FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 4/9/22
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 tonight's main slate.
Pitchers
Justin Verlander ($10,400): As the top slate's most expensive pitcher, Houston's veteran is a complete wildcard considering today's appearance will be his first in 625 days.
The right-hander still has an elite ceiling considering his previous numbers in his last full season (35% strikeout rate and a 2.68 expected earned run average in 2019) but a middling matchup against an Angels team with a 19.6% strikeout rate against right-handers in their last 736 plate appearances and rust are legitimate concerns.
Joe Musgrove ($10,000): San Diego's right-hander currently ranks as numberFire's top pitcher with a 3.38 value rating and a 33.8 FanDuel point projection. Musgrove has an enticing opportunity against a relatively inexperienced lineup with a 30.6% strikeout rate in 402 plate appearances the past two seasons.
Despite being held under 100 pitches in 80% of his outings last season, the 29-year old had an effective season in 2020, recording a 12.7% swinging strike percentage, 27.1% strikeout rate, and a 3.70 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) rating.
Noah Syndergaard ($9,100): "Thor" is coming off an impressive five-inning, seven strikeout performance in his last spring training outing.
The last time we saw the Angels' right-hander on the mound for a full season, Syndergaard produced a 11.5% swinging strike rate and a 25% strikeout percentage which would rank fourth among the main slate's pitchers.
As numberFire's fourth rated pitcher with a 21.2 FanDuel projection, the 29-year old is an option to consider against a Houston lineup with a 21.0% strikeout rate and a .323 weighted on-base average (wOBA) in their last 698 plate appearances against righties.
Stacks
The Dodgers will be a popular stack with their loaded lineup hitting in the best offensive environment in baseball. Although German Marquez has been an overall effective pitcher with a career 3.62 expected FIP, the 29-year old has struggled against lefties, allowing a .329 weighted on-base average and a ,434 slugging percentage.
Plenty of options from the left side are in play starting with Freddie Freeman ($4,300), Max Muncy ($3,800), Cody Bellinger ($3,400), and Gavin Lux ($2,900).
In a favorable spot with a sneaky implied 5.9 run total, Atlanta's offense has a positive matchup against Vladimir Gutierrez. In 114.0 innings last season, the right-hander missed few bats, recording the second lowest swinging strike rate among today's starters with a 9.6% mark and a 17.8% strikeout percentage.
The Atlanta lineup offers plenty of salary flexibility consisting of value and elite options at multiple positions such as Marcell Ozuna ($3,000), Adam Duvall ($2,900), Eddie Rosario ($3,000), Matt Olson ($3,800), and Austin Riley ($3,900).
Zach Davies ranks ninth or second worst among the slate with a 5.36 Skill Interactive Earned Run Average (SIERA) and a 17.1% strikeout percentage last season in 148.0 innings pitched. With the right-hander's recent reverse splits the past two seasons, Manny Machado ($3,800), Luke Voit ($2,700), and Wil Myers ($2,600) stand as an intriguing stack.
