FanDuel MLB Daily Picks and Pivots – April 11
Welcome to the Tuesday FanDuel MLB edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for today’s Main slate which kicks off at 7:05 PM EST!
For those of you finding us for the first time, the concept behind FanDuel MLB Picks and Pivots is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big payday!
Over the first eleven slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 234.9 points. Looking back at last season, the winning GPP lineup on average scored 255 FanDuel points with a typical roster build that allocated 25% of your salary cap to your SP and the remaining 75% to your hitters.
Over the first eleven slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 234.9 points.
Monday’s Picks and Pivots were the tale of two slates as the Early Slate hitters absolutely no showed but our Main Slate Picks put up 181.8 FanDuel points and landed well above the cash line more than making up for the rough early slate! The biggest difference maker on the Main Slate was the Washington Nationals stack which exploded for 14 runs against the Cardinals as Adam Eaton (31.9), Bryce Harper (34.9) and Ryan Zimmerman (27.4) put up big numbers as a contrarian stack to the super popular Rockies/Padres Coors Field plays!
Each day we will break down our top Starting Pitcher and our top hitting stacks of the day while giving you our thoughts on roster build and lineup construction.
As always, we will look to update our picks and final lineup thought prior to lock on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.
Without further ado, let’s get into today’s slate!
FanDuel MLB – Top Starting Pitcher Picks
Jameson Taillon ($8,000) Looking over today’s Main Slate we have a variety of solid pitching options in the $8k-$9k range but the one that stands out as my favorite GPP play is the young Pirates RHP, Jameson Taillon.
Taillon was fantastic in his opening start of the year against the Red Sox as he hurled 7 shutout innings, striking out 6, walking 3 and registering 43 FanDuel points. Today Taillon gets a home start against the Cincinnati Reds who are projected to score the fewest amount of runs of any team in action and Taillon is the largest favorite of any pitcher on the main slate.
Taillon pitched exceptionally well at home last season over 66 innings of work, pitching to a 2.86 ERA and .225 opposing batting average. What stands out to me when looking at Taillon is that we saw his home run rate drop to 0.8 HR/9 at home and when you pair that with his exceptional ground ball rate and insanely low walk rate(4%!!!), we have a pitcher that is built to limit the damage, especially in a ballpark like PNC.
The one drawback with Taillon is his limited strikeout rate which has been a league average (20%) so far in his career but remember this is one of the top young arms in baseball who sported a 26% K rate in his final season in AAA and if he can rack up 6 strikeouts like he did in his first start, he could be well on his way to a 50 FanDuel point outing against the Reds!
If you are looking for additional starting pitcher pivot plays make sure to check out Matt Rogers Daily FanDuel Pitching breakdown for a deep dive into today’s pitching slate!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
Colorado Rockies versus RHP Jered Weaver: Let’s not bury the lead here – the Rockies are at home facing Jered Weaver and I want in! Weaver last season surrendered 1.9 HR/9 with a 5 ERA and a 35% hard contact rate which when brought into Coors Field should spell some serious trouble for the soft tossing veteran!
Weaver was hit the hardest last season by right-handed bats giving up 2 HR/9 and a 40% hard contact rate and we saw those struggles continue in his first start this year as he gave up 2 home runs to right-handers against the Dodgers.
The prices are high but I am finding a way to stack around Nolan Arenado ($4,900), Trevor Story ($4,100) and Carlos Gonzalez ($4,100) on this slate!
On Monday’s Main Slate it became clear that the chalk roster build of the day was to pay up for Coors Field bats with a seemingly under priced Tyler Glasnow but we played the fade game due to the significant ground ball nature of the pitchers on the hill in Colorado. Today’s story is different as Weaver’s home run tendencies and hard hit rate set up perfectly for a bounce back spot for the Colorado bats who have a projected run total of 6.4 runs which is a half run higher than the next closest team.
Let’s hope all those people who got burned by the Coors stack run in other directions on this larger slate and we can take advantage of rostering the Rockies hitters at a fraction of their ownership!
Seattle Mariners versus RHP Joe Musgrove: One of the reasons we can afford to stack in Colorado (without sacrificing at SP) is that the Mariners provide a high upside cost-effective stack against Joe Musgrove and the Astros.
Musgrove is giving up 1.3 HR/9 in his career with a 33%+ hard contact rate to hitters from both sides of the plate so we can mix and match out stacks here by slotting in Robinson Cano ($3,100) and Nelson Cruz ($3,600).
The guy that makes this roster build really work though is my man Mitch Haniger ($2,000) who remains insanely underpriced on FanDuel as the #2 in this Mariners lineup. Just look at Haniger’s game logs and you will see a guy with 3 early season home runs who is just crushing value at this price point each and every night! There is simply no reason to fade him tonight and you can use him as a salary saving one-off or as part of a Mariners stack!
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP Lineup and Slate Overview
SP: Jameson Taillon ($8,000)
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C: Jett Bandy ($2,300) Whenever I am looking to punt at catcher I will look for catchers with power upside like Bandy who gets the split advantage against J.A. Happ in Toronto.
1B. Kendrys Morales ($3,000) The one-off play I am most excited about on this slate is Kendrys Morales as the Blue Jays get a home match-up against Willy Peralta who gives up a 34% hard contact and 1.3 HR/9 in his career against LHB.
2B: Robinson Cano ($3,100)
3B: Nolan Arenado ($4,900)
SS: Trevor Story ($4,100)
OF: Carlos Gonzalez ($4,000)
OF: Nelson Cruz ($3,600)
OF: Mitch Haniger ($2,000)
Slate Overview: Unlike Monday I think it makes sense to get exposure to the Coors Field hitters as the disappointing showing and larger slate should lead to reduced GPP ownership percentages today.
The Mariners bats are the stack that I am going to be heavy on as the price points are especially reasonable and with a middle of the pack run projection they will likely be largely overlooked. Pairing these hitters up with Jameson Taillon who is the largest favorite on the board, pitching against a Reds team with the lowest projected run total gives us a well-rounded and high upside roster to build on!
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!