3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Tuesday 8/23/22
With production being highly variable on a night-to-night basis, daily fantasy baseball plays a bit differently than other sports.
As a result of this, the primary method of selecting hitters is to "stack" certain teams in good spots to produce. Most of the top stacks on a given day come with hefty salaries. In addition to that, a vast majority of pitchers with the upside to win tournaments are high-salaried hurlers.
Therefore, crushing your value plays -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a low-salaried batter racking up points -- can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Pablo Lopez, P, Marlins ($8,800)
Pablo Lopez has a juicy matchup tonight at the Oakland Athletics.
Oakland is next to last in wOBA (.277) this season with the 11th-highest strikeout rate (23.2%). RingCentral Coliseum will help, too, as it's in the bottom five in both overall park factor and home-run factor.
For the year, Lopez owns a 3.70 SIERA and 23.8% strikeout rate. He's a good pitcher and has been for a while.
Admittedly, Lopez has struggled lately. In terms of FanDuel points, he's surpassed 23 points just once over his previous seven starts. However, the one time was a 61-point gem in a soft matchup with the Cincinnati Reds, and Lopez is capable of a big game in this spot.
On a night with several top-notch pitchers going -- Justin Verlander, Carlos Rodon, Dylan Cease and Corbin Burnes to name a handful -- Lopez isn't going to be popular, and he offers a sizable salary discount off the aces.
LaMonte Wade Jr., OF, Giants ($2,400)
The San Francisco Giants are an under-the-radar stacking option today against righty Drew Hutchison.
While the Giants' 4.40 implied total doesn't jump off the screen, they can have a big day in this matchup. Hutchison sports a 5.14 SIERA and 14.6% strikeout rate this year across 66 innings. He's struggled against lefties and righties, but left-handed bats have thrived against him, putting up a .352 wOBA and 46.7% fly-ball rate.
Enter LaMonte Wade Jr.
Wade, a lefty, will likely be near the top of the San Fran lineup, and he's got a .348 wOBA and 58.2% fly-ball rate this season with the platoon advantage. He's a sweet one-off salary-saver or a great building block in Giants stacks.
Jake McCarthy, OF, Diamondbacks ($2,600)
The Arizona Diamondbacks are another decent stacking option that probably won't be too popular.
Arizona holds a 4.69 implied total in a date with Jon Heasley. In 2022, Heasley has pitched to a 5.13 SIERA and 16.5% strikeout rate, A righty, Heasley has been hammered by left-handed bats to the tune of a .410 wOBA and 2.83 homers per nine.
McCarthy is a way to get low-salary left-handed exposure to the Snakes. He's posted a .350 wOBA in the second half and has shown some wheels with four steals over his last 12 starts.
Arizona can be stacked for a modest cap hit, with guys like McCarthy, Emmanuel Rivera ($2,400), Ketel Marte ($2,900) and Daulton Varsho ($3,000) all coming it at $3,000 or less. That makes them a nice stack to fit alongside one of the night's top-shelf hurlers.
