3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/30/19

Blake Snell, P, Tampa Bay Rays

Price: $11,200

Pitching is absolutely loaded on tonight's slate, with two hurlers priced above $11,000 and another two above $10,000.

On the surface, a matchup with the Kansas City Royals might not look like anything special. Their 95 wRC+ is a below-average mark (19th), but their 22.4% strikeout rate is also the eighth-lowest in the majors.

Their active roster struck out at a 23.3% rate against southpaws last year, though (seventh-highest in the majors), and in a 318-plate-appearance sample this season, that mark jumps to 25.5% against lefties.

Blake Snell is also pitching out of his mind right now. Yes, his 2.54 ERA is higher than Trevor Bauer's 1.99, but Bauer's mark comes with a shaky 4.23 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) while Snell's comes on a 2.59 SIERA. That also puts him ahead of Gerrit Cole, who has a mark of 2.95 and a tougher matchup against the Minnesota Twins.

We've also seen Bauer, who admittedly draws one of the slate's best matchups against the Miami Marlins, suffer a drop in strikeout rate so far this year, down to 28.3%, with his swinging-strike rate falling from a career-best 13.3% last year to 11.3% this year. And his 12.0% walk rate is also something to be concerned about.

It's been the opposite for Snell. His 31.6% strikeout rate and 15.1% swinging-strike rate last year were elite marks. He has bumped that swinging-strike rate to an almost unfathomable 18.9% over five starts in 2019, and with it, his strikeout rate is up to 37.5%.

Those numbers are probably too high to be sustainable, but the fact that he's showing continued improvement to start this season is a great sign that he's going to keep offering elite fantasy upside.

Do keep an eye on the weather here, however, because if rain does end up being an issue, you may want to pay up the extra $200 to Bauer, who is our models' top-projected pitcher on the slate.