FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Monday 5/30/22

The beauty of daily fantasy baseball is that the top targets are different each and every day. Whether it's the right-handed catcher who destroys left-handed pitching or the mid-range hurler facing a depleted lineup, you're not going to find yourself using the same assets time after time.

While this breaks up the monotony, it can make it hard to decide which players are primed to succeed on a given day. We can help bridge that gap.

In addition to our custom optimal lineups, you can check out our projections and batting and pitching heat maps, which show the pieces in the best spot to succeed on that slate. Put on the finishing touches with our games and lineups page to see who's hitting where and what the weather looks like, and you'll have yourself a snazzy-looking team to put up some big point totals.

If you need help getting started on that trek, here are some of the top options on the board today. We'll be focusing exclusively on the main slate.

All stats are prior to Sunday's games being played.

Pitching Breakdown

For a six-game slate, we've got a good number of solid pitching options. Walker Buehler ($10,300 on FanDuel) and Zac Gallen ($10,100) are salaried well above the rest of the field. Buehler is my preference of the two.

While Buehler has been a little meh fantasy-wise to start the year, he can smash in a dope matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates. A lack of strikeout has hurt Buehler's DFS upside, but it may be a case of bad luck more than anything. His 12.3% swinging-strike rate is tied for a career-best mark, yet his 19.1% strikeout rate is a career-low clip by a country mile. Buehler finished with a 26.0% strikeout rate and 11.6% swinging-strike rate in 2021, and a Pittsburgh offense that is tied for the fourth-highest strikeout rate can help him tap into his ceiling.

Gallen shapes up as a sweet GPP play. His matchup with the Atlanta Braves should push more people onto Buehler, but while the Braves are a quality offense, they also sport the game's highest strikeout rate (26.8%). With a 3.38 SIERA and 24.7% strikeout rate, Gallen can have success in this spot and is unlikely to be as popular as Buehler is.

Drew Rasmussen ($8,900) and David Peterson ($8,700) stand out in the mid-range, and both have winnable matchups.

Rasmussen owns a 3.31 SIERA, 23.7% strikeout rate and 11.8% swinging-strike rate this season, and he's up against the Texas Rangers. Texas is just 25th in wOBA (.295) despite making some splash moves this past offseason. Rasmussen has put up at least 33 FanDuel points in three of his past four starts.

Peterson has been good when called upon this season, and with several injuries on the New York Mets' staff, he's getting another turn in the rotation. After putting up a 4.27 SIERA and 24.0% strikeout rate last campaign, he's pitched to a 3.84 SIERA and 22.4% strikeout rate through 25 frames in 2022. The Washington Nationals are a bad matchup for strikeouts (19.5% rate, 3rd-lowest), but they also don't pack much pop (.307 wOBA, 18th).

Aaron Ashby ($7,200) is expected to start against the Chicago Cubs, and if that happens, he's super appealing at his salary. Ashby posted a monster 36.2% strikeout rate at Triple-A in 2021 and then recorded a 3.18 SIERA and 29.3% strikeout rate in 31 2/3 innings after getting called up to The Show last year. This season, splitting time between the rotation and 'pen, Ashby has a 3.62 SIERA and 26.4% strikeout rate. The Cubbies have the ninth-highest strikeout rate, and Ashby could go off against them.

Stacks to Target

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are stackable nearly every day, and they need to be on our radar in a date with Zach Thompson, the owner of a 17.2% strikeout rate. In his brief career, Thompson has really struggled with left-handers, giving up a .330 wOBA in the split while registering just a 17.7% strikeout rate.

Freddie Freeman ($4,100), Edwin Rios ($2,600), Cody Bellinger ($3,000) and Gavin Lux ($2,500) figure to be in the lineup, and all will hit from the left side. Freeman has a .375 wOBA and 41.1% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage this year. Rios is playing nearly every day now, and his salary will start to rise eventually. He's mashed his way to a .384 wOBA versus right-handers.

Of course, righties Mookie Betts ($4,500) and Trea Turner ($4,400) are firmly in play, too.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are in a cozy spot versus Glenn Otto, and with a lot of friendly salaries, Tampa Bay can be paired with a high-end pitcher.

Otto has a 4.70 SIERA, 19.7% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate in 2022. He's struggled. In Otto's career, lefties have a .360 wOBA against him while righties have a .347 wOBA, so we can feel good about anyone in the Rays' lineup

Wander Franco ($3,200), Ji-Man Choi ($2,900) and Randy Arozarena ($3,300) will be core pieces in my Tampa stacks. Franco's .309 wOBA is misleading as his .340 expected wOBA looks a lot better. He's striking out just 11.0% of the time. Choi has a 39.2% hard-hit rate and 39.2% fly-ball rate against righties, but he's always at risk of being pinch-hit for if he comes up versus a southpaw.

Kevin Kiermaier ($2,700) has been hitting atop the order and has a .334 wOBA this month -- not bad by his standards. Yandy Diaz ($2,800) is projected to hit third.

New York Mets

The New York Mets will see righty Erick Fedde, who has a 4.42 SIERA and 21.4% strikeout rate. Fedde allowed 1.55 jacks per nine last season, but despite giving up more fly balls this year (35.1% rate), he's permitted just 0.99 homers per nine due to a fortunate 10.9% homer-to-fly-ball rate, which is nearly half of his career mark (18.9%).

Last year, lefties tagged Fedde for a .354 wOBA and 1.76 homers per nine, so they'll be the priority for me. Unfortunatley, the Mets don't have many healthy guys who will hit from the left side in this one.

Francisco Lindor ($4,100), Eduardo Escobar ($2,,400) and Dominic Smith ($2,200) should be in there. Smith is a sweet value option, especially if he's slotted in the heart of the order. Jeff McNeil ($3,200) and Brandon Nimmo ($3,200) could be in the lineup, too, but they both sat out on Sunday night.

We shouldn't hesitate to use the Mets' right-handers, either, particularly Pete Alonso ($4,100) and Starling Marte ($3,700).