FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 5/21/22
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!
Pitchers
Justin Verlander ($10,800)
Through 45.2 innings this season, Verlander has slightly underperformed his 1.38 Earned Run Average when examining his unsustainable 94.7% left on-base percentage and his 3.38 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating.
Despite some regression concerns, Houston's 39-year old right-hander has a decent matchup on Saturday night against a Texas Rangers' lineup with a low 73.8% contact percentage and a 22.9% K-rate including five projected starters with strikeout percentages over 24.3%.
At his highest salary point this season, Verlander currently stands as numberFire's third ranked pitcher with a 29.9 FanDuel point expectation and 5.5 strikeouts.
Brandon Woodruff ($9,500)
After a 36.0 fantasy performance in his last start, Milwaukee's veteran is trending in the right direction with his recent 16.0% swinging strike rate and 3.55 expected FIP.
Woodruff will take the mound at home against a Washington Nationals' team with a low 0.293 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 23.5% projected K-rate against right-handers in the last two seasons.
At his second lowest salary point this season, Woodruff's opportunity on Saturday presents plenty of upside as numberFire's top rated pitcher with a 37.0 FanDuel point projection and 6.96 strikeouts.
Frankie Montas ($9,000)
Overall, Oakland's 29-year old right-hander meets all the requirements of a pitcher in ideal form after he recorded a 3.00 expected FIP and a 27.2% strikeout percentage in 49.0 innings this season.
With a favorable matchup against a Los Angeles Angels' lineup with a mouth-watering 28.0% expected K-rate including seven projected hitters with strikeout percentages over 24.7%, Montas is an intriguing option at this lowest salary during May.
Stacks
In a matchup against Patrick Corbin, Milwaukee's extreme right-handed lineup offers several enticing options against a struggling lefty with a current 4.40 expected FIP and a 19.8% K-rate.
Potential stack considerations from the right side including Tyrone Taylor (9% barrel rate, .343 expected wOBA), Luis Urias (.360 expected wOBA), Andrew McCutchen (8.9% barrel percentage) and Hunter Renfroe (14.1% barrel rate) can be used as a core group while Christian Yelich (15.5% barrel percentage, 53.4% hard hit rate) should still be considered with his hot current form.
Kyle Bradish will take the hill against a Rays' team projected for an underrated 4.6 runs. Although the 25-year old has produced a 3.34 expected FIP and a 25.3% strikeout rate through four starts this season, Bradish has allowed noticeable reverse splits with a 4.62 expected FIP and a 21.1% home-run to fly-ball percentage against right-handers.
With these weaknesses in mind, Tampa Bay's stacks can start with Yandy Diaz (.363 expected wOBA), Harold Ramirez (.360 expected average), and Randy Arozarena (40.2% hard hit rate) while Kevin Kiermaier (9% barrel rate) and Ji-Man Choi (13% barrel rate, .360 expected wOBA) contain power upside.
