FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 8/12/23

Our daily fantasy helper is available every day to analyze FanDuel's main slate and help give you a starting point when you're building lineups.

Be sure to also incorporate numberFire's great tools into your research process, including daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, and batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups.

Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitchers

Brandon Woodruff ($11,100)

At his highest salary this season after Milwaukee's right-hander recorded nine strikeouts and 36 FanDuel points in his most recent start, Woodruff will face a Chicago White Sox team with a 21.7% K-rate and a .303 weighted on-base average (wOBA) in their last 3666 plate appearances in this split.

While Woodruff's stamina is likely limited after he threw just 85 pitches in his first start after returning from a shoulder injury, the veteran offers plenty of ceiling among pitchers in today's slate, ranking first in strikeout rate with a 29% career mark and second overall with a 32.9 fantasy projection.

Zac Gallen ($10,500)

Despite producing a month high 43 FanDuel points in his last appearance, Gallen's salary has moved down to his lowest point in August against a San Diego Padres' offense with a .324 wOBA, 19.9% strikeout percentage, and a 7.4% barrel rate.

Although Gallen has not been in elite form in his most recent six starts when examining his 3.62 xFIP and 3.76 Skilled Interactive Earned Run Average (SIERA) through 38.1 innings, the 28-year old has pitched extremely well versus the Padres this season (2.76 Earned Run Average / 14 strikeouts in 13 innings) including a 64 fantasy point performance)

George Kirby ($10,100)

Seattle's emerging right-hander is another option to consider even in a tough spot versus a Baltimore Orioles' lineup accounting for a .332 wOBA and a 21.2% K-rate.

In his largest sample size pitching in the Majors, the 25-year old has replicated his impressive yearly metrics from his rookie season with a 3.60 xFIP and a 3.68 SIERA through 135.2 innings while also recording six or more strikeouts in 45% of these appearances.

With effective splits (3.49 xFIP, 24.9% K-rate) against six potential left-handed Baltimore hitters and an above average 10.2% swinging strike rate, Kirby has the proper skillset to meet today's top projection including a 36.0 fantasy expectation and 6.17 expected strikeouts.

Stacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

Ranking first among today's offenses with a 5.88 expected run total, the Dodgers will have a great spot versus Colorado's right-hander Peter Lambert and his unsightly 5.09 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP) since he was inserted into the Rockies' rotation.

Ideal Los Angeles' stacks should involve their top left-handed fly-ball hitters to focus on Lambert's main weakness (.420 wOBA, 5.96 xFIP against LHH) and heavy ground-ball percentage (47.4%) including Freddie Freeman (31.4% fly-ball percentage, 12.2% barrel rate), Max Muncy (42.9% fly-ball percentage, 17.4% barrel rate), David Peralta (26.3% fly-ball percentage, .290 expected average), and James Outman (36.2% fly-ball percentage, 10.2% barrel rate).

Houston Astros

After scoring 39 runs in their past five games, Houston's red hot offense has another opportunity to produce against Angels' veteran left-hander Tyler Anderson.

In his second year pitching in the American League, Anderson has experienced a severe decline in his metrics, recording an ugly 5.40 xFIP and a 9.4% walk rate in 104.1 innings while also allowing a ton of production to both sides of the plate (5.19 xFIP / 13.4% walk rate to LHH, 5.46 xFIP to RHH).

To best attack Anderson's trouble with the long ball (11.4% home run to fly-ball ratio), ideal Houston stacks can feature any of their top power hitters including Yordan Alvarez (.603 expected slugging percentage, 18.3% barrel rate), Kyle Tucker (.531 expected slugging percentage, 9.4% barrel rate), Yainer Diaz (13.7% barrel rate, .572 expect slugging percentage), and Jose Altuve (8.4% barrel rate, .444 expected slugging percentage).

Washington Nationals

In a matchup versus Luis Medina, the Nationals are a sneaky option on Saturday night against a wild rookie with inconsistent command (11.5% walk rate) and glaring struggles against left-handed hitters (.361 wOBA, 4.82 xFIP, 13.0% walk rate).

Washington combinations can group together several left-handed hitters with value salaries under $3,100 including C.J. Abrams (6.7% barrel rate, .315 expected wOBA), Keibert Ruiz (6.6% barrel rate, .278 expected average), Dominic Smith (7.1% career rate, .255 expected average, and Ildemaro Vargas (4.4% barrel rate, .276 expected average).

The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author’s advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.