3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/2/19

Michael Brantley, OF, Houston Astros

Price: $3,700

Oddsmakers like the Houston Astros to mash today. Their matchup with the Texas Rangers has an over/under of 9.0 runs, and as -210 favorites they have a slate-high 5.21 implied total.

That comes in a matchup with right-hander Shelby Miller, who pitched only five Major League games last season in his return from Tommy John surgery, which also limited him to four games in 2017. Over those small samples, he posted SIERAs of 5.06 (in 2017) and 4.11 (in 2018), and considering the severity of the injury and the 5.13 SIERA he posted in his last full season (20 games in 2016), we can expect his numbers to fall on the worse end of that range moving forward.

The top left-handed bat in the Astros' lineup, Michael Brantley is coming off a 2018 campaign that saw him crack right-handed pitchers for a 41.3% hard-hit rate and an 11.4% soft-hit rate, which earned him a .380 wOBA.

Surrounded by what projects to be a high-scoring offense and having drawn the platoon advantage in a great matchup, that production gives Brantley some huge upside, while his salary hasn't climbed into the highest tier of studs quite yet.