MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 6/5/19

Jason Schandl  —  @JasonSchandl Jun 5th, 2019
After they were shutout by the Marlins on Tuesday, is there value in going back to the well with the Brewers' high-powered bats tonight?

Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-priced 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 pitcher, by far the highest floors for production.

For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce well too, 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.

Taking up so much salary, and playing such a big role in your lineup's ceiling, you're not going to want to whiff on these guys, so lets take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

Chris Sale, P, Boston Red Sox ($11,500)

Tonight's slate is another one on which it makes a lot of sense to pay all the way up for the highest-priced pitcher available.

Sale's top price-tag comes while he's sitting as a -215 favorite over the Kansas City Royals and facing down the slate's lowest implied total (3.56 runs).

The Royals haven't been egregious this year, but they're not especially threatening either. Their active roster has a 23.3% strikeout rate against southpaws on the year while also ranking only 23rd with an 88 wRC+. They're walking only 7.7% of the time (bottom-10) and also offering no real power, with a .150 ISO that ranks 23rd.

After a shaky start to 2019, Sale has powered his way to double-digit strikeouts in six of his last eight starts, and his strikeout rate has recovered to 34.3% with a 14.5% swinging-strike rate. Those marks rank second and third, respectively, among pitchers in action tonight, and Sale's 3.05 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) is also the best in the group.

Sale's strikeout potential gives him both a great floor (no fewer than 31 FanDuel points in a game since those first four) and an elite ceiling more than 65 FanDuel points in two of his last five), and we project him for the top fantasy score on the slate.

Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers ($4,900)

Yelich gets a crack at a righty on his former team for the second straight day, and he should once again have little trouble taking advantage of the spot. He notched a pair of hits and walked once last night, and his matchup on Wednesday is even softer, with the Miami Marlins starting Sandy Alcantara.

Alcantara has an awful 5.67 SIERA through 11 starts this season, bringing his career-average to 5.49 with a 13.1% walk rate.

Yelich's production shouldn't require much introduction at this point, but dating back to 2018 he owns a .430 wOBA and .305 ISO, which jumps to a .441 wOBA and .322 ISO on an absurd 50.4% hard-hit rate over 624 plate appearances against righties. His ability to mash pitchers of either handedness is always beneficial when opponents are forced to yank their starter early (as the Marlins may have to do tonight). It also doesn't hurt his cause that the Marlins' relievers only have a 4.75 xFIP on the year, which ranks bottom-10 in the majors.

Mike Moustakas, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers ($4,000)

An even cheaper way to get exposure to the Milwaukee Brewers and their slate-high 5.40-run implied total, Mike Moustakas offers massive upside at a position that doesn't always let you get exposure to big pop.

We project him for not only the highest fantasy score among second baseman (by a margin of over 4 FanDuel points) but for the highest on the slate. We also give him the highest home run projection (0.39) of anyone in action on Wednesday.

We've already touched on Alcantara's struggles, and Moustakas is another guy that has no issues mashing right-handers. Through 164 plate appearances in that split in 2019, he has turned in a .388 wOBA with a huge .333 ISO, which comes on a huge 49.1% hard-hit and 49.6% fly-ball rate.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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.