FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Saturday 8/5/23

Our daily 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 our great tools into your research process.

Whether you're looking for daily projections, the latest starting lineups and weather, or batting and pitching heat maps to find the best matchups -- we've got you covered!

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

Pitchers

Corbin Burnes ($10,800)

After 3.8% increase to his second highest salary this season, Burnes will face a Pittsburgh Pirates' offense with a 28.4% K-rate and a .314 weighted on-base percentage (wOBA) in their past 1804 plate appearances.

In his past 39.0 innings, Milwaukee's right-hander has emerged with his best form this season after struggling in the first half, recording a solid 3.17 xFIP, a 12.3% swinging strike percentage, and six or more strikeouts in 83% of his appearances.

With six projected spots in Pittsburgh's lineup with K-rates between from 28.1% and 43.5%, Burnes should be considered an elite option with today's second highest strikeout prediction at 6.49.

Kenta Maeda ($10,000)

Even at his highest salary this season, Maeda is another option in this tier to consider when evaluating his stellar recent form including a 35.8% K-rate and 3.31 xFIP .

While the Arizona Diamondbacks offer a low strikeout matchup with a 20.3% rate, the D-backs have been ice cold in their eight games, averaging a minuscule 2.12 runs per contest.

Steven Matz ($9,000)

Since July 9th after Matz was inserted back into the Cardinals' rotation, the 32-year old has accounted for solid production through five starts, recording a 3.64 xFIP, a 11.6% swinging strike rate, and a 26.0% strikeout percentage in 26.2 innings.

When considering his recent improved form and today's favorable opportunity versus a Colorado Rockies' unit with six projected hitters with K-rates over 28.0%, Matz should be evaluated as a viable value option with a 3.38 rating and a 30.4 fantasy projection.

Stacks

Baltimore Orioles

In a matchup versus Tylor Megill, the Orioles are a top stack to consider with a 5.31 expected run total against a right-hander with a poor 5.19 xFIP, inconsistent command (11.9% walk rate this season), and glaring spits versus left-handed bats (.378 wOBA, 4.93 xFIP).

With these weaknesses in mind, Baltimore's bats from the left side rate as core options including Adley Rutschman (.362 expected wOBA, .280 expected average), Gunnar Henderson (.343 expected wOBA, 11.3% barrel rate), Anthony Santander (10.6% barrel rate), and Ryan O'Hearn (.335 expected wOBA, 10.8% barrel rate).

Minnesota Twins

Despite averaging three runs in their past five games, the Twins should not be overlooked on Saturday against Arizona's veteran Ryne Nelson and his concerning batted ball metrics including a 5.27 xFIP, an eye-popping 10.9% barrel rate, and a 11.2% home run to fly-ball ratio.

To best attack Nelson's trouble versus the opposing side of the plate (5.66 xFIP, 13.9% K-rate, 10.3% walk percentage against LHH), ideal Minnesota combinations can feature Edouard Julien (15.6% barrel rate, .343 expected wOBA), Jorge Polanco (.353 expected wOBA, 13.6% barrel rate), Max Kepler (.339 expected wOBA, 11.4% barrel rate), Matt Wallner (.416 expected wOBA, 17.0% barrel rate) and Joey Gallo (20.0% barrel rate).

St. Louis Cardinals

In a mouth-watering spot against Ty Blach, the Cardinals' 5.62 run total ranks first among today's main slate against a below average lefty with a career 12.8% K-rate and a 4.76 xFIP.

Optimal St. Louis stacks should group together their top fly-ball power bats to counter Blach's 47.9% ground-ball percentage including Paul Goldschmidt (11.6% barrel rate, 29.6% fly-ball percentage), Nolan Arenado (35.7% fly-ball percentage, 9.0% barrel rate), Willson Contreras (29.1% fly-ball percentage, 11.4% barrel rate), and Tyler O'Neill (30.9% fly-ball percentage, 12.9% barrel rate)

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.