MLB

FanDuel Pitching Primer: Thursday 9/29/22

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Sep 29th, 2022
Carlos Rodon has been cooking for the Giants, and he leads a pack of top-flight options. Which others stand out Thursday?

In daily fantasy baseball, success starts with nailing the starting pitcher spot in your lineup.

When compared to hitters, pitching performance tends to be much more predictable and stable throughout the course of the season. You know what you're getting from a top-level ace when you roster him: probably a dominant effort with only one or two implosions per season. In contrast, even the game's best hitters have days at the plate where they go 0-for-4.

As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Which pitchers should you consider on today's main slate?

High-Salaried Play #1
Carlos Rodon, San Francisco Giants

vs. Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Salary: $10,800

I can't get over how good Carlos Rodon has been this season in 2022.

Non-tended by the Chicago White Sox, Rodon has gone and absolutely shoved in 2022. Spanning 30 starts and 172 innings pitched, the southpaw has recorded a brilliant 2.34 FIP on the year, posting a 25.4% K-BB% rate and a 29.0% hard-hit rate. That's boss.

Today, he faces a Colorado Rockies team missing Charlie Blackmon for the remainder of the year -- and that's been struggling as of late. In the last two weeks, they rank only 20th in team wOBA (.290) with a .128 isolated power (ISO) and 25.6% strikeout rate.

According to numberFire's projections, Rodon is the top dog tonight.

High-Salaried Play #2
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels

vs. Oakland Athletics
FanDuel Salary: $11,100

When your boy Shohei Ohtani takes the mound, you pay attention. When he faces one of the league's worst offenses, you really pay attention.

The Oakland Athletics rank poorly by nearly any metric, but let's take a peek at recent numbers. Over the last two weeks, they clock in with a .301 wOBA (17th), but their 26.9% strikeout rate and .159 ISO rank among the league's bottom-dwellers.

And that Ohtani guy? Yea, he's good regardless of what the matchup is. In 153 innings pitched, he's posted a sparkling 26.1% K-BB% rate and a 24.4% hard-hit rate. His 2.51 FIP is one of the best in the league.

On a small main slate, the two top-flight options make a ton of sense. It's hard to not see one of these hurlers posting a monstrous evening.


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