3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 7/23/19
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 ($10,200)
Long gone are the days of being concerned about Chris Sale's early-season struggles. Even on a 15-game slate loaded with solid pitching options tonight, Sale stands out with the highest strikeout rate (35.3%) and lowest skill-interactive ERA (SIERA; 2.99) in the group. Seeing him lead the slate in these stats is nothing new either, as he also sits second in strikeout rate and third in SIERA among all qualifying pitchers in 2019.
He brings the most fantasy-friendly stats on the slate into one of the best matchups around as well.
The Tampa Bay Rays have a slate-worst 3.59-run implied total here, and their active roster strikes out at the sixth-highest rate in the majors (24.6%) against southpaws while also ranking only 23rd with a 92 wRC+.
Sale opened July with a couple of duds, but he bounced back with 64 FanDuel points in his last outing, and it doesn't look like there's anything to be concerned about tonight.
Anthony Rendon, 3B, Washington Nationals ($4,300)
After getting postponed due to rain last night, the forecast looks clear for the Washington Nationals and Colorado Rockies on Tuesday.
The Rockies have pushed back righty Peter Lambert to start this one, which once again puts the Nats' offense in a terrific spot. Lambert hasn't given us a huge sample-size to draw on at any level, but things haven't looked pretty since he graduated above Double-A. He only managed a 4.71 xFIP across 11 Triple-A starts in 2018, a 5.02 xFIP in 11 such starts in 2019 and so far has a 4.74 xFIP across his 7 major league starts.
Anthony Rendon continues to have a career year from the dish, and he's on pace for his best-ever marks in both wOBA (.408) and ISO (.288). That's backed up by terrific contact as well, crushing his previous career-high (37.8%) with a 49.1% hard-hit rate, to go with a 48.0% fly-ball rate.
Same-sided matchups have been no trouble for him either, turning a 48.3% hard-hit and 50.2% fly-ball rate into a .401 wOBA and .277 ISO against righties in 2019.
Cody Bellinger, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers ($4,700)
One of the best hitters in baseball in 2019, Cody Bellinger ranks second in wOBA (.447) and third in ISO (.358) among qualifying hitters, while also sitting second in both expected slugging percentage and expected wOBA, per Baseball Savant.
He doesn't need the platoon advantage to rake, but he's especially dangerous when he does have it, mashing righties for a .453 wOBA and .378 ISO on the year.
Tonight the Los Angeles Dodgers draw a fairly tough matchup against Los Angeles Angels righty Felix Pena, who has a 3.97 SIERA across 19 games in 2019, but Bellinger should be fine in this spot.
Pena has had a really rough time with left-handed bats this season, getting cracked for 41.4% hard-hits and 46.4% fly-balls. This has translated to a 5.31 xFIP and .371 wOBA in the split.
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.
