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 -- whether it be a pitcher unexpectedly piling up strikeouts or a low-salaried batter racking up points -- can be the secret sauce to taking down a tournament.
Which budget options stand out today on FanDuel?
Eddie Rosario, OF, Braves ($2,100)
The Atlanta Braves are the top stack on tonight's four-game slate, and Eddie Rosario is a low-salary way to get in on the Braves' slate-leading 5.41 implied total.
Atlanta is taking on Cory Abbott. In a role that's seen him bounce between the bullpen and rotation, Abbott has been pretty bad in 2022, recording a 5.24 SIERA and 61.9% fly-ball rate. The sky-high fly-ball rate has led to him giving up 2.08 homers per nine.
Lefties have mauled Abbott for 2.29 homers per nine and a .384 wOBA. Yes, please.
Rosario will hit from the left side and has a 44.1% fly-ball rate in the split. He's easy to love at this salary.
Aristides Aquino, OF, Reds ($2,200)
Aristides Aquino is taking on rookie righty Roansy Contreras.
Contreras has some promising numbers this season, but he has also struggled with homers and fly-balls. He's permitted a 40.8% fly-ball rate overall and a .329 wOBA in righty-righty matchups.
Aquino has posted a 47.3% fly-ball rate against righties and is a fun low-salary dart at a dinger. He's left the yard five times in 85 September plate appearances, so Aquino's power stroke is working right now.
We project Aquino for 12.7 FanDuel points and rate him as the night's best point-per-dollar bat.
Rougned Odor, 2B, Orioles ($2,200)
The Baltimore Orioles are on the stacking radar. They show a 4.57 implied total -- the slate's third-best -- for a meeting with Connor Seabold.
Seabold, a righty, has spent most of 2022 at Triple-A, posting decent numbers, including a 24.7% strikeout rate. But, his xFIP in Triple-A was just 4.30, and he surrendered a 43.5% fly-ball rate. The fly-ball rate has carried over to the bigs. In his first 16 1/3 MLB frames this season, Seabold has allowed a 45.8% fly-ball rate and 2.20 homers per nine.
Rougned Odor is at his best against right-handers, and he's put up a 50.8% fly-ball rate in the split. He's a serviceable way to fill second base and projects for 0.15 homers -- the second-best mark at the position.