FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 9/24/22
Our daily helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups.
Be sure to also incorporate our great tools into your research process. Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!
Pitchers
Framber Valdez ($11,200)
Despite a 1.7% salary decrease, Houston's southpaw stands as Saturday's most expensive pitcher versus a Baltimore Orioles' lineup with an overall .292 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 24.6% K-rate.
In his most recent eight starts, Valdez has been in excellent form through 57.0 innings, accounting for a 13.5% swinging strike rate, a 2.79 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), and seven or more strikeouts in 75% of these appearances.
With today's second best fantasy projection (35.8) and strikeout prediction (6.2), the 28-year old has a good opportunity to sustain his recent momentum against seven Baltimore batters with K-rates between 22.9% and 31.6%.
Logan Gilbert ($10,200)
At his highest salary since July 18th after Seattle's right-hander recorded 11 strikeouts and 58 FanDuel points in his most recent start, Gilbert will face a Kansas City Royals' team with a 24.0% K-rate and a 71.6% contact percentage in their last 473 plate appearances in this split.
After a tough August with his worst month this season, the 25-year old has rebounded in a big way in September, producing an impressive 2.10 xFIP, a 13.8% swinging strike rate, and nine or more strikeouts in three of his last four starts.
In a matchup against six Royals' hitters with K-rates ranging from 25.4% to 29.4% and contact percentages lower than 72.8%, Gilbert ranks as numberFire's fifth overall pitcher with a 29.5 fantasy projection and 5.2 strikeouts in 5.6 expected innings.
Joe Ryan ($9,100)
After two straight seven inning scoreless performances, Minnesota's second-year starter has an appetizing opportunity versus a Los Angeles Angels' unit with a .298 wOBA, a 28.5% K-rate, and a 72.4% contact percentage.
Even at his most expensive salary point, Ryan is a viable mid-range option when examining Saturday's fourth highest projection at 31.1 with a 3.14 value rating as well his recent 27.8% strikeout rate and 12.9% swinging strike percentage in his past 51.1 innings.
Merrill Kelly ($9,000)
At his lowest salary point in the past two months, Arizona's veteran has an intriguing spot versus a San Francisco Giants' lineup with a .291 wOBA and a 28.1% K-rate including five batters with strikeout percentages between 23.5% and 36.5% and contact rates ranging from 61.1% and 76.7%.
Considering his personal success in this matchup (4 earned runs allowed and 24 strikeouts in 28.1 innings) and recent form (3.61 xFIP, 25.3% strikeout percentage), Kelly is another option to consider with a 27.5 FanDuel point projection and 3.05 value rating.
Stacks
Even with San Diego's underwhelming offensive output in their last three games (eight total runs), the Padres rank as today's top offense with a 6.0 implied total against Colorado's Chad Kuhl.
In 58.2 innings pitching at Coors Field, the veteran right-hander has accounted for a below-average 4.61 xFIP and a 16.1% K-rate while allowing a .388 wOBA and a 4.85 xFIP versus the opposing side of the plate and a 4.40 xFIP against right-handed bats at home.
With these splits in focus, Juan Soto (12.5% barrel rate, .407 expected wOBA), Josh Bell (.352 expected wOBA, .431 expected slugging), and Jurickson Profar (.318 expected wOBA) are top targets while Manny Machado (.342 expected wOBA, 9.8% barrel rate), Brandon Drury (10.9% barrel rate, .423 expected slugging), and Jorge Alfaro (11.3% barrel rate) offer the most pop from the right side.
Outside of Coors Field, the White Sox rank second among Saturday's main slate with a 4.78 implied total versus Detroit's veteran Drew Hutchison.
Through his most recent 46.1 innings, the 32-year old has struggled to a 4.74 xFIP including a four-inning six earned run outing against Chicago last week.
Due to his troubles versus both sides of the plate (.378 wOBA, 4.94 xFIP against LHH / 4.86 xFIP against RHH) and his heavy ground ball rate (40.0%), ideal White Sox combinations should contain power fly-ball hitters including A.J. Pollock (9.7% barrel rate, 36.3% fly-ball percentage), Yasmani Grandal (35.2% fly-ball percentage, 39.8% hard hit rate), Jose Abreu (8.9% barrel rate, .477 expected slugging), Eloy Jimenez (.532 expected slugging, 15.5% barrel rate), Yoan Moncada (39.8% fly-ball percentage, 8.8% barrel rate), and Gavin Sheets (6.6% barrel rate).
With today's third highest run total at 4.5, Seattle's offense has an underrated opportunity in Kansas City versus Royals' left-hander Kris Bubic.
When examining his 4.79 xFIP at home and 9.1% walk rate in his last nine starts, Mitch Haniger (11%, .425 expected slugging), Carlos Santana (9.8% barrel rate, .352 expected wOBA), J.P. Crawford (.316 expected wOBA), Dylan Moore (14.3% barrel rate), Jarred Kelenic (12.5% barrel rate), and Ty France (.320 expected wOBA, .400 expected slugging) all profile well enough to stack.
