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 can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament. That could be a low-salaried pitcher piling up strikeouts, or it could be a low-salaried hitter swatting a long ball.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Brendan Rodgers, 2B/SS, Colorado Rockies ($2,900)
Two subpar hurlers and poor bullpens to follow might make Washington the place to find stacks to pair with Thursday's top aces.
The visiting Rockies will draw Patrick Corbin. Corbin threw a bizarre eight-inning complete game against Colorado in April in which he gave up five earned runs. Corbin's 4.44 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) isn't terrible, but concerningly, Corbin has just a 9.9% swinging-strike rate, and the bevy of balls in play are usually tagged hard (47.6% hard-hit rate allowed).
Colorado has a 118 wRC+ -- which is park-adjusted for Coors Field -- against lefties. This is the split to target them in, and the Nats' ninth-worst bullpen xFIP in baseball (4.09) isn't scary, either.
For some value in the stack, turn to Brendan Rodgers. Rodgers' dismal April produced a frighteningly low .270 OPS, but that's spiked to .628 mark in May. With a 156 wRC+ against lefties for the entire season, he's been crushing southpaws even amidst his struggles.
Rodgers and Yonathan Daza are good sources of salary relief to get to Colorado's boppers like C.J. Cron, Connor Joe, and Randal Grichuk.
Yadiel Hernandez, OF, Washington Nationals ($2,700)
The Nationals' matchup might be even better.
German Marquez has fallen on hard times after being a 2021 All-Star selection. Marquez's 3.76 SIERA does indicate better days may be ahead, but he's still posted just a 19.9% strikeout rate. With so many balls in play, he's matched exactly Corbin's 47.6% hard-hit rate. Line drives are on the menu in D.C.
The Nats' lineup isn't filled with world-beaters except for Juan Soto, but they definitely can tag righties. Left-hander Yadiel Hernandez is a huge reason why.
Hernandez has a 120 wRC+ against righties this season. As Colorado turns to its left-handed dominant bullpen, he's slashed southpaws for a 143 wRC+, as well.
There's plenty of salary flexibility to squeeze in Soto considering Hernandez, Keibert Ruiz, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Bell all pack some power at or below $3,100 on FanDuel.
Kyle Garlick, OF, Minnesota Twins ($2,500)
It feels like I pick on Daniel Lynch every week, but the talented lefty just can't quite pull it altogether.
His 4.47 SIERA doesn't tell the whole story. He's actually got a healthy 12.0% swinging-strike rate, which is indicative of good stuff. His mistakes just get blasted. He's allowing a 49.5% fly-ball rate and a 46.5% hard-hit rate this season.
He's got the unfortunate task of cooling off a Twins offense that boasts a 121 wRC+ against left-handed pitching this season.
The newest addition to it has been Kyle Garlick. Garlick has quickly found his way to the middle of Minnesota's order against lefties, and it's easy to see why. In 15 plate appearances so far, Garlick has a 1.262 OPS and .450 isolated power (ISO) against them. Yeesh.
With the K.C. bullpen also sporting the fifth-worst FIP in baseball (4.18), Minnesota is one of the top stacks of the day, and it's easy to get here with an ace. Only Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa carry salaries above $3,200 in this supreme matchup.