3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 4/8/19

Ronald Acuna, OF, Atlanta Braves

Price: $4,900

We went through the first week of the MLB season without any main slate featuring Coors Field, but we finally get there tonight with the Atlanta Braves traveling to take on the Colorado Rockies in a game with a suitably high 10.5-run over/under.

The Braves are underdogs, but in such a favorable scoring environment they still show a 5.09 implied total (the slate's second-highest) against Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland.

The southpaw Freeland showed some improvements between his first and second major league seasons, but that difference may not have been quite as pronounced as it looks on the surface. His 2.85 ERA in 2018 was stellar, but it came with a middling 4.35 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA). That was still an improvement over 2017's ugly 4.93, though.

He's looked great through two games this season, with a 3.25 SIERA and 31.3% strikeout rate. That's obviously a tiny sample, though, and when you factor in his 10.4% walk rate (his previous worst was 9.2%) and 33.3% hard-hit rate (previous high was 32.0%), we can expect his production to fall off some.

Ronald Acuna's fantasy value this year has largely been buoyed by what the offense around him has done. He's only managed a .281 wOBA and .194 ISO, but his six runs and four RBI (to go with two home runs and one stolen base) keep his fantasy production up.

Shaky hitting through 40 plate appearances isn't much of a concern, either. In 487 plate appearances in 2018, the then-rookie turned a 44.4% hard-hit rate and 39.4% fly-ball rate into a .388 wOBA and .259 ISO.

He has been especially good against southpaws, with a career .392 wOBA and .274 ISO, and bringing those numbers into the thin air at Coors puts him in a great spot to bounce back with some big production from the dish tonight.