FanDuel Pitching Primer: Thursday 9/1/22
In daily fantasy baseball, success starts with nailing the starting pitcher spot in your lineup.
When compared to hitters, pitching performance tends to be much more predictable and stable throughout the course of the season. You know what you're getting from a top-level ace when you roster him: probably a dominant effort with only one or two implosions per season. In contrast, even the game's best hitters have days at the plate where they go 0-for-4.
As a result, lineup construction should begin with the starting pitcher. Which pitchers should you consider on today's main slate?
High-Salary Play #1
Brandon Woodruff, Milwaukee Brewers
at Arizona Diamondbacks
FanDuel Salary: $10,500
We are gonna go back to the well to recommend daily fantasy pitchers against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and our pick tonight is right-hander Brandon Woodruff.
While Arizona has picked things up offensively at the dish lately, they still rank in the bottom half of the league in key metrics like team wOBA and isolated power (ISO).
Despite missing some time due to various maladies, Woodruff has been really good this season. Spanning 108 2/3 innings pitched, the veteran has logged a 3.21 FIP, a 29.6% strikeout rate, and only 1.08 HR/9 allowed.
We project him for just north of 30.0 FanDuel points (which actually ranks him third-best on our slate), but there clearly seems to be room for more.
High-Salary Play #2
Spencer Strider, Atlanta Braves
vs. Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Salary: $9,500
Our leading arm via our projections, Spencer Strider may have his hands full a bit tonight.
The Colorado Rockies away from home have been a really poor offense this season. They rank 29th in wOBA (.281) away from Coors Field, but they are a bit tougher to strike out (22.4%). At worst, this is still a decent matchup for the Atlanta righty.
The rookie Strider can provide plenty of juice on his own. He's posted a whopping 36.7% strikeout rate on the year over 106 2/3 frames, and he's allowed only 0.51 HR/9.
Strider's 30.3% called strike plus whiff rate (CSW) places him amongst elite company throughout the league, and he could definitely pay off at that price point tonight.
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.
