3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 8/11/21
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.
Kevin Gausman, SP, San Francisco Giants ($10,300)
There are two massive arms on today's main slate -- we are really choosing between Corbin Burnes ($11,000) at the top end and possibly rostering Kevin Gausman of the San Francisco Giants. But as we reviewed yesterday, Gausman just makes too much sense.
The San Francisco Giants will take on the Arizona Diamondbacks, who, over the last week, have struck out at a 30.3% clip while posting the second-worst wOBA mark in the league. In fact, since the start of July, Arizona's 85 wRC+ and 24.9% punch-out rate both rank third-worst in the majors, per FanGraphs.
While teammate Alex Wood was brilliant for five innings yesterday, he ran into some struggles in the sixth inning which uglied up his final line. He was, however, outstanding prior to that inning. For those factors, let's rock with Gausman, who is the only pitcher projected for over 40 points tonight.
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals ($3,600)
To be fair, this has not been a banner season for Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals -- he sports some career-worst marks this year, including a .776 OPS, and his 18 home runs are not leading the league, or position, by any stretch.
That said, Goldy and his buddies could be ready to rake tonight. Wil Crowe of the Pittsburgh Pirates has struggled so far this season -- his 6.01 FIP is one of the ugliest marks on the slate, and his 10.9% walk rate and 2.14 HR/9 marks are downright ugly.
If you need an option that's ready to pop, peep Goldy.
George Springer, OF, Toronto Blue Jays ($4,100)
Everyone knows how outstanding the Toronto Blue Jays offense has been this season -- they are in the top-five of nearly every statistical category in the league -- and George Springer may be a little bit overshadowed as he's only logged 193 plate appearances this year due to some nagging injuries.
But Springer has been outstanding as of late, and he's already slammed his way to 14 home runs this year. Now, peep the matchup -- Dylan Bundy has really struggled in 2021. Over 80 2/3 innings pitched, Bundy has recorded a 5.29 FIP, and homers continue to plague Bundy, allowing 1.90 HR/9 this year.
The Jays and their juicy 5.08 implied team total should make them heftily owned, and Springer needs to be in that mix.
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.
