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We have a typically expansive Friday night FanDuel slate, with only one game, a Brewers-Cub afternoon tilt at Wrigley, not included. The ledger shapes up as an interesting mix of some aces and some particularly vulnerable starters, which always makes it a fun night for sifting through hitters and attempting to identify those under-the-radar opportunities for tournaments in particular.
Additionally, stadiums such as Coors Field, Fenway Park and Oriole Park serve as host locations Friday, which only naturally serves to heighten offensive expectations. As usual, we’ll strive to provide you with multiple pitching options to consider, as well as one viable bat at each infield spot alongside three outfielders..
I'll be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 4/23/2021. Be sure to also check out all the MLB player news, including late scratches, and the projected and confirmed daily MLB lineups for each DFS slate. You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for sites like DraftKings, and other sports.
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FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Jacob deGrom – NYM vs. WAS ($12,500)
The highest-salaried player on a slate usually carries that hefty figure for a good reason, and although deGrom would be tough to fit in while still building a viable lineup on a smaller slate, the massive amount of options at our disposal Friday make it a possibility. There’s certainly multiple big names right below him that could also deliver strong returns, yet each has less certainty attached than deGrom, who appears to be on a full blinders-on mission for the NL Cy Young over his first three starts. There’s truly no weak spots with the Mets’ ace, who boasts a career-best 15.8 K/9, 0.45 ERA (1.78 xERA), 1.34 FIP (1.59 xFIP) and 89.3 LOB percentage. DeGrom’s FD-point tallies have been 43-67-70 in his first three turns, and he’ll face a Nationals team that had mustered just a .290 wOBA and -6.7 wRAA against right-handed pitching on the season, and whose current bats he’s held to a collective .156/.262/.208 line and recorded 32 strikeouts against in 122 career encounters.
Potential Alternate Play
Steven Matz – TOR at TB ($9,500)
From a current Met to a former one, Matz makes for a nice cost-savings pivot off deGrom if the budget simply doesn’t work with the five-figure ace on your roster. The Blue Jays’ southpaw isn’t a bad alternative by any stretch against a Rays team that went into Thursday with a 28.8 percent strikeout rate against lefties, including a 31.0 percent figure at Tropicana Field. Like his former teammate deGrom, Matz also has an array of numbers that support his excellent surface stats of a 3-0 mark, 1.47 ERA and 0.82 WHIP. The 29-year-old sports an xERA of 2.55, while his 3.59 xFIP isn’t too stark a departure from his 2.98 FIP. Matz also sports a minuscule and career-best 0.5 HR/9, career-high 26.5 percent strikeout rate and career-low .148 BAA through his first 18.1 innings. Finally, consider he’s making it an uphill battle for hitters to put solid wood on his offerings, as he’s allowed a career-low 85.5 mph average exit velocity and just a sole barrel over 43 batted-ball events thus far. Matz has also gone at least six frames in each start, picking up the quality start bonus in all of them while scoring 37 to 53 FD points.
FanDuel DFS Infielders
Matt Olson – 1B, OAK at BAL ($3,700)
Orioles starter Jorge Lopez has had no shortage of trouble with left-handed hitters in his career, allowing a .300/.365/.530 slash and .376 wOBA to that handedness, along with a 2.0 HR/9 and 40.4 percent hard-contact rate. Zooming in on just this season, Lopez’s wOBA surrendered to lefty bats stands at .379 despite those batters mustering just a .211 average against him, as two of the four hits he’s surrendered in the sample have left the yard. There may be no better way to attack Lopez than with Olson, who’s carrying a .495 wOBA and .381 ISO against righties into Friday’s matchup (48 plate appearances), and who already boasts a .490 wOBA this season and a .410 figure for his career against Lopez’s trademark sinker.
Jeff McNeil– 2B, NYM vs. WAS ($2,400)
McNeil is the first of multiple hitters in today’s article whose surface numbers may be counterintuitive to clicking on their names, but whose underlying stats/past body of work point to them snapping out of their doldrums in the very near future. McNeil earned his first promotion to the majors back in 2018 by forging a combined .311/.380/.443 line across 10 minor-league stops, and despite a current .167/.255/.286 slash in ‘21, he still carries a .313/.378/.492 line through his first 262 big-league contests. McNeil has truly been the victim of some bad fortune this season, as his .342 xwOBA is significantly better than his .248 wOBA, and his .158 BABIP is unsustainably low. Digging further, McNeil’s xBA of .260 nearly outpaces his actual figure by 100 points, while his .452 xSLG dwarfs his .286 conventional figure in that category. McNeil’s average exit velocity (87.8 mph), maximum exit velocity (108.3 mph) and barrel percentage (5.1) are all career highs as well, and to top it off, opposing starter Erick Fedde is allowing a .352 wOBA to left-handed hitters for his career, including a .413 figure thus far this season.
Alec Bohm – 3B, PHI at COL ($3,100)
Bohm is another selection who’s run into a bit of misfortune when putting balls in play this season, as he sports a .341 xwOBA (.270 wOBA), a .279 xBA that’s 60 points higher than his regular average and a .492 xSLG that dwarfs his .344 actual slugging percentage. He’s also upped his average exit velocity three full percentage points over last season (93.2 percent, compared to 90.2), and although he’s opened the season with just a .214 wOBA against righties, his 27.8 percent line-drive rate versus that handedness implies a lot more hits should start falling soon. What’s more, Bohm tagged right-handed pitchers for a .358/.416/.472 slash and .387 wOBA during his 2020 rookie campaign and draws a Coors matchup against German Marquez, whose 3.57 ERA is belied somewhat by his 4.41 xERA, and who’s allowed an elevated 23.5 percent line-drive rate to right-handed hitters at home. Marquez has also yielded a .332 career wOBA to righty bats at Coors Field and Bohm, despite his slow start this season, did pound the four-seam fastball, Marquez’s most often-thrown pitch, for a .363 wOBA as a rookie in 2020.
Xander Bogaerts – SS, BOS vs. SEA ($3,300)
Bogaerts has terrorized left-handed pitching throughout his career, posting a .309/.385/.476 line, .370 wOBA and 131 Wrc+. He’s also off to an incandescently hot start overall this season, posting a .371 average and 10.6 FD points per game after belting homers in back-to-back contests against the Blue Jays and Tuesday and Wednesday. The Mariners trot out southpaw Yusei Kikuchi, who allowed five earned runs in his most recent start and has pitched to a 5.13 xERA while allowing a 47.2 percent hard-hit percentage and career-high 9.4 barrel percentage. Then, Bogaerts already sports a .425 wOBA against southpaws this season and a .447 wOBA at Fenway Park specifically.
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Mitch Haniger – OF, SEA at BOS ($3,400)
Haniger is about as tantalizing a play on the other side of the Mariners-Red Sox matchup as Bogaerts, as the veteran outfielder comes in wielding a red-hot bat that’s seen him post a pair of tallies of over 30 FD points in his last four games alone, and another four double-digit totals in the last nine contests. Haniger was already sporting a .382 wOBA before slugging a three-run homer Thursday, and he boasts an .843 OPS and .358 wOBA against left-handed pitching on the road for his career. Meanwhile, Red Sox starter Martin Perez has opened the season pitching to a 5.58 xFIP, 1.54 WHIP and .286 BAA while allowing an .847 OPS and .374 wOBA to right-handed hitters.
Charlie Blackmon - OF, COL vs. PHI ($3,900)
Blackmon is another notable name that carries a surprisingly poor slash line early in 2021, as he’ll enter Friday’s matchup against Vince Velasquez with a .176 average and .314 slugging percentage. As with McNeil and Bohm, however, a deeper look is warranted. Blackmon sports a career-high 13.1 percent walk rate and minuscule 14.8 percent strikeout rate, along with a .356 xwOBA, .273 xBA and .439 xSLG. Blackmon’s 9.5 barrel percentage is also a career-best figure, and his .195 BABIP is way out of whack under any scenario, but especially when considering his solid 21.4 percent line-drive rate and 38.1 percent hard-contact rate. Velasquez has surrendered a .333 average to Blackmon in 21 career plate appearances as well, and the veteran right-hander has yielded a .351 wOBA and 1.5 HR/9 to left-handed hitters over his career, including a .379 wOBA in a small sample this season.
Cedric Mullins – OF, BAL vs. OAK ($2,900)
Mullins may be off many DFS players’ radar Friday with a lefty-on-lefty matchup against Cole Irvin, but automatically dismissing the talented Orioles outfielder based on that would be hasty and misguided. Irvin has actually been consistently pounded in same-handed matchups throughout his young career, surrendering a .403/.438/.597 slash and .434 wOBA over an 80-batter sample. In turn, Mullins, who has switched to hitting from the left side on a full-time basis after previously profiling as a switch hitter, boasts an .863 OPS and .385 wOBA in 23 plate appearances against southpaws this season. Irvin’s xERA of 6.29 is significantly higher than his 4.60 ERA as well, and he’s allowing a career-high 93.3 mph average exit velocity through 52 batted-ball events. It’s also worth noting Oakland relievers have allowed a .322 wOBA to lefty bats on the road, and a 4.80 ERA to that handedness overall.
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