MLB

FanDuel Pitching Primer: Tuesday 5/18/21

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
Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies

Vs. Miami Marlins
FanDuel Salary: $10,400

We get some nice pitching options on a very full Tuesday slate. Interestingly, this one is a bit bereft of slam-dunk high-end options. While you can make a good argument for Brandon Woodruff ($11,000) versus the Kansas City Royals, I'm more into Zack Wheeler -- who owns a 3.40 SIERA, 26.7% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate.

Wheeler is primed for a monster evening. He faces a woeful Miami Marlins attack that clocks in with a .292 wOBA and the fourth-highest strikeout rate (26.5%). That makes him a pretty tantalizing option.

Our algorithm projects Wheeler for 35.1 FanDuel points, second-best on the slate behind Woodruff.

Mid-Salaried Play
Zach Plesac, Cleveland Indians

at Los Angeles Angels
FanDuel Salary: $8,200

While the Cleveland Indians' offense is much maligned so far this season, the pitching staff has tried keeping this team afloat in the American League Central.

Zach Plesac struggled early in the season, but he's been pretty solid as of late as he's integrated higher curveball usage, and that's helped him to a 54.9% ground-ball rate on the year. And his 11.9% swinging-strike rate hints at some positive regression for his 17.5% strikeout rate.

Now, the Los Angeles Angels are a good offense -- but with Mike Trout potentially missing this contest due to a calf injury -- they may not be as good as usual. They don't walk a ton (7.0% walk rate), and their .162 isolated power (ISO) mark isn't eye-popping, either.

Plesac is a fine mid-range pick on this slate, and we project him for 29.2 FanDuel points.

Low-Salaried Play
Andrew Heaney, Los Angeles Angels

vs. Cleveland Indians
FanDuel Salary: $7,600

Staying in the same game as our mid-range play, Andrew Heaney of the Angels could be in line to stymie an offense that's already been no-hit twice this season and sports a lowly .291 wOBA.

Heaney has showcased plenty of strikeout prowess in 2021 -- racking up 49 punchouts in only 36 innings pitched this season -- while logging a 4.75 ERA. But his SIERA is 2.93, which is 11th-best among pitchers who have thrown at least 30 innings.

Rarely can we get access to a guy with a 33.6% strikeout rate for a salary this low. Our model projects Heaney for 31.5 FanDuel points, making him a nice point-per-dollar play.



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.