3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Tuesday 7/12/22

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.

Gerrit Cole, SP, New York Yankees ($10,600)

Lapping the field by our projections, Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees is lining up for a spicy meatball sandwich tonight on the bump.

Cole gets to face the Cincinnati Reds, one of the league's worst offenses. They rank in the bottom third of the league in wOBA (.303), isolated power (.139), and strikeout rate (23.8%).

Cole has been up to his usual tricks this season -- a 31.2% strikeout rate, .199 batting average allowed, and 25.1% hard-hit rate (which stands to be one of the best marks of his career).

All of this makes Cole, who is our top projected arm by nearly six FanDuel points, a great play.

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, New York Yankees ($3,800)

I swear I don't have a bias against the Reds, but I am all over Giancarlo Stanton against Graham Ashcraft.

Ashcraft has really struggled this season against same-sided batters -- to the tune of a .516 slugging percentage, 1.83 HR/9 and a 5.35 FIP against righties.

Stanton has been pretty nasty this year. He's sporting what would be a career-best .275 ISO, 22 home runs and a 40.9% hard-hit rate.

He's a superb option for a Yankees offense that offers monster upside in this matchup.

Luis Arraez, 1B/2B/3B, Minnesota Twins ($3,700)

Recommending Luis Arraez of the Minnesota Twins may be an all-time first for me, but he's locked into a great matchup this evening.

Jason Alexander of the Milwaukee Brewers has really struggled against opposite-handed bats. In the split this year, he's permitting a .571 slugging percentage and is doling out free passes to lefties at a rate of 10.4%. The batted-ball data is pretty darn ugly, too. He's allowed a 45.6% fly-ball rate, including a 36.8% hard-hit rate.

Arraez, who sports a .383 wOBA, has absolutely crushed righties this year. He has mashed his way to a 172 wRC+ and .937 OPS in the split, and he's walking more than he's struck out.

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.