3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Monday 9/19/22
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?
Tyler Wells, P, Orioles ($7,100)
Tyler Wells faces the Detroit Tigers, the dream matchup for right-handers.
Against righties this season, Detroit's active roster sits dead last in wOBA (.272) with the fifth-highest strikeout rate (25.1%). The Tigers are sporting a measly 3.45 implied total.
Wells isn't very good, so this is pretty much all about the matchup. He owns a 4.50 SIERA and 17.9% strikeout rate. But his 11.0% swinging-strike rate is a solid mark, and he's posted single-game swinging-strike rates of 16.0% and 14.7% over his previous two starts.
Admittedly, with Corbin Burnes, Clayton Kershaw, Kyle Wright and Max Scherzer on this slate, I won't use Wells much at all. Among the low-salary arms, though, he's the best option.
Joc Pederson, OF, Giants ($2,800)
Joc Pederson is salaried way too low for a matchup with a righty at Coors.
Pederson is up against Chad Kuhl. In 2022, Kuhl has struggled to a 4.83 SIERA and 17.5% strikeout rate while surrendering 1.68 dingers per nine. The Giants' 5.68 implied total is the night's best, and they're going to be a chalk stack.
Pederson might wind up as the night's most popular bat. Versus right-handed pitchers this season, Pederson has mashed his way to a .373 wOBA, 42.4% hard-hit rate and 46.2% fly-ball rate.
We rate Pederson as the slate's number-one bat, projecting him for 17.2 FanDuel points. The only blemish here is the likely sky-high draft percentage.
Joey Gallo, OF, Dodgers ($2,100)
Joey Gallo continues to project as a quality point-per-dollar option whenever the Los Angeles Dodgers are up against a righty.
That's the case today as they'll see Merrill Kelly. While Kelly is a fine pitcher, he's punching out only 19.1% of left-handed hitters, which is a big plus for the strikeout-happy Gallo. LA's 4.53 implied total is tonight's fifth-highest.
Despite all his whiffs, Gallo isn't a bad dart throw at a homer. He's amassed a 53.8% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage and is a bargain way to get exposure to a Dodgers offense that has slate-winning upside every night.
