MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 8/24/22

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Aug 24th, 2022
Paul Goldschmidt is the front runner for the NL MVP, and he's primed for a great matchup tonight. Who else should we consider?

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.

Shane McClanahan SP, Tampa Bay Rays ($11,800)

Pitching salaries on FanDuel are certainly high right now.

We don't normally get to see so many high-salaried aces rolling out, and just like yesterday, we have five pitchers at $9,500 or higher on the main slate tonight.

The option that seems like a no-brainer tonight is Shane McClanahan of the Tampa Bay Rays. In 141 1/3 innings pitched, he's posted a 51.8% ground-ball rate and added to it a 26.8% K-BB% rate. Yup, that'll definitely play.

And the Los Angeles Angels? They lead the league in strikeout rate and sport only a .293 wOBA to their name on the year.

McClanahan leads the pitching spot, and he offers sky-high upside in this matchup. Don't sleep on him due to more human results lately.

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals ($4,700)

With the St. Louis Cardinals leading Major League Baseball in nearly every statistical batting category since the All-Star Break, this probably isn't going to be a great Cubs debut for Luke Farrell.

He's really struggled with the home run ball throughout his career (1.75 HR/9 over 87 2/3 innings pitched), and he's allowed a 34.3% hard-hit rate over those innings.

Farrell has been equally generous to lefty and righty bats during his career, allowing 1.74 HR/9 to lefties and 1.75 HR/9 to righties.

With all that being said, and Paul Goldschmidt performing out of this world at present (1.166 OPS in August), he's easily one of the top plays on the slate.

Max Muncy, 2B/3B, Los Angeles Dodgers ($3,500)

With us recommending Goldy at first base, this could have easily been a recommendation (as we will spell out shortly) for Freddie Freeman. But, let's consider another great play in Max Muncy.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers rocking a 5.09 implied team total, they're a clear target tonight. The healthy projection is largely due to Adrian Houser manning the bump. Over 76 1/3 innings pitched, Houser has been mediocre with a 4.21 FIP, but he's really struggled to get left-handed bats out.

This season, spanning 152 total batters faced, Houser has allowed a .511 slugging percentage, a 36.1% hard-hit rate, and 1.42 HR/9.

Muncy's 80 wRC+ this season against southpaws is nothing to shake a stick at, but a 113 wRC+ mark against righties -- and a 54.2% fly-ball rate -- could prime him for a big night.

Importantly, he'll be an option at other infield spots to jam in Goldy.


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.