Welcome to the Saturday FanDuel MLB edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy baseball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for today’s Early slate which kicks off at 1:10 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!
Friday night’s winning GPP line-up scored 254.5 which was slightly over the season long average as a result of a 64 point outing from Corey Kluber and big nights from the Cubs/Dodgers bats. Over the first 23 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.6 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 23 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 242.6 points.
Friday night’s Picks and Pivots rebounded nicely as a result of Corey Kluber going 9 innings with 9 punch outs for 64 FanDuel points. The Arizona bats came through across the board as did our Padres mini-stack. The Brewers bats finally went cold which took us from having a potentially great night to a solidly profitable one!
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 Pitching Picks:
Jameson Taillon ($8,400): Taillon is one of my absolute favorite fantasy pitchers and I made a point to grab him in every single one of my season long leagues. This season in DFS the masses have been slow to catch on as his last home start versus the Reds he was less than 10% owned.
I think the majority of people on the Early Slate will look to the other side of this game with Michael Pineda but remember that the Pirates have a league low 16% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching this season which severely caps his upside.
I am rolling out Taillon at home today against a Yankees team who has the lowest run total on the entire day – see Vegas gets it! Taillon is a ground ball inducing machine – so far this season generating a 55% ground ball rate (which is 13th in the majors) and has limited his hard contact to under 30%.
Taillon does not have the massive strikeout upside we typically look for in GPP’s but he has been able to generate 6 strike outs in two of his three starts this season which would be more than enough to deliver value at this price point if he can shut down the Yankees bats and grab the win/QS combo!
The one pitcher I am looking to pivot to is someone I expect most will look to attack with hitters but in GPP’s I really like the idea of using Matthew Boyd ($6,700) against the Twins. Boyd faced this Twins team just two starts ago and I rolled him out then so why not go back to the well!
In that start Boyd delivered 6 innings, 6 strikeouts 0 ER and 46 FanDuel points and continues to dominate this Twins line-up. In his career, Boyd has limited the active Twins hitters to a .202 average while striking out 29% of their batters.
I expect the majority of the ownership today will be focused on Jake Arrieta and Michael Pineda/Jameson Taillon so a guy like Boyd should fly completely under the radar in GPP play!
FanDuel MLB: Top Hitting Stacks
Chicago Cubs versus LHP Cody Reed: The Early Slate on FanDuel is loaded with solid pitching options and frankly there are not a ton of places to attack with hitters but the Cubs bats stand out as the clear top stacking options and will be the core of my DFS lineups this afternoon.
Cody Reed has a sub 20% strike out rate, gives up over 2 HR/9 to right-handed batters and nearly 40% hard contact which spells trouble when facing the right-handed bats of the Cubs. Kris Bryant ($4,100), Addison Russell ($2,700) and Willson Contreras ($2,800) are my top hitting options from the right side of the plate but do not overlook Anthony Rizzo ($4,200) as part of a larger Cubs stack.
First base on FanDuel is a spot where I think paying up for Rizzo may actually be contrarian due to the lefty-lefty match-up but with Miguel Cabrera likely out with a groin injury and Joey Votto going up against Jake Arrieta, I think paying for Rizzo will give you a huge edge over those who opt to pay down today!
Tigers bats versus LHP Adalberto Mejia: Even with Miguel Cabrera likely out today, i think we can look to the Tigers bats to pummel an inexperienced low strikeout lefty in Mejia. The Tigers have the highest projected run total on the Early Slate and Mejia is a guy who has a higher walk rate than strikeout rate at the major league level so this is a tremendous spot to stack!
Ian Kinsler ($3,500) and Justin Upton ($3,400) are my top two targets from Detroit here but do not over look a value play like Mikie Mahtook ($2,100) who has power upside and may slide up to the #5 spot in the line-up if Miggy does indeed miss this game!
FanDuel MLB – Top GPP Early Slate Lineup and Slate Overview
P: Jameson Taillon ($8,400)
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C: Willson Contreras ($2,800)
1B: Anthony Rizzo ($4,200)
2B: Ian Kinsler ($3,500)
3B: Kris Bryant ($4,100)
SS: Addison Russell ($2,700)
OF: Justin Upton ($3,400)
OF: Mikie Mahtook ($2,100)
OF: Khris Davis ($3,600) Krush Davis against a lefty is almost an automatic plug and play for me and against a pitcher like Ariel Miranda who has a low strikeout rate and a 35% hard contact rate – yes please!
Slate Overview: I actually really like this early slate as I think we have enough SP options where the ownership will be nicely spread out. We need to keep an eye out on the status of Jacob deGrom who is still uncertain to pitch for the Mets due to a stiff neck and if he sits, Sean Gilmartin would likely get the spot start which would bring the Nationals bats into play!
My perspective here is to load up on your core bats in Chicago/Detroit and I plan to mix/match my lineups for GPP’s between Taillon and Matt Boyd. Good luck all!
Next: DraftKings MLB Picks - Early Slate
Best of luck in your FanDuel MLB contests today and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!