MLB

FanDuel Pitching Primer: Tuesday 5/11/21

Just like in other sports, the focal point of your daily fantasy baseball lineups will be your high-salary 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 pitchers, the high-salary options typically come with the highest floors, too.

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.

With your high-salary picks playing such a big role in your lineup, you need to be right on these guys, so let's take a look at a few top-end options you can count on to anchor your lineup today.

High-Salaried Play

Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers

Vs. Seattle Mariners
FanDuel Salary: $10,800

It feels strange to talk about the struggles of the Los Angeles Dodgers given the super team that they have assembled, but Walker Buehler will look to get them back on track tonight. He could be in for a massive fantasy day.

Buehler and the pitching staff, to be fair, have been downright outstanding to begin the season. Tonight, life gets even better for Buehler in a fantastic matchup versus a Seattle Mariners offense that's logged a 26.5% strikeout rate and .291 wOBA.

Now, Tuesdays usually mean big main slates -- and today is no exception. You have plenty of pitching options to choose from, including John Means, who is fresh off his no-hitter. But Buehler stands out for me. Our algorithm projects the right-hander for 36.0 FanDuel points, tops on the slate.

Mid-Salaried Play

Brady Singer, Kansas City Royals

Vs. Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Salary: $7,600

Just for the vitriol alone, I love Brady Singer going after umpire Angel Hernandez and his wildly inconsistent strike zone. But, setting those personal pejoratives aside, tonight's matchup against the Detroit Tigers is quite juicy.

Singer looks to have taken a major step forward in 2021, albeit a small sample, and he will look to continue to accelerate that growth tonight. The Tigers, to put it politely, have been downright woeful at the dish. They have logged a league-worst 29.6% strikeout rate, and they pair it with a .278 wOBA and .139 isolated power (ISO). Not good.

Look for Singer to be nasty tonight, and he's a decent mid-range pick.

Low-Salaried Play

Jordan Montgomery, New York Yankees

At Tampa Bay Rays
FanDuel Salary: $6,400

When we go shopping for bargain basement pitching options, it's generally because we love the high-salary hitting options at our disposal. That may be the case tonight. We should expect some fireworks at Coors, and the Philadelphia Phillies-Washington Nationals matchup is another contest we probably want some exposure to.

So, where do we turn to find a good low-salary pitcher? To Jordan Montgomery, my friends.

The southpaw has been a bit up-and-down this season, but if you are looking for a bounce-back opportunity, today could be the day. The Tampa Bay Rays been horrific against lefties -- fellow southpaw Sean Manaea carried a perfect game against them into the seventh inning, and they have whiffed second-most in baseball in this split.

Montgomery can be a nice salary-saving option tonight.


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.