FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 8/23/22

With 14 games to peruse on Tuesday's main slate, we have quite the list of names taking the mound, and narrowing down your absolute favorites could be tricky. If that wasn't enough, it's a Coors Field slate on the hitting side, giving us a little bit of everything.

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

Pitchers

Carlos Rodon ($10,800): You can make a case for several aces being the top overall option on the board, but when one of them has a matchup against the Tigers, that's hard to pass up.

Detroit isn't quite as much of a laughing stock when facing left-handers, but the bar is still pretty low. In the split, their active roster has just a 90 wRC+ alongside a middle-of-the-pack strikeout rate (22.3%) and league-worst walk rate (5.4%).

Rodon is having another stellar season, coming in with a 2.96 SIERA, 31.7% strikeout rate, and 7.3% walk rate over 24 starts. He'll struggle with walks here and there, but that shouldn't be a problem against this opponent.

And when he's on his game, he can pile up the punchouts in a hurry, as he's logged double-digit strikeouts seven times this season.

Robbie Ray ($10,600): I almost went with Dylan Cease here, but the Orioles aren't total pushovers, and Cease's 10.5% walk rate remains worrisome. He definitely deserves strong consideration due to his superb 32.3% strikeout rate, though.

Ray does face a bunch of pushovers in the Nationals, and that's reflected by a slate-low 2.77 implied total. Washington's active roster has Detroit-esque marks against lefties with an 89 wRC+, 21.4% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate.

Although this post-Juan Soto edition of the Nats still isn't an amazing matchup for strikeouts, there just isn't a whole lot of thump in this lineup anymore, so we don't have to worry nearly as much about Ray's walk and home run issues.

The southpaw is a step below the top hurlers on the slate when it comes to strikeouts, but a 28.5% clip is nothing to scoff at. Like Rodon, Ray's reached double-digit Ks in 7 of his 24 outings.

Pablo Lopez ($8,800): In the value range, Lopez is a possibility as another guy with a matchup against a weaker offense. Oakland's active roster has a 92 wRC+ and 22.4% strikeout rate versus righties, and they check in with a modest 3.22 implied total.

Lopez hasn't had the best results over his last four starts, but it's come against much tougher competition in the Mets, Cubs, Braves, and Padres. Prior to that stretch, the right-hander took full advantage of a spot against the Reds, racking up 11 strikeouts on his way to 61 FanDuel points.

While results like that are few and far between, it proves that Lopez can pop for the occasional big score, and overall, he has a solid 3.70 SIERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, and 7.3% walk rate. Reaching six innings can be tough for him sometimes, but he's typically allowed to log pitch counts in the 90s when things are going well and has even hit 100 in three starts.

Stacks

Colorado Rockies and Texas Rangers

Tonight's Coors Field has a slate-high 10.5-run over/under, and both sides are worth considering for stacks.

The Colorado Rockies have a slate-best 5.33 implied total, but their matchup against Dane Dunning is a mixed bag. Dunning is notably worse against left-handed batters, owning a 4.78 xFIP, 16.3% strikeout rate, and 11.7% walk rate. He also has a much lower walk rate in the split (49.2%) compared to same-sided matchups (60.1%).

While those are wonderful numbers to exploit, the trouble is that the Rockies will likely only have a handful of lefty starters in Charlie Blackmon ($3,700), Ryan McMahon ($3,100), and possibly Sam Hilliard ($2,500).

That's particularly noteworthy because Dunning is actually a pretty tough customer for righties. In addition to the high ground-ball rate, he silences bats with a 24.4% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate.

Admittedly, that puts a slight damper on things, but it shouldn't completely deter us from the full stack -- it's still Coors Field after all.

C.J. Cron ($3,900) is an easy addition if he's back in the lineup, and the rest of the righties come in at mid-to-low salaries. Jose Iglesias ($3,000) has moved up to the leadoff slot lately, while Elehuris Montero ($2,700) continues to hit barrels at a promising rate.

On the other hand, the Texas Rangers have a more straightforward spot versus German Marquez. Marquez is enduring one of the worst campaigns of his career, with his strikeout rate (18.6%) plummeting well below his career average (23.0%).

He has less dramatic splits than Dunning, making him easier to stack against, but he's also worse when taking on lefties.

Against lefty sticks, Marquez has a 4.45 xFIP, 17.6% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate this year. Corey Seager ($3,900) is the clear winner here, and Nathaniel Lowe ($3,300) joins him in the top third of the order. Leody Taveras ($3,300) and Kole Calhoun ($2,600) are among the other potential lefties/switch-hitters to consider.

While Marquez has usually been dominant in same-sided matchups, that simply hasn't been the case in 2022, so Adolis Garcia ($4,300) and Marcus Semien ($3,300) should be firmly in your plans, too.

Toronto Blue Jays

The top non-Coors implied total (5.09) belongs to the Toronto Blue Jays, who will take their hacks against Boston right-hander Josh Winckowski.

Winckowski is getting called back up from a brief stay in Triple-A, and he's had a rough go of it through his first 12 MLB starts (4.84 SIERA).

Considering he could face an entire lineup of right-handed batters, we'll focus solely on that split, and that's where we see that Winckowski actually has an excellent 54.0% ground-ball rate and 5.4% walk rate. However, he still only has a 14.7% strikeout rate against them, and that's where he could really get in trouble when facing such a potent offense.

George Springer ($3,900) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ($4,100) have premium salaries, but it's all too easy to just scoop up all the value in the guys who follow them in the lineup.

Other than Teoscar Hernandez ($3,300), every other batter has a salary below $3,000. Lourdes Gurriel ($2,800) and Matt Chapman ($2,900) have added appeal as guys who are less likely to hit ground balls.

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are right there with the previous three teams (4.99 implied total), and their matchup against Aaron Sanchez is easy to like.

Considering the Nationals of all teams deemed Sanchez expendable and designated him for assignment in May, it's safe to say Sanchez is teetering on the brink at this stage in his career.

Now with the Twins organization, he did make a successful start against the Tigers at the beginning of August, but that probably says more about Detroit than Sanchez. Overall, in 2022, he's posted a 4.24 xFIP and 14.7% strikeout rate in 8 MLB starts and a 5.15 xFIP and 16.3% strikeout rate in 10 Triple-A starts.

Other than having his usual high ground-ball rate, there just aren't many positives to find in his profile.

Considering Sanchez has made just 15 big league starts dating back to last season, it's difficult to analyze his splits. But he's been worse against righties this year and was worse versus lefties in 2021, so this really just feels like a night to play the top Astros hitters and not overthink it.

Yordan Alvarez ($4,100) and Kyle Tucker ($4,000) will have the platoon advantage, and Alex Bregman ($4,000) also stands out as an extreme fly-ball hitter (47.0%). Yuli Gurriel ($2,700) remains a salary-saver for stacks as long as he continues to bat second, and Trey Mancini ($2,700) is enticing if he starts.