3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Tuesday 8/30/22
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?
Lucas Giolito, P, White Sox ($8,400)
Lucas Giolito has been really hard to trust this season. With Max Fried, Aaron Nola, Framber Valdez and Kevin Gausman in good matchups, it's probably not the night to roll the dice on Giolito finding his form.
But if you're looking to load up on the high-salary bats of the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves -- offenses with two of the night's highest implied totals -- you might find yourself looking at Giolito and his $8,400 salary.
We can definitely say this for Giolito -- the matchup is great.
He's facing the Kansas City Royals, an offense that is 28th in wOBA (.290) over the last 30 days with the 5th-highest strikeout rate (24.7%) in that time. KC has an attackable 3.55 implied total, so Giolito checks at least one box.
He's also shown flashes lately of turning things around. He's posted single-game strikeout rates of at least 25.0% in three of his last five outings. One of those was a 30.4% strikeout rate in a game against the Royals, and he finished with seven punchouts in five innings in that one.
We project Giolito for 31.6 FanDuel points and rate him as the night's second-best point-per-dollar pitcher. He carries a lot more risk than the slate's top-shelf arms, but Giolito is worth having on your radar.
Eddie Rosario, OF, Braves ($2,200)
Eddie Rosario is a low-salary way to get a piece of the aforementioned Braves, who pace the slate with a 5.47 implied total.
Atlanta is taking on Jose Urena. The veteran righty probably shouldn't be in the bigs at this point. He's got a 5.54 SIERA and 11.6% strikeout rate this year. He should be in for a rough night against one of the game's elite offenses.
Rosario typically starts against righties and might be in a meaty spot in the lineup. He's posted a 42.6% fly-ball rate this year with the platoon advantage, and he recorded a .330 wOBA and 45.4% fly-ball rate in the split in 2021.
Rosario is one of my favorite low-salary bats on this slate -- either as a one-off salary-saver or an economical inclusion to Atlanta stacks.
Kolten Wong, 2B, Brewers ($2,700)
In the same mold as Rosario, Kolten Wong gets us low-salary access to one of the night's best offenses.
The Milwaukee Brewers boast a 5.06 implied total versus right-hander Mitch Keller. In 118 innings this season, Keller has struck out only 18.7% of hitters and has a blah 4.29 SIERA. Across his last three starts, he's permitted nine earned runs over 11 innings. Milwaukee has seen Keller twice this year -- very early on -- and got to him for five earned runs and two taters over 10 frames.
Wong will have the platoon advantage, and it's a split he's thrived in this season, logging a .361 wOBA. He typically hits fifth or sixth against righties, and he's one of a few modest-salaried Milwaukee sticks you can turn to -- with Omar Narvaez ($2,100), Rowdy Tellez ($3,000) and Andrew McCutchen ($2,900) also fitting that mold.
The Brewers are a great stack to pair with a high-salary ace, and Wong is someone I'll have plenty of tonight.
