FanDuel MLB Daily Picks and Pivots – June 23
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!
Thursday’s Main winning GPP scores were right above our season average as it took 280.3 FanDuel points to take down a tournament! Over the first 86 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 263.4 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 86 slates of the FanDuel MLB season, the average winning score to take down a GPP has been 263.4 points.
Thursday’s action on both the Early and Main slate was essentially a microcosm of the last two weeks of DFS baseball as offense continued to rule the day and paying up for pitching continued to seem like a fool’s errand! On the Main Slate the winning line-ups only needed 27 FD points from Mike Clevinger at starting pitcher and used their big bats including a Cubs stack that went off for 11 runs and a one-off Robinson Cano (51 FD points) to take down a GPP on FanDuel!
On the Early Slate where Carlos Martinez seemed like a lock and load play, it was Zack Godley who dominated with 46 FanDuel points at only $6,500 of salary which allowed you to load up on Arizona bats in Coors Field or utilize the White Sox power bats who after a lengthy rain delay delivered in a big way!
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 Pick:
Luis Perdomo ($7,200): First off, the Padres have announced that Dinelson Lamet will be moved back from Friday to Saturday and will pitch Perdomo on Friday night versus the Tigers. FanDuel as of this morning still showed Lamet as the SP so those of you doing this research early will need to adjust to Perdomo as he takes the bump in San Diego for the Padres!
The interesting thing about this slate is that we are flush with top end options to choose from with Stephen Strasburg, Chris Archer, Michael Fulmer, Alex Wood, Yu Darvish and Felix Hernandez all taking the hill so ownership should be largely spread out on this Friday slate. The question becomes, do we really need to pay up at starting pitcher? Day after day it has been the offenses that are winning slates for DFS players and even when it seems like paying up is the clear strategy (Severino/Martinez yesterday), we are reminded of the variance that lies in baseball and as the weather heats up it is the bats that are going to either make or break your line-up!
Perdomo is a pitcher that I absolutely love as his advanced metrics seemingly go over-looked most slates and with a perceived tough match-up against the Tigers I would assume that trend continues. However simply dig into the numbers a bit and you are going to see the upside that I see:
- Perdomo Versus Right-Handers at Home this season:
- 75.8% Ground Ball Rate
- 25.8% hard contact rate
- .42 HR/9
Perdomo this season has a 23.6% K rate versus right-handers which is over 10% higher than his rate against lefties and tonight he will face a Tigers team with 7-8 right-handed batters and a squad that strikes out at the 9th highest rate in MLB versus RHP at 22.9%.
Perdomo has put up between 33 and 40 FanDuel points in four of his last five home starts which at this price point would put you in a great spot to stay within shouting distance of the other arms and have the advantage of more hitter dominant roster build. His ability to dominate right-handed batters against an overly right-handed heavy team with K upside makes him my top GPP play on this slate!
FanDuel MLB – Top Hitting Stacks:
Washington Nationals versus RHP Luis Castillo: Castillo will be making his major league debut tonight in Nationals park in 85 degree weather with 14 MPH winds blowing straight out and for a guy who has never pitched above AA this could be a massive stacking opportunity for the Nationals high-powered offense.
Castillo does have solid strikeout stuff with a 25% K rate in the minors but he has not faced a line-up like the Nationals and with the third highest projected run total (5.36), Vegas certainly thinks the rookie will have a tough time!
With the savings we get from Perdomo at starting pitcher, a full on four man stack is perfectly viable here with Trea Turner ($4,200), Brian Goodwin ($2,400), Bryce Harper ($4,800) and Daniel Murphy ($4,100).
Tampa Bay Rays LHB versus Ubaldo Jimenez: Any time Ubaldo is on the hill we know we can start to stack em up as Jimenez has surrendered 3.46 HR/9 to left-handed batters this season and a 33% hard contact rate!
The Rays left-handed power bats are always one of my favorite GPP stacks due to their boom or bust nature and tonight with Jimenez on the mound I would start a mini-stack with Corey Dickerson ($4,100) and Logan Morrison ($3,600). If Colby Rasmus ($3,100) makes the line-up he is an amazing BvP play as he is 13 for 34 (.382) with 6 doubles and 1 home run in his career against Jimenez!
FanDuel MLB – Sample GPP Line-up and Slate Overview:
P: Luis Perdomo ($7,200)
More from FanSided
- USMNT news: Turner to Forest, Trusty to Sheffield, Reynolds to Westerlo
- Inside the Clubhouse: What I’m hearing as the MLB Trade Deadline nears
- Yankees: Luis Severino has blunt assessment of another miserable outing
- Bills: 3 2023 roster holes that could cost Josh Allen a Super Bowl and why
- Colts RB Jonathan Taylor shoots down rumors of troubling injury
C: $2K Punt Option
1B: Logan Morrison ($3,600)
2B: Daniel Murphy ($4,100)
3B: Wilmer Flores ($2,600)
SS: Trea Turner ($4,200)
OF: Brian Goodwin ($2,400)
OF: Bryce Harper ($4,800)
OF: Corey Dickerson ($4,100)
Slate Overview: As I do each day, I look over the slate in its entirety and try to understand which roster construction I want to utilize. On today’s slate we have a ton of offenses in great spots that I want to pay up for so finding a value SP is my ideal option and I believe Perdomo provides one of the best point per dollar plays on the board with his elite GB rate and hidden strike-out upside in this spot against Detroit. With hitters in Chase Field (roof closed) and the offense seemingly going off all around MLB, I think tonight is a night you load up on power bats and stack away for a big DFS night!
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!