3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Thursday 9/8/22
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.
Dylan Cease, SP, Chicago White Sox ($10,800)
Interesting, there are some strong choices on the hill tonight despite it being such a small main slate. Dylan Cease is just one option I cannot ignore.
Making a bid to win the AL Cy Young award, Cease has been ballin' this year. Iver 156 innings pitched, the right-hander has logged a 3.12 FIP and a juicy 31.4% strikeout rate. Batters have pinged Cease for only 0.81 HR/9 in 2022.
Traveling west, the Chicago White Sox get the benefit of playing an Oakland Athletics offense that is one of the worst in the league, sporting bottom-10 marks in terms of isolated power (ISO), wOBA and strikeout rate. That's the trifecta we look for in finding a DFS pitcher. Cease will also benefit from Oakland's pitcher-friendly home park.
We project Cease as the clear-cut top arm on the slate (36.5 FanDuel points). Lock him in.
Carlos Correa, SS, Minnesota Twins ($3,200)
On a tiny three-game main slate, there aren't many good spots for offense -- we see over/unders of 7.0 runs across the board. That's not ideal. So, we need to do our best to find those razor-thin edges, and one may exist against Nestor Cortes of the New York Yankees.
While lefties basically haven't been able to do anything against the southpaw, righties have enjoyed more success. They have recorded a 48.4% fly-ball rate and 1.22 HR/9 -- far better marks than what Cortes allows to same-sided bats.
Correa, consistent with his career, has excelled against southpaws in 2022. He's posted a 149 wRC+ in this split this season, along with a .200 ISO and 43.8% fly-ball rate.
All of it points to the Minnesota Twins' shortstop as the second-best hitter of the day, per our projections.
Jose Abreu, 1B, Chicago White Sox ($3,300)
Jose Abreu, the highest-salaried bat in the Chicago White Sox lineup, could be in to score big tonight against lefty JP Sears.
Sears has wiped out same-sided lefties. He's yet to allow a homer to them in 2022, and while he's been pretty stellar overall, he's been a little easier to hit against righties. This season, in 157 total righties faced, they have dinged him for a 42.6% fly-ball rate, and 10 of the 12 extra-base hits he's allowed this season have been to righties.
Abreu can lead the charge tonight against Sears. He's posted a 148 wRC+ and .189 ISO in the split against lefties this season.
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.
