3 MLB FanDuel Value Plays to Target on Wednesday 9/28/22
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?
Mike Yastrzemski, OF, Giants ($2,800)
The San Francisco Giants are a great place to go value hunting on Wednesday's main slate.
San Fran is taking on righty Jose Urena, and Urena is a guy we've picked on all season (and in previous campaigns). In 2022, he's pitched to a 5.07 SIERA and 13.7% strikeout rate. Left-handed hitters have a huge .402 wOBA against him.
While you can make strong cases for Joc Pederson ($2,600) and LaMonte Wade Jr ($2,600), I'm also into Mike Yastrzemski, who has posted a 45.9% fly-ball rate with the platoon advantage this year and a 52.0% fly-ball rate overall in the second half.
Matt Thaiss, 1B, Angels ($2,100)
The Los Angeles Angels (4.78 implied total) are on the stacking radar again tonight thanks to a clash with Adrian Martinez.
The Oakland Athletics' right-hander has had a homer issue as a rookie, giving up 2.22 dingers per nine. Lefties have tagged him for a 46.6% fly-ball rate, so that pushes me to Matt Thaiss.
Thaiss spent most of 2022 in Triple-A, racking up a .356 wOBA. In his brief MLB career, he's recorded a 35.2% hard-hit rate and 37.1% fly-ball rate versus right-handers. Those numbers won't blow you away, but Thaiss and Mike Ford ($2,100) are low-salary lefties who free up a lot of coin, making it easier to get to Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
Jake Cave, OF, Twins ($2,100)
Jake Cave is taking on Johnny Cueto, and Cave packs some pop against righties.
In the split for his carer, Cave sports a .321 wOBA and 39.7% fly-ball rate. He's projected to hit a decent sixth in the order tonight.
The matchup isn't an easy one, but Cueto isn't as good as his 3.15 ERA suggests. His SIERA sits at 4.57, and he's punching out only 15.2% of hitters. Lefties are striking out just 13.5% of the time against him. Over his past two outings, Cueto has surrendered eight earned runs in 10 2/3 frames.
