3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Friday 5/13/22

Stacks are an integral part of daily fantasy baseball. They can push a team to the top of a GPP by driving upside. However, they're also viable in cash games, namely smaller (two-person or three-person) stacks that mitigate the volatility of a full four-person stack.

This article is your home throughout the 2022 Major League Baseball season for the day's top stacks. The primary goal is to identify the highest-scoring upside stack. Still, game theory will play a role in contrarian stacks making the cut as GPP options. Nevertheless, chalky stacks will make appearances in this space, too.

Beyond my analysis in this space, I strongly suggest numberFire premium members using our DFS Sharpstack tool and hitting heat map tool. The DFS Sharpstack helps plug stacks into optimized lineups, allowing you to change parameters and lock or exclude players and teams. Meanwhile, the heat map offers a one-stop-shop for the opposing starting pitcher, implied total, park factor, and other notable goodies.

Now, let's look at the top stacks on today's main slate.

Houston Astros

Tonight, the Houston Astros don't face the human embodiment of a punching bag. Nevertheless, a few blemishes on Josiah Gray's profile make him a compelling pitcher to stack against tonight.

First, according to FanGraphs, he's coughed up a staggering 2.12 homers per nine innings through his first 102 innings in the majors. Second, he's had an 11.2 percent walk rate. So, his combination of allowing homers and issuing free passes is combustible.

Further, Gray hasn't been great against righties, and he's been creamed by lefties. The right-handed pitcher has allowed a .326 Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) to righties. Moreover, he's been torched for a .511 slugging and .360 wOBA by lefties.

As a result, Yordan Alvarez ($3,800) is the irreproachable top option in Houston's stack. The sugging outfielder mashed two taters yesterday, and he has had a .373 OBP, .297 Isolated Power (ISO), and 157 Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) against righties in his young career.

Everyone else is usable in this stack as well. However, my preferred four-person stack includes Alvarez, Jose Altuve ($3,400), Michael Brantley ($2,800), and Kyle Tucker ($3,500).

Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies are at home tonight. Therefore, Coors Field is the primary motivation for suggesting this stack. According to FantasyPros, Coors Field has the fifth-highest park factor for homers (1.197), second-highest park factor for doubles (1.219) and triples (2.124), and the highest park factor for runs (1.344).

So, relying on a pitch-to-contact approach is unwise at best and foolish at worst. But, unfortunately, that's the world 38-year-old Zack Greinke resides in now. The veteran righty has had a tiny 7.5 percent strikeout rate in six starts. Yikes. That's highly unlikely to cut it at Coors Field.

Predictably, the Rockies have the highest implied total on the slate. Frankly, they're stackable from top to bottom. Yet, I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't specifically highlight C.J. Cron ($4,200). The 32-year-old slugger has beaten righties mercilessly at Coors Field since joining the Rockies last year. In 249 plate appearances, he's hit 17 homers with a .402 OBP, .310 ISO, and 150 wRC+.

New York Yankees

Last night, the New York Yankees lived up to their Bronx Bombers moniker, hanging 15 runs on the Chicago White Sox. Giancarlo Stanton ($3,600) was the headline grabber with three hits, including a pair of homers, one walk, and six RBIs. So, obviously, he's an excellent pick tonight, even if it feels like a point-chasing move.

Aaron Judge ($4,300) also joined the fun, reaching base three times in six plate appearances, ripping a homer, scoring three runs, and driving in four. This year, he's been on a tear, owning a .359 OBP, .339 ISO, and 194 wRC+ in 129 plate appearances. So again, he's an obvious pick like Stanton.

Thankfully, neither is strictly a recency-bias-influenced pick. Vincent Velasquez has been completely inept against righties. Since last year, he's been drilled for a .525 slugging and .364 wOBA. Although, he hasn't been much better against lefties, ceding a .355 wOBA to them.

Gamers running a full four-person Yankees stack are encouraged to add more power to the duo of Stanton and Judge. So, round things out with Anthony Rizzo ($3,600) and Josh Donaldson ($3,100). As the Yankees demonstrated last night, their scoring ceiling rivals anyone.

Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.