FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 7/23/22
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.
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
Gerrit Cole ($11,300)
At his most expensive salary, New York's ace will face a Baltimore Orioles' lineup with a .311 weighted on-base average and a 24.8% K-rate for the third time this season.
While some may hesitate at Cole's recent 8.6% salary spike and his opponent's experience or familiarity, the Yankees' right-hander has been in premier form in July, accounting for a 2.30 expected Fielding Independent Pitching Rating (xFIP), a 13.2% swinging strike rate, and an impressive 36.7% strikeout percentage in his last four starts.
With a matchup against five projected hitters with K-rates over 24.2% and contact rates under 76.9%, the 31-year old currently projects as numberFire's top pitcher with a 42.0 FanDuel point expectation and 7.7 strikeouts.
Kyle Wright ($10.500)
Atlanta's emerging 26-year old right-hander is another intriguing option to consider with a 3.50 xFIP and a 23.9% strikeout percentage in 110.0 total innings this season.
In a great spot against a vulnerable Los Angeles Angels' team with a .295 wOBA and a 26.5% strikeout rate, Wright currently stands as Saturday's fourth overall pitcher with a 34.3 fantasy expectation and 6.0 projected Ks.
Brandon Woodruff ($10,300)
Among Saturday's 18 pitching options, Milwaukee's right-hander ranks fourth in value at his position with a 3.65 rating versus a Colorado Rockies' lineup with a .326 wOBA and six expected hitters with K-rates ranging from 20.8%-31.3%.
Through 66.1 innings this season, the 29-year old has over-performed his 3.93 Earned Run Average when evaluating his expected production (3.24 xERA and 3.40 xFIP) while also recording an efficient 13.9% swinging strike rate and 30.2% K-rate.
With some positive regression heading his way and a fully stretched out arm (112 pitches logged last start on 7/15), Woodruff rates second overall with a 37.6 fantasy projection and 7.4 expected strikeouts.
Stacks
In a promising offensive environment with hot weather and heavy wind blowing out to left, Tampa Bay's offense contains a sneaky 5.2 expected run total against against Brady Singer.
While Kansas City's right-hander has accounted for an improved 3.53 xFIP, Singer has historically allowed too much hard contact (9.8% barrel rate, 16.2% home-run to fly-ball percentage) and struggled versus batters on the opposing side of the plate (4.48 xFIP).
With these two weaknesses in mind, Brandon Lowe (10.4% barrel rate, .432 expected slugging), Ji-Man Choi (10% barrel percentage, .409 expected slugging), and Josh Lowe (6.1% barrel rate) emerge as primary options while Yandy Diaz (.281 expected average) and Francisco Mejia (.328 expected slugging) can also be used in potential stacks.
Jose Urena will make his fourth start this season against a Milwaukee Brewers' team with Saturday's top run total at a 5.5 mark.
Through 18.2 innings in this current role, Colorado's veteran has somehow recorded an unsustainable 1.45 ERA when fully examining his 4.80 xFIP and 93.2% left on-base percentage (career 70.8%)
To best attack Urena's trouble versus left-handed bats (11.4% K-rate, 5.54 xFIP), ideal Milwaukee combinations should start with Rowdy Tellez (12.7% barrel rate, .489 expected slugging) and Christian Yelich (.415 expected slugging, 9.5% barrel rate) while Willy Adames (.486 expected slugging, 15.2% barrel percentage), Hunter Renfroe (12.7% barrel rate, .441 expected slugging) and Andrew McCutchen (8.1% barrel rate, .410 expected slugging) provide additional power.
Jordan Lyles will take the hill for his fifth appearance this season versus a Bronx Bombers' lineup with an underestimated 5.3 run expectation.
Through 107.2 innings, the veteran has overall performed at a below-average level, allowing a career-worst 11.5% barrel rate while also recording a subpar 4.32 xFIP and a 19.3% K-rate.
With most of his trouble occurring versus lefty bats this season (4.73 xFIP), Anthony Rizzo (10.8% barrel rate, .462 expected slugging) and Matt Carpenter (17.7% barrel rate, .563 expected slugging) present a unique correlation while New York's most popular names including Aaron Judge (25.8% barrel rate, .673 expected slugging), Giancarlo Stanton (21.1% barrel rate, .524 expected slugging) remain top targets in all formats.
