor Cortes ($10,500) and Kevin Gausman ($10,200).
Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates ($3,000)
Normally, a stud in this piece is someone a bit higher-salaried, but Ke'Bryan Hayes has mega star written all over him tonight.
He's in a tantalizing game that features the Pittsburgh Pirates (not a typo, the Pirates) sporting one of the highest implied team totals of the day.
The reason it looks like runs are to be had is the performance of rookie hurler Matthew Swarmer. He's been absolutely bamboozled this season by same-sided righties, allowing a whopping 4.35 HR/9 and a .735 slugging percentage to them this year. Those numbers are real, and the 53.1% fly-ball rate in this split implies just as much.
Likely occupying the leadoff spot for the Buccos, Hayes should be primed to put up a crooked number tonight for your lineups.
Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins ($3,900)
The Minnesota Twins have turned into easily one of the best offenses in the league.
They now currently sit seventh in the league in team wOBA (.323), and their .157 isolated power (ISO) mark also ranks them among the league's elite (11th).
A matchup with Aaron Civale is likely to add to those gaudy totals on Tuesday. Civale has really had a problem -- like many Cleveland Guardians hurlers -- with the long ball -- this season. He's given up 1.74 HR/9, and the numbers get even uglier to same-sided righties. In 80 batters faced in 2022, he's allowed a .634 slugging percentage, 2.30 HR/9, and a 45.0% fly-ball rate.
When healthy, Byron Buxton is a guy we need to try and jam him in. He's bopped his way to a .583 slugging percentage, 19 homers (already matching last season's total), and a 145 wRC+ mark on the year in this split.
Buxton ranks as the sixth-best hitter in our projections today, making him a very attractive option.
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.