3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Monday 8/22/22
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?
Jeffrey Springs, P, Rays ($8,000)
Max Scherzer ($11,500) is probably the way to go tonight on the mound. Despite Scherzer's tough matchup with the New York Yankees, our model projects him for 40.5 FanDuel points, 6.9 more than anyone else. He's the clear-cut best play on this slate.
With that said, baseball can be weird, rain could be an issue tonight in New York, and Jeffrey Springs profiles as an outstanding value play. Springs rates out as the night's best point-per-dollar option, according to our numbers.
Springs has a mouth-watering matchup against the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos are 28th in wOBA (.281) over the past 30 days, and they might be sans Shohei Ohtani, who exited early yesterday with an illness. The Angels' 2.90 implied total is the night's lowest.
The owner of a 3.22 SIERA and 26.5% strikeout rate, Springs has the ability to crush it in this matchup. Springs' profile has warts, too -- namely a short leash, which has allowed him to complete six frames just once over his previous four starts. But with a friendly salary and dope matchup, Springs is easy to like.
We project Springs for 31.2 FanDuel points. He's the slate's best salary-saver on the mound.
Joey Wendle, 3B/SS, Marlins ($2,400)
Joey Wendle is a handy one-off play tonight.
The Miami Marlins are up against Adam Oller. The righty is having a brutal season, struggling his way to a 5.70 SIERA and 13.9% strikeout rate. He's been hammered for 1.99 dingers per nine.
Despite Oller's miserable numbers, I'm not sure I can full-on stack the Marlins, who hold a 3.76 implied total. But I am super interested in Wendle.
Usually Miami's leadoff bat against righties, Wendle posted a .335 wOBA with the platoon advantage in 2021. While his 2022 numbers are down across the board, Wendle runs some (three steals over his past seven games) and can be deployed at third or short.
We have Wendle scoring 11.2 FanDuel points and rank him as the fifth-best point-per-dollar hitter.
Albert Pujols, 1B, Cardinals ($2,600)
Albert Pujols continues to do work against lefties, and that makes him a nice value option tonight at Wrigley versus Drew Smyly.
With the platoon advantage this season, Pujols has mashed his way to a .492 wOBA and 48.0% hard-hit rate. Whew. Overall in August, Pujols sports a gaudy .655 wOBA.
He should be in the heart of the St. Louis Cardinals' lineup today against Smyly, a southpaw who has given up a .336 wOBA and 1.47 taters per nine to right-handed hitters this season. Smyly has surrendered 1.63 homers per nine at Wrigley in 2022.
Pujols is the night's top point-per-dollar bat as we project him for 15.8 FanDuel points.
