FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 4/16/22
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 today's main slate.
Pitchers
Justin Verlander ($10,500) - Houston's veteran was relatively sharp on 80 pitches in his first appearance last week, producing a 8.8% swinging strike rate, seven strikeouts, and a 3.22 expected Field Independent Pitching (xFIP) rating in five innings.
Verlander will have a favorable matchup on Saturday against a Seattle Mariners' team with a 30.0% strikeout rate and a 0.292 weighted on-base percentage (wOBA) against right-handers including five projected starters with K-rates over 25.5%.
The 35-year old stands as numberFire's second rated pitcher with a 28.3 FanDuel point projection and 4.9 expected strikeouts.
Steven Matz ($9,000) - Despite an ugly 21.0 Earned Run Average in his first start, Matz produced better underlying statistics with a 1.22 expected FIP and a 12.0% swinging strike percentage on 75 total pitches.
The Cardinals' left-hander will have an ideal opportunity to fully rebound versus a Milwaukee squad with a 27.0% overall strikeout rate and the lowest weighted on-base average against left-handers among today's main slate with a .265 mark.
Matz should be able to attack a projected lineup with 66% of their projected hitters with high strikeout rates above 21% and low contact marks below 74%.
Noah Syndergaard ($8,000) - "Thor" was solid but unspectacular in a score-less five inning performance, recording a 75% ground-ball rate and a 5.19 expected FIP.
Despite producing only one strikeout, Syndergarrd should see some positive regression in this important fantasy producing factor after the right-hander induced a 14.5% swinging rate on 76 pitches.
The Angels' right-hander will face off against a Texas Rangers lineup with 55% of their lineup with strikeout percentages above 22% and overall poor 72.6% contact rate.
Stacks
In baseball's most favorable offensive environment, the Rockies should be today's most popular stack with their top matchup against a 31-year old veteran making his 12th career start.
The last time the baseball world saw Mark Leiter Jr. in the majors, the right-hander was not effective in 23.1 innings during the 2018 season, producing a 10.0% swinging strike percentage and a 6.98 FIP.
Today's expected lineup offers several hitters with value salaries and ideal current form including Connor Joe (9.5% barrel rate, .307 expected batting average), C.J. Cron (13.6% barrel rate, .297 expected average), Brendan Rodgers (7.1% barrel rate, $3,100) and Ryan McMahon (.365 expected wOBA, 15.4% barrel rate).
With Colorado's stack likely attracting attention, the Cubs could easily go overlooked despite their lofty 5.8 implied total and favorable matchup against Antonio Senzatela.
After a relatively-average 2021 season, Senzatela really struggled in his first outing last week despite his 2.70 Earned run Average, recording a 5.70 expected FIP and a poor 3.3% swinging strike rate.
Several intriguing pieces of Chicago's lineup offer salary flexibility against Colorado's overrated right-hander including Willson Contreras (.344 expected average, 15.4% barrel rate), Seiya Suzuki (.270 expected average, 28.6% barrel rate), Ian Happ (.274 expected average, 6.7% barrel rate) and Nick Madrigal ($2,900, .275 expected average).
Outside of Coors Field, the Bronx Bombers offer a high ceiling in their road opportunity against Baltimore's right-hander Tyler Wells.
In his first outing despite producing a 11.1% swinging strike rate, the 27-year old journeyman accounted for an unsightly 6.00 expected FIP and a 50.0% hard hit rate.
New York's stack is filled with top options at several positions including in the infield: DJ LeMahieu (.303 expected average, 10.5% barrel rate), Gleyber Torres (.304 expected average, 11.1% barrel rate) and the outfield: Aaron Judge (.316 expected average, 27.3% barrel rate) and Giancarlo Stanton (.329 expected average, 28.6% barrel rate).
