3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on 7/30/19
Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-priced studs. These guys take up by far the biggest chunk of your cap space, but they also offer the highest ceiling, and in the case of pitcher, by far the highest floors for production.
For hitters, we're looking for guys with big numbers, strong matchups, and with players around them that are likely to produce well too, increasing our chances for runs and RBI. For pitchers we want big strikeout numbers, while the ability to go deep in a game and pick up a win is also valuable.
Taking up so much salary, and playing such a big role in your lineup's ceiling, you're not going to want to whiff on these guys, so lets take a look at a few top-end options that you can count on to anchor your lineup today.
Noah Syndergaard, P, New York Mets ($10,600)
There are plenty of strong pitching options on tonight's 14-game slate, but Noah Syndergaard's matchup against the Chicago White Sox helps push him over the edge.
Thor's throwing as hard as anyone in the majors this season as he has the highest average fastball velocity among the 142 hurlers who have fired at least 1000 pitches this year. His strikeout rate is down to an underwhelming 23.8% this season, but with his swinging-strike rate still sitting at 12.5% (19th among qualifying pitchers on the year), we can expect an increase in punchouts moving forward.
A matchup with the White Sox should go a long way toward helping with those strikeout woes. Chicago's active roster strikes out at a 25.4% rate against right-handed pitching, which is the fourth-highest in the majors in 2019. That active roster also has a 12.5% swinging-strike rate on the year, which is tied for the second-highest. We can expect Chicago to do plenty of hacking at Syndergaard's fastball tonight.
Trevor Story, SS, Colorado Rockies ($4,000)
Trevor Story simply should not be this cheap at Coors Field. Even if he drew a same-sided matchup, this price-tag would be way too low, but against left-hander Julio Urias, Story is an absolute steal.
Urias has a solid 4.04 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) on the season, but that success has predominantly come in a relief pitching role. In 22 2/3 innings pitched as a starter, he has a less encouraging 4.47 xFIP, and the last season he saw work as a starter (2017) saw him struggle to the tune of a 5.90 xFIP.
Story has a predictably terrific .405 wOBA and .324 ISO at Coors Field this season. Over his entire career he's made 290 plate appearances at home against lefties, and in that split his numbers jump to an absurd .461 wOBA and .425 ISO.
Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees ($4,200)
The New York Yankees may not be at Coors Field tonight, but they do have an absurdly high 7.05-run implied total against the Arizona Diamondbacks and right-hander Taylor Clarke.
When Clarke was called up after posting a heinous 6.44 xFIP in his 33 2/3 Triple-A innings this season, it didn't look promising. That was a small sample, but he also posted xFIPs of 5.07 and 4.43 in his last two Triple-A seasons.
Things have gone about how you'd expect for him, with a 5.27 SIERA and 5.64 xFIP across his 51 2/3 innings pitched in the bigs. He's getting tagged for a 40.6% hard-hit rate and 40.5% fly-ball rate with only a 10.6% soft-hit rate, and he had a long track record of giving up fly-balls in the minors, as well.
You can't really afford to give up contact like that to Aaron Judge. Even in same-sided matchups, Judge has a 51.8% hard-hit rate with an 8.2% soft-hit rate in 2019. Over his career, he's clobbered righties for a .401 wOBA and .290 ISO, and he should have no trouble beating up on Clarke tonight.
Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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.
