MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Wednesday 8/18/21

Matt Kupferle  —  @MKupferle Aug 18th, 2021
Brandon Lowe has been outstanding at the plate this year, and he's ready to explode against Spenser Watkins. Who else should we play?

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.

Freddy Peralta, SP, Milwaukee Brewers ($9,800)

Tonight's main slate is an interesting one. There are a plethora of high-salaried options we can consider, including Jack Flaherty ($10,100), Lance Lynn ($9,500), and Charlie Morton ($9,200). But we picked on St. Louis last night, so let's roll with it again through Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The three-headed monster the Brewers employ at the top of their rotation is sure to cause playoff nightmares, and the young right-hander is the newest star in this mix. Peralta sports a whopping 34.5% strikeout rate, and he's been particularly hard to square up, allowing only 0.75 HR/9 this season.

The Cardinals are swinging it well of late, sitting seventh in wOBA (.337) over the last 30 days, but they're striking out a bit more often (23.4% strikeout rate) in that time. Teammate Corbin Burnes may have underwhelmed in terms of punchouts last night, but he still blanked the Cards across six innings in a 2-0 win.

While any of the above pitching options check some boxes, Peralta is where I'm going tonight.

Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox ($3,900)

The Boston Red Sox are humming along in the AL East, and if they want to keep pace in the division race, they will need to hammer Andrew Heaney of the New York Yankees.

Heaney has not been particularly solid as a member of the Bronx Bombers and Los Angeles Angels this season. In his last nine starts, he's been tagged for four earned runs or more in six of them, and in his last one, he bombed for seven runs. He's now allowed 1.98 HR/9 in 2021.

As such, the Red Sox have a healthy 4.86 implied total, and Bogaerts could be in the thick of things. He boasts a 140 wRC+ in this split, and he could be a heck of a play tonight.

Brandon Lowe, 2B/OF, Tampa Bay Rays ($3,600)

The Baltimore Orioles just can't catch a break, huh?

John Means is struggling at the top of the rotation, and now Spenser Watkins will get the ball tonight -- and he's struggled this season, as well. So far on the year, Watkins has really been hammered by the long ball, allowing 1.25 HR/9 with only a 14.6% strikeout rate in 36 innings. The Rays' 5.72 implied team total is an off-the-charts number we want some exposure to.

Enter Brandon Lowe. His .233 batting average may scare you a bit, but it shouldn't. He's logged a 130 wRC+ on the year, including a .496 slugging percentage, and he has pounded righties for an even better 156 wRC+. Spend up for him and be ready for an impressive day.


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.