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. They don't allow many runs and strike opponents out often.
Therefore, crushing your value plays -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a lower-salaried batter racking up points -- is the true secret sauce to taking down a baseball tournament.
Which budget options stand out today?
Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers ($2,900)
The Brewers' offense will likely go as Christian Yelich does in 2022, and with that the case, last night was an encouraging sign.
Yelich swatted his first homer of the year on Monday -- a grand slam off Zach Thompson. Still, Yelly has been swinging a decent bat to start the campaign even before that; he's posted a .380 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and .212 isolated power (ISO).
The Brew Crew won't be nearly as popular as they should be in this spot thanks to gaudy totals in Boston and Colorado. In their own friendly ballpark, Milwaukee will draw JT Brubaker, who holds an ugly 52.0% flyball rate and 5.88 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) through two starts this season.
The entirety of the Brewers' top six -- including Kolten Wong, Willy Adames, Andrew McCutchen, and Hunter Renfroe -- can be had for salaries under $3,000. That offers plenty of room to add three to their starter, Corbin Burnes.
Whit Merrifield, 2B/OF, Kansas City Royals ($2,800)
The Minnesota Twins should get plenty of love against Royals starter Carlos Hernandez, but this one is a near pick 'em for a reason.
Chris Archer has posted ERAs of 5.19 and 4.66 the past two seasons, so it'll take more than four scoreless innings in his 2022 debut to convince the masses he's back to his dominant form last seen in Tampa Bay years ago.
Yet, those innings should keep Kansas City completely out of the picture for most as a value stack on Tuesday. With a 4.25 implied run total that matches the visitors, I want to take swipes at several Royals in tournaments -- but most notably Whit Merrifield.
Merrifield's .306 wOBA and .117 ISO weren't special in 2021, but his 40 stolen bases were. He'll likely set the table -- as he did every single game a year ago -- for Kansas City in this one.
Whit has struggled mightily out of the gates this season (zero barrels eight games into the season), but the former All-Star's salary has dipped too low as such a potent threat to swipe bases and score if the Royals tag Archer for damage.
Trey Mancini, 1B, Baltimore Orioles ($2,500)
As a tournament player, Cole Irvin was a favorite target of mine in 2021.
Irvin is an average pitcher, for he's posted a SIERA below 5.00 in all four seasons in which he's appeared. However, he's a contract pitcher that's prone to individual blowups worth monitoring in daily fantasy. Irvin's strikeout rate is just 12.5% so far in 2022, and this is on the heels of three seasons where he posted a sub-10.0% swinging-strike rate.
Therefore, the Baltimore Orioles and their right-handed dominant lineup might be the sneakiest of value stacks this evening in Oakland.
As always, the O's biggest power threat is Trey Mancini. Mancini's rebounded from a down year in 2021 thus far absolutely lambasting lefties. In 15 plate appearances, Mancini has posted 166 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) against them.
Only Cedric Mullins at exactly $3,000 breaks that mark for an Orioles stack in this contact-friendly matchup, so feel free to load up on Mancini, Mullins, Austin Hays, Ramon Urias, and Anthony Santander to jam in your aces du jour.