FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 8/21/22
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
Shohei Ohtani ($11,000)
Sunday's top rated pitcher by numberFire's models has a mouth-watering spot versus a Detroit Tigers' lineup with a .292 expected weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 30.5% K-rate including five Tigers' batters with strikeout percentages between 22.1% and 30.7% and contact rates ranging from 59.5% to 76.6%.
In his last 43.0 innings despite a 3-3 record, the reigning American League MVP has been in outstanding form, accounting for an incredible 2.25 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), a scorching 36.4% K-rate, and double-digit strikeout performances in 57% of his seven recent starts.
While Ohtani's FanDuel salary has surged 10% since his last start, the 25-year old still rates fourth in value with a 3.48 rating and first overall with a 38.3 FanDuel point projection and 7.4 expected strikeouts.
Brandon Woodruff ($10,000)
At his lowest salary point since July 15th, Milwaukee's veteran is numberFire's third ranked pitcher with a 33.9 fantasy expectation and a 3.39 value rating versus a Chicago Cubs' unit with a .316 wOBA and a 23.7% K-rate in their past 302 plate appearances.
Through his last eight starts, Woodruff has almost matched his yearly form (3.41 xFIP in 97.0 total innings), recording a 3.74 xFIP, a 13.6% swinging strike rate, and a 27.3% K-rate in his most recent 48.1 innings.
In a matchup against seven Chicago hitters with strikeout percentages between 25.3% and 35.1%, the 29-year old should be able to complete Sunday's second highest strikeout mark at 6.80.
Charlie Morton ($9,500)
In a revenge spot versus his former team, Atlanta's right-hander will challenge a Houston Astros' team with a .287 weighted on-base average and a 23.2% strikeout percentage in his last 426 plate appearances.
Even at his highest salary point in August, Morton offers plenty of value when examining his underrated 3.08 xFIP and 32.7% K-rate in his last 49.1 innings.
Stacks
After consecutive underwhelming performances at Coors Field while most fantasy players are ready to give up on San Francisco's offense, the Giants are still an important decision point on Sunday with a 5.9 expected run total versus Kyle Freeland.
Through 66.0 innings this season pitching in elevation, Colorado's 29-year old left-hander has often struggled even with a 40.5% ground-ball rate, accounting for a 4.94 xFIP and a troubling 13.3% strikeout percentage.
With overall neutral splits, an ideal profile includes power batters who tend to lift the ball in the air from either side of the plate including Wilmer Flores (43.% fly-ball rate, 6.9% barrel rate), Evan Longoria (45.1% fly-ball percentage, 12.8% barrel rate), J.D. Davis (15.4% barrel rate, .477 expected slugging), and Austin Slater (9.8% barrel rate, .416 expected slugging)
Jakob Junis will take the mound for his 13th start this season versus a Rockies' team with an undervalued 5.4 run total.
In his first season pitching in the National League, while the 29-year old has produced an impressive 3.68 xFIP through 71.1 innings, San Francisco's right-hander tends to struggle on the road versus right-handed bats (4.14 xFIP).
To best attack this outstanding split, Colorado stacks should first include C.J. Cron (11% barrel rate, .435 expected slugging), Brendan Rodgers (.409 expected slugging, .267 expected average), and Elehuris Montero (12.3% barrel rate, .413 expected slugging) while Ryan McMahon (9.3% barrel rate, .415 expected slugging) and Charlie Blackmon (.263 expected average) also rate well enough to be mixed in.
In a divisional matchup with a 4.5 expected run total against Mike Minor, the Pirates present plenty options against a journeyman veteran with a 5.22 xFIP, a 18.6% strikeout percentage, and an eye-popping 10.9% opposing barrel rate.
With most of his struggles occurring versus the opposing side of the plate (5.73 xFIP), Pittsburgh combinations should start with Michael Chavis (8.7% barrel rate), Bryan Reynolds (.408 expected slugging, 7% barrel rate), Rodolfo Castro (7.2% barrel percentage), Kevin Padlo (50% hard hite rate), Kevin Newman (.258 expected average), and Greg Allen (34% hard hit rate).
