MLB DFS Picks: FanDuel Plays and Strategy for Tuesday, April 16

MLB DFS Picks: FanDuel Plays and Strategy for Tuesday, April 16

This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.

Ten games are featured on Tuesday's FanDuel main slate, with the first action starting at 7:07 p.m. EDT. It's a slate lacking big-named pitchers, but not big-priced, with two sitting at $10,000 or greater and three more in the $9k tier. Diamondbacks - Cubs is the only game with a double-digit run total, while Reds - Mariners sits at a slate-low 7.0 runs.

Weather looks largely clear, though White Sox - Royals has some rain risk and likely winds blowing in, making it a game to avoid but not completely ignore. Winds may give a slight edge to Dodger and National bats, but it's minimal.

Pitching

Hunter Greene, CIN at SEA ($9,900): You don't need me to tell you Brady Singer is in a great spot Tuesday. Maybe you do need me to state that Singer faces a White Sox lineup that's fanning at a 23.2 percent clip against righties, while Greene gets a Mariners lineup with a massive 31.4 percent K rate and a league-low .259 wOBA and 70 wRC+. Greene is combustible, so he's more a GPP guy, but the upside looks elite, and the ballpark factor should help. He's sitting at nearly 12 K/9 and that should play up here, helping alleviate some of the damage he may allow.

Lance Lynn, STL at OAK ($8,400): This feels like paying a bit too much for mediocrity, but Lynn should be stable and not break your bank. He's posted 27, 23 and 33 fantasy points in three starts, so we should know what we're getting. His Ks are up (11.8 per nine) which should play up against an Oakland lineup that's fanning at a 28.1 percent clip. Lynn's warts have been walks (3.9 per nine) and homers (1.9 per nine), thinks Oakland isn't likely to exploit, as they walk 9.1 percent of the time and have just a .121 ISO. 

JP Sears, OAK vs. STL ($6,700): This is a super weird pitching slate for me. The top options are there based largely on matchup and early results versus overall continued success. The middle tier is just that with minimal upside, and the lower portion has some interesting upside chances. Kyle Hendricks is aging, Hunter Brown is laboring, but they are both far better pitchers than their price suggests. Their matchups stink, though. So, maybe Sears draws some eyes. He's coming off a brilliant outing against Texas, finally showing some swing and miss potential. The Cardinals don't fan a ton at only 20.0 percent, but have just a .298 wOBA and 87 wRC+ off lefties, and the ballpark in Oakland isn't exactly hitter friendly. We don't need a ton of production to reach a 4x return here, just five innings of decent damage limitation.

Top Targets

This always starts with Atlanta and the Dodgers. Feel free to deploy whomever you like from Los Angeles' big guns, but I'll have more on their offense below. We then turn to Atlanta, where Ronald Acuna ($4,300) remains an ideal play. He narrowly missed his first homer last night, sending it just foul, and looks to finally be lifting the ball a bit. He's a threat on the bases as well, giving him multiple paths to a safe fantasy outing.

Staying in the same game, Atlanta starter Reynaldo Lopez is likely due some regression, as he has a 0.75 ERA but a 4.31 xFIP. Yordan Alvarez ($4,200) was awful last night, but he's homered twice off Lopez in five career at-bats. Jose Altuve ($4,000) is white hot, with three hits in four of his last five games, and is the far safer play.

Bargain Bats

Everyone under the sun is going to target the Dodgers against Patrick Corbin. I'm not a BvP truther by any stretch, but there are some interesting trends that suggest we can find value in secondary Los Angeles bats, depending on how they line up. Miguel Rojas ($2,300) is 15-for-37 (.406) with three homers off Corbin, Austin Barnes ($2,100) is 4-for-12 (.333) with two homers and Chris Taylor ($2,300) is 8-for-29 (.276) with a homer. The former and the latter offer great position flexibility, while Barnes is easily replaceable with Will Smith ($3,100), who isn't priced up either. It's the last game of the slate, so lineups will come late, but if you pay up for aces, there's a plethora of paths to getting cheap shares of this lineup.

The Cubs lineup makes for an interesting stacking consideration, but their poor current form won't have me going all in. It's a small sample, but Diamondbacks' starter Tommy Henry has been hit harder by same-handed bats in the early going, allowing a .432 wOBA to lefties. Michael Busch ($3,100) may be too hot to sit even in this LvL matchup, having homered in five straight, but he hasn't hit lefties at all. Cody Bellinger ($3,100) is scuffling, but has a .407 wOBA off lefties since the start of last season.

Staying in Arizona, loading up on Diamondbacks against Hendricks makes plenty of sense. He's allowing a .563 wOBA and 1.344 OPS to lefties and .487/1.114 to righties, so the entire lineup is in play and stackable. But give me Joc Pederson ($2,600) or Eugenio Suarez ($2,800) for some potential pop and value.

A final, largely BvP consideration; I never trust Yusei Kikuchi, but he's in great form and has already shut down the Yankees once. Even so, Gleyber Torres ($2,800) and Alex Verdugo ($2,600) are a combined 16-for-40 (.400) off him.

Stacks to Consider

Padres vs. Wade Miley (Brewers): Fernando Tatis ($3,800), Manny Machado ($3,200), Xander Bogaerts ($2,800)

We don't want to target left-handed splits too much here, as Miley isn't likely going to work deep into this game. Manny Machado stands out as possibly my favorite play across the slate though, and his salary seems far too low. He's just 6-for-23 (.263) off Miley but does have two homers. He's also riding a nine-game hitting streak and has a .479 wOBA and 204 wRC+ off lefties to date. Bogaerts is also hitting lefties decently with a .375 wOBA and is 6-for-18 (.333) off Miley. These two atop the order allow us to pay up for Tatis and his nightly potential. Milwaukee's bullpen has been mediocre with a 3.99 ERA and 1.23 WHIP once Miley is lifted.

Red Sox vs. Tanner Bibee (Guardians): Jarren Duran ($3,400), Rafael Devers ($3,200), Triston Casas ($3,000)

Bibee has really struggled against left-handed bats, and teams seem to be targeting that as he's faced 40 lefties in three starts as opposed to 26 righties. He's allowing a .468 wOBA and 1.086 OPS to opposite-handed bats with five of the 11 hits allowed going for extra bases. Boston is chalk full of lefty bats at the top of their order, none of which are expensive, so this is just a terrific fit based on matchup, even if these options aren't in great form.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Chris Bennett plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: k30kittles, DraftKings: k30kittles.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Bennett
Bennett covers baseball, college football and college basketball for RotoWire. Before turning to fantasy writing, he worked in scouting/player development for the Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos. He's also a fan of the ACC.
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