FanDuel MLB Daily Picks and Pivots – April 14
Welcome to the Friday 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!
The Thursday winning GPP lineup scored 273.5 FanDuel points on the back of another offensive explosion from the New York Mets bats who scored 9 runs in Miami. Over the first 15 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.5 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 15 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.5 points.
Thursday’s Picks and Pivots lineups unfortunately fell below the cash line for the second straight day as our stack of the ice-cold Toronto bats fell short for the second consecutive slate. As I have mentioned multiple times here in the early season, there is going to be significant variability in MLB DFS each day so you need to pick and choose your stacks and go for the big scores that allow you to weather the down days!
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
Noah Syndergaard ($11,200) The Friday Main Slate in MLB DFS is loaded at the top end of pitcher with Clayton Kershaw and Noah Syndergaard sitting firmly atop our daily pitching choices. On a one pitcher site like FanDuel, I have a hard time moving away from these two as the ceiling is so high due to their exceptional strikeout ability.
Between the two, I am looking to pay up for Noah Syndergaard in a road start against the Miami Marlins. Clayton Kershaw is clearly a fantastic play at home but the Arizona line-up is loaded with high upside right-handed bats (Goldschmidt, Tomas, Pollock etc) and with a price point $1,400 higher than the Mets ace, I would rather take the salary savings in this spot.
Syndergaard has a 29.6% strikeout rate which sits only behind Mr. Kershaw on this slate. Over his first two starts of the season, Syndergaard has averaged 8 strikeouts per game, putting up 49 FanDuel points per start including a 55 FanDuel point outing in his last start against the same Miami Marlins team he will face tonight.
In that start, Syndergaard struck out 9 batters while giving up only 5 hits and 1 ER while delivering a win for a red-hot Mets squad. What has been most impressive so far this season is that Syndergaard has 16 punch outs with ZERO walks. The exceptional control with the elite strike out upside makes Syndergaard the perfect GPP play to build around.
If you are into BvP, it is interesting to note that Giancarlo Stanton is 0 for 11 in his career with 6 strikeouts and the Marlins active batters with a history against Syndergaard have struck out in 37% of their at bats (23 of 61) against Thor. Lock him in today!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks
New York Mets: One quick note – Adam Conley (LHP) was scheduled to start (and is still listed as such on FanDuel as I write this) but with him pitching in extra innings last night the Marlins have moved Edinson Volquez up a day to take on the Mets tonight.
The interesting thing about tonight’s slate is that we have no real stand out offensive targets as the Royals/Twins/Reds are the three highest projected scoring teams with 4.6-4.7 runs scored.
Rather than chase those teams, I am going to roll with the red-hot New York Mets bats against Volquez tonight. Volquez gave up over a 30% hard contact rate last year to hitters from both sides of the plate and actually surrendered a higher HR/9 (1.16) to right-handed batters than to left-handed hitters.
Yoenis Cespedes ($4,200) has seen his price sky-rocket due to 5 home runs in his last three games and is in the midst of a power binge reminiscent of two years ago when he single handedly carried the Mets offense to the playoffs in the second half of the season. In MLB DFS it is always a good idea to ride a hot hitting power hitter as home runs tend to come in bunches and Yoenis is officially in fade at your own risk territory.
If I am locking Cespedes tonight, I am building a stack on either side of him with Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,300) and Jay Bruce ($3,700). Volquez took on this Mets team just a few days ago and gave up 4 ER on the back of two home runs from Bruce and Michael Conforto so I have no issue attacking this same spot tonight and building around a Mets line-up that seemingly cannot stop scoring right now!
New York Yankees versus RHP Michael Wacha: Finding the second stack on this slate is not so straight forward but I am going with an all New York theme today and locking in a four batter Yankee stack against RHP Michael Wacha in Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees have a middle of the road run projection but what I really love about them from a stack perspective is the cost savings across the board which are needed if we want to lock in the Mets bats and a top SP.
We can build a 4-7 stack in the Yankee lineup with Starlin Castro ($2,400), Chase Headley ($3,000), Greg Bird ($2,400) and Aaron Judge ($2,800), all of whom who have significant power upside!
Wacha gives up over a 30% hard contact rate to hitters from both sides of the plate and actually has exhibited reverse splits giving up 1.2 HR/9 to right-handed batters over the last two season! If you are into BvP, Castro has insane numbers against Wacha going 10/22 with 2 home runs in his career which furthers his case as a great bargain play!
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP lineup and Slate Overview
P: Noah Syndergaard
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- Colts RB Jonathan Taylor shoots down rumors of troubling injury
- MLB Rumors: Favorite to trade for Justin Verlander emerges and it’s not the Astros
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C: $2k Punt Play – rosters pending
1B: Greg Bird ($2,400)
2B: Starlin Castro ($2,400)
3B: Chase Headley ($3,000)
SS: Asdrubal Cabrera ($3,300)
OF: Yoenis Cespedes ($4,200)
OF: Jay Bruce ($3,700)
OF: Aaron Judge ($2,800)
Slate Overview: Breaking down this slate we find the offensive stacking options are limited so it makes sense to start your roster build by paying up for either Clayton Kershaw or Noah Syndergaard and moving on from there. With the Mets hot hitting, the entire lineup is in play and with an extra inning affair last night we may seem some guys like Michael Conforto get into the lineup so keep an eye on that! Also do not forget that Adam Conley is no longer facing them so do not be tempted to play a guy like Wilmer Flores who loses the platoon advantage!
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the ate breaking lineup news and roster updates!