3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Stacks for Wednesday 7/21/21
Stacks are the backbone of cashing daily fantasy baseball lineups. Correlation drives upside, creating the potential to place high or even win GPPs when your selected stacks explode offensively.
This column will do the digging and the dirty work to determine which stacks are worth rostering each day. Scoring upside will fuel the stacks that get the nod. Sometimes that will lead to chalky selections, but contrarian stacks will get their fair share of love too.
In addition to utilizing the touted daily stacks in handbuilt lineups, numberFire premium members can throw these highlighted stacks into an optimized lineup using our DFS Sharpstack tool. Our hitting heat map tool is also available to premium members looking for more stacking options. It provides valuable info such as implied total, park factors, and stats for identifying the quality of the opposing pitcher.
Let's take a look at the top stacks on today's main slate.
Toronto Blue Jays
Let's try this again. Last night, I touted the Toronto Blue Jays as one of the top stacks, facing Garrett Richards. Unfortunately, mother nature nixed those plans. Thankfully, we have an opportunity to run it back, as the Boston Red Sox will use Richards tonight.
According to FanGraphs, the 33-year-old righty is responsible for a 4.91 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, and 5.05 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) this year. However, as bad as his full-season totals are, they don't hold a candle to his struggles in four starts since Major League Baseball began inspecting pitchers for using foreign substances. He's been rocked for a 7.27 ERA, 5.74 SIERA, and coughed up 2.60 homers per nine innings in those four starts.
Additionally, the righty is lost in same-handed matchups, coughing up a .387 weighted on-base average (wOBA) to right-handed hitters this year. The righty-laden Blue Jays are equipped to lay the wood to Richards from the top of the order to the bottom.
However, any mention of stacking the Blue Jays has to include an endorsement for using Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,500). He's tattooed right-handed pitchers for a .428 on-base percentage, .375 isolated power (ISO), and 204 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) in 2021. The other notable player I'll specifically tout is Marcus Semien ($4,000). This year he's unloaded on righties for a .357 on-base percentage, .259 ISO, and 142 wRC+.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies have a mouthwatering matchup tonight. Asher Wojciechowski is toeing the rubber for the New York Yankees tonight, and he's been a punching bag for opposing hitters throughout his career. The 32-year-old righty has a 5.95 ERA and 4.67 SIERA in his big-league career. He's also served up 2.00 homers per nine innings in 198 big-league innings.
As bad as he's been in his career, he was worse last year. He coughed up a 6.81 ERA, 5.23 SIERA, and 2.68 homers per nine innings in 37 innings in 2020. The veteran's work at the Triple-A this year provides zero reasons for optimism of a surprising age-32 breakout. In four appearances (three starts) lasting 12 and 2/3 innings, he's ceded a 5.68 ERA.
The Phillies are a middling offense against righties this year, tying for 17th in wRC+ (90) against them. Nonetheless, Wojciechowski's bad enough he could make them look like an all-star-caliber lineup tonight. Predictably, Bryce Harper ($3,900) is my favorite option in the stack. He has a .379 on-base percentage, .295 ISO, and 153 wRC+ against righties this year.
Leadoff hitter Jean Segura ($2,900) is a lineup-spot-driven suggestion. Although, his .358 on-base percentage and 111 wRC+ against righties this year aren't too shabby. Rhys Hoskins ($3,500) and Didi Gregorius ($2,700) have desirable power to merit usage. However, don't forget about speedster Travis Jankowski ($2,300) as a wrap-around stack option from the bottom of the order.
San Francisco Giants
Julio Urias is one of the top pitchers on tonight's slate. He's not completely bulletproof, though. Additionally, he has a gem and a dud on his ledger against the San Francisco Giants this year. The Giants ambushed him for seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits, two walks, and one homer in five innings on May 29. San Francisco's lineup is missing some key regulars.
Still, they have a few options that can make for a high-upside contrarian stack. However, I won't claim they're stackable from top to bottom. I'm specifically intrigued by Austin Slater ($2,500), Donovan Solano ($2,300), Buster Posey ($2.900), Darin Ruf ($2,800), and Wilmer Flores ($2,500). Slater leads off against lefties for the Giants, and he's tallied a .221 ISO against southpaws this year.
Solano and Flores are lineup-spot-driven suggestions with the platoon advantage. Posey and Ruf are my favorite options, though. The veteran backstop has a .457 on-base percentage, .226 ISO, and 183 wRC+ against southpaws in a resurgent year. Ruf's drilled lefties, recording a .452 on-base percentage, .404 ISO, and 202 wRC+ in 2021.
Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
