MLB

3 MLB FanDuel Studs to Target on Monday 9/19/22

Michael Harris II offers huge upside with the Braves in a smash spot. Which other studs should you roster on Monday?

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, as well, 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.

Clayton Kershaw, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers ($9,700)

We have some big-name pitching options on this slate.

Coming off an injury, Max Scherzer returns to a hefty salary ($10,700) and possibly a smaller workload. I'll pass on him today. Staying in that same game, Corbin Burnes would normally be a great play, but he will be up against a New York Mets team that leads the league in wOBA in the last two weeks (.360). I'm not about that life, either.

That puts me on Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He faces a poor Arizona Diamondbacks offense, one that ranks fourth-worst in team wOBA (.282) across the last 14 days with a healthy 23.9% strikeout rate over that same time.

And when a healthy Kershaw takes the ball, you take notice. He's averaging 35.1 FanDuel points this season while amassing a 26.6% strikeout rate and a 47.6% ground-ball rate.

We project Kershaw for 34.7 FanDuel points, less than Burnes or Scherzer, but I'm riding with Kershaw.

Michael Harris II, OF, Atlanta Braves ($3,700)

I'm not sure I have ever seen a pitching profile exactly like Cory Abbott's.

In 35 innings pitched this year, Abbott has gotten absolutely annihilated. He's walked 10.4% of batters and logged only a 26.5% ground-ball rate, allowing 2.06 HR/9 along the way. An unsightly 5.88 FIP shouldn't come as a big surprise.

Lefties have particularly terrorized Abbott -- he's allowed a whopping .507 slugging percentage in the split this season.

That makes a guy like Michael Harris II a great play. He has a massive .414 wOBA this year against righties along with a 40.4% hard-hit rate.

The Atlanta Braves' 5.41 implied total is the night's third-best -- the top mark outside of Coors -- and Harris is a great way to get exposure to Atlanta's high-powered offense.

Mike Yastrzemski, OF, San Francisco Giants ($3,100)

With an over/under of 11.5 runs, you better believe that a Coors contest between the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies is going to be very popular tonight.

Veteran right-hander Chad Kuhl has struggled this season. He's allowed 1.68 HR/9 while recording a 5.32 FIP and 17.7% strikeout rate. He's given up a 36.0% hard-hit rate and 40.1% fly-ball rate, so there's a lot of juicy contact here.

Mike Yastrzemski is a middle-of-the-order bat we just cannot ignore. He's really struggled against lefties (wRC+ mark of 66), but he's got some solid marks -- such as a 45.4% fly-ball rate -- against righties this year. Giants litter the top of our projections tonight, and I like Yaz quite a bit.



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.