MLB
FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 6/3/23
In a matchup versus left-hander Austin Gomber, the Royals rank second among today's offenses with a 5.13 expected run total. Who else should be considered on Saturday?

Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process.

Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Team Opp SP Opp O/U Moneyline Implied Total
OAK Eury Perez MIA 8.5 160 3.69
LAA Cristian Javier HOU 8.5 152 3.74
WSH Matt Strahm PHI 8.5 100 4.17
SEA Andrew Heaney TEX 9 124 4.18
NYM Jose Berrios TOR 8.5 -106 4.23
TOR Tylor Megill NYM 8.5 -110 4.27
PHI MacKenzie Gore WSH 8.5 -118 4.33
COL Daniel Lynch KC 9.5 128 4.37
PIT Jordan Montgomery STL 9.5 122 4.43
HOU Patrick Sandoval LAA 8.5 -180 4.76
MIA Luis Medina OAK 8.5 -190 4.81
TEX Bryan Woo SEA 9 -146 4.82
CIN Colin Rea MIL 10.5 108 5.06
STL Luis Ortiz PIT 9.5 -144 5.07
KC Austin Gomber COL 9.5 -152 5.13
MIL Graham Ashcraft CIN 10.5 -126 5.44

Pitchers

Cristian Javier ($10,800)

At his his highest salary this season, Javier will face a Los Angeles Angels' lineup with a .340 weighted on-base average (wOBA), 22.6% K-rate, and a 74.7% contact percentage in their last 562 plate appearances versus right-handers.

In his last five appearances, the 26-year old has maintained similar form to the beginning of his season (4.13 xFIP, 25.2% K-rate in first six starts), accounting for a 4.32 expected Fielding Independent Pitching Rating (xFIP), a 28.8% strikeout percentage, and a 12.6% swinging strike rate through 30.0 innings.

When considering his personal success against this opponent (1.17 xFIP, 11 strikeouts in six innings this season) and his impressive strikeout ability, there are several valid reasons why Javier is ranked as Saturday's top rated pitcher against a Los Angeles team with seven projected hitters with K-rates over 22.3%

Andrew Heaney ($9,800)

Since May 3rd, Heaney's FanDuel salary has increased by 19.5% to his highest point this season while the Rangers' southpaw has recorded a solid 3.97 xFIP, a 9.5% swinging strike rate, and a 24.0% K-rate during this time period.

In a favorable matchup against a Seattle Mariners' offense with a .280 wOBA and a 25.2% K-rate in this split, Heaney ranks second among Saturday's 16 pitchers with a 32.8 fantasy projection and 5.86 expected punch-outs.

MacKenzie Gore ($9,600)

After a recent impressive stretch in May (3.45 xFIP, 30.2% K-rate in five starts), the Nationals' second-year starter will take the mound in a divisional matchup versus a Philadelphia Phillies' unit with a .314 wOBA, 27.0% K-rate, and 38.5% hard hit rate.

At a salary ranked third among today's pitchers, Gore has a great spot to surpass his 28.8 fantasy projection against five hitters with K-rates between 25.5% and 37.5% and contact percentages under 75.2%.

Stacks

Kansas City Royals

Despite last night's disappointing offensive performance, the Royals should be considered a top stack with a 5.13 run expectation against Colorado's lefty Austin Gomber.

Through 54.0 innings this season, the 29-year old has been in horrible form, recording a career-worst 5.07 xFIP, a 9.2% walk percentage, and a 8.8% opposing barrel rate.

With his main weakness occurring against right-handed bats (.344 wOBA, 4.44 xFIP), Salvador Perez (.353 expected wOBA, 11.3% barrel rate), Bobby Witt Jr. (12.4% barrel rate, .337 expected wOBA), Edward Olivares (.360 expected wOBA, 9.3% barrel rate), and Maikel Garcia (.271 expected average, 6.6% barrel rate) all rate well enough to be featured in potential stacks.

St. Louis Cardinals

In a matchup versus Luis Ortiz, the Cardinals also deserve heavy consideration with a 5.07 expected run total against a wild right-hander with a concerning 4.87 xFIP, a 12.7% career walk percentage, and eye-popping struggles against left-handed bats (.397 wOBA, 6.90xFIP).

To best attack Ortiz's profile, Nolan Gorman (.385 expected wOBA, 15.1% barrel rate), Alec Burleson (.266 expected average, .433 expected slugging), Brendan Donovan (.336 expected wOBA, .260 expected average), and Tommy Edman (.270 expected average, .408 expected slugging) are core options while Paul Goldschmidt (14.8% barrel rate, .406 expected wOBA) offers the most power among Cardinals' batters.

Milwaukee Brewers

After scoring five runs in the first contest of this series, the Brewers have a good spot to continue their offensive momentum with a slate-high 5.44 run expectation versus Cincinnati's right-hander Graham Ashcraft.

In his second season starting for the Reds, the 25-year old has continued to struggle in the Major Leagues, producing a below-average 4.39 xFIP, a low 18.2% K-rate, and a 9.3% walk percentage.

While Ashcraft has done a good job keeping the ball on the ground (52.2% career rate) and managing hard contact (29.3% rate), the Brewers' offense contains several fly-ball hitters to counter the right-hander's strengths including Rowdy Tellez (42.7% fly-ball percentage, 10.7% barrel rate), Abraham Toro (6.7% career barrel rate, 42.1% fly-ball percentage and Joey Wiemer (43.1% fly-ball percentage, 8.6% barrel rate) while William Contreras (10.8% barrel rate) and Brian Anderson (11.5% barrel rate) are secondary options versus his glaring reverse splits (4.78 xFIP, .386 wOBA).

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