FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Friday 6/25/21

One pitcher is a cut above the rest on Friday's 13-game slate, and both the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros could be piling up the runs again tonight. Unfortunately, there is some rain in the forecast, with the Astros' game in Detroit looking particularly dicey.

Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups. Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

Let's check out the top options on tonight's main slate.

Pitchers

Carlos Rodon ($11,200): One of the best stories of 2021, Rodon hasn't let up since his April no-hitter, compiling a fantastic 2.71 SIERA, 36.6% strikeout rate, and 7.0% walk rate over his 12 starts. He shouldn't have much trouble keeping things going against the Mariners, a team that's showing an 85 wRC+ and 27.9% strikeout rate versus lefties this year. Seattle's getting a mere 3.17 implied total, too. Considering the lack of elite alternatives, rostering Rodon is a no-brainer tonight.

Framber Valdez ($10,700): There's a sizable dropoff after Rodon, and despite the size of the slate, Valdez is actually the only other hurler exceeding $10,000. This is looking like the riskiest spot in terms of weather, but if the game is good to go, Valdez is a viable option due to his cupcake matchup versus the Tigers.

Although the Astros left-hander's strikeout numbers don't jump off the page, remember that he's only made five starts, and not a single one has come against easy opponents between the Padres, Red Sox (twice), Twins, and White Sox. The fact that he's come away with a 3.17 SIERA after those matchups is a promising sign, and last year's 26.4% strikeout rate could be a better indication of what Valdez should achieve over the long haul.

In any case, Detroit will certainly give him a big assist, as they check in with an 88 wRC+ and 28.6% strikeout rate against left-handers.

Chris Paddack ($8,500): We aren't getting much of a discount between Valdez and Rodon, and when you factor in the weather, you may ultimately just not want to mess with Valdez entirely. If that's the case, Paddack could be more your speed at a far lower salary.

The San Diego righty underwhelmed earlier this season, but he's quietly improved his numbers with an added curveball and now owns a solid 3.56 SIERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, and 5.3% walk rate. He's coming off back-to-back strong outings against the Mets and Reds, racking up 9 and 11 strikeouts, respectively, and the Diamondbacks are the right opponent to keep that momentum going.

Wins have been few and far between for Arizona, and they're still in the midst of a historic road losing streak at 23 games. Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising to see that they're one of the worst teams versus right-handers at an 80 wRC+ and 24.7% strikeout rate. The only downside for Paddack is pitch count -- he's yet to hit 100 this season -- but that's more palatable at his modest salary.

Others to Consider: Pablo Lopez ($8,700), Mike Minor ($8,200)

Stacks

Toronto Blue Jays: The Orioles' pitching staff has been a punching bag all week, and Matt Harvey isn't a likely candidate to stop the bleeding. Harvey has been demolished for a 7.80 ERA and 1.78 WHIP across 15 starts this season, and dating back to 2019, he's now posted a 7.81 ERA and 1.76 WHIP over his last 133 2/3 innings. As you might expect, Toronto has a massive implied total (6.23) against a pitcher who probably should've been dropped from the rotation a long time ago.

It's worth noting that Harvey's underlying numbers are far worse against left-handed batters, which doesn't benefit a predominantly right-handed Blue Jays lineup, but we're still talking about a guy with a middling 19.6% strikeout rate in same-sided matchups, and his 46.7% ground-ball rate is nothing to shy away from, either.

At the end of the day, we're talking a poor pitcher against a loaded lineup, and the only issue will be Toronto's popularity in tournaments -- particularly if the Astros' game is rained out. Any of the projected top six in the order are strong plays to build around, with Randal Grichuk ($3,000) being a top value at his salary.

Houston Astros: Let's hope that this game plays because the Astros are in just about as good a spot as the Blue Jays. Wily Peralta is making his second start of the season, and the first one didn't exactly go smoothly, with the Angels pummeling him for five earned runs and two home runs in five innings. In Peralta's last campaign (2019), he posted a 5.58 SIERA, 13.6% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate over 40 1/3 innings -- and that was as a bullpen arm.

It's hard to see this ending well for Peralta, and it's not like there's a strong bullpen behind him, either. Like Toronto, you don't have to be all that picky here, but Peralta was especially bad against lefties in 2019 with a 6.73 xFIP, so Yordan Alvarez ($4,100), Michael Brantley ($3,800), and Kyle Tucker ($3,400) are standout options again on Friday night.

San Diego Padres: The aforementioned stacks figure to soak up high roster percentages in tournaments -- and rightfully so -- but they're hardly the only teams in plus matchups. In fact, eight different teams have implied totals above five runs.

The Padres are one such team against Corbin Martin, a right-hander who's found next to no success in the big leagues. The 25-year-old has recorded an ugly 6.94 ERA and 1.91 WHIP across 35 innings between this year and 2019. And the peripheral numbers are about as bad as you would expect, too, including a 5.67 SIERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, and 14.0% walk rate. Throw in a 38.4% ground-ball rate, and there's really nothing to deter us from attacking Martin.

The cherry on top is a D-backs bullpen that's produced the third-worst SIERA in the league. Martin has actually performed worse versus right-handed batters (6.75 xFIP), so Fernando Tatis Jr. ($4,700) and Manny Machado ($3,900) have a golden opportunity to thrive tonight.

Others to Consider: Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox