FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 9/17/23

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 ($11,500)

At his highest salary this season after a 4.5% increase, Woodruff will look to sustain his recent momentum versus a Washington Nationals' lineup with a .304 weighted on-base average (wOBA) and a 19.8% K-rate.

Since his return on August 6th, the 30-year old has displayed promising consistency and front-end starting material through 56.0 innings, recording a 3.65 expected Fielding Independent Pitching rating (xFIP), a 29.7% K-rate, and quality starts in 66% of his appearances including a complete game shutout in his last outing.

While the Nationals are a tough spot to accumulate strikeouts, Woodruff has displayed the ability to get outs against both sides of the plate when observing his 3.94 xFIP and 29.4% K-rate versus left-handed hitters and 3.36 xFIP with a 30.0% rate against the right side.

Framber Valdez ($11,200)

In an underrated spot versus a Kansas City Royals team with a .299 wOBA and a 33.6% K-rate, Valdez ranks among today's top starters with a 33.4 fantasy projection with 5.6 strikeouts.

Through his last eight starts, the Astros' left-hander has provided steady production since August despite a middling 20.3 K-rate, accounting for a 3.87 xFIP and six quality outings during this time period.

When considering Valdez's recent stretch of quality starts and his ideal matchup, Valdez should be considered a high ceiling play even at his highest salary this month.

Sonny Gray ($9,800)

After Gray averaged just 24.5 FanDuel points in his past two starts, the veteran's FanDuel salary has remained at his lowest point in September.

Through his last 49.2 innings, the Twins' right-hander has hit his stride down the stretch, recording a 3.50 xFIP, a 12.3% swinging strike rate, and seven or more strikeouts in 50% of his last eight starts.

With Sunday's third overall fantasy expectation at 34.3 expected FanDuel points, Gray's opportunity versus six White Sox hitters with K-rates over 20.9% gives plenty of optimisim to believe he can sustain his recent momentum.

Stacks

San Francisco Giants

Despite averaging just three runs in their current series at Coors Field, the Giants remain today's top projected offense with an eye-popping 6.37 expected run total against Chris Flexen and his below average 4.85 xFIP as a starter with the Rockies.

Ideal San Francisco combinations should feature their top right-handed bats to best attack Flexen's main weakness and unique reverse splits (5.63 xFIP, 12.8% K-rate) including Mitch Haniger (10.2% barrel rate), J.D. Davis (9.5% barrel rate), and Wilmer Flores (.336 expected wOBA, 7.8% barrel rate) while Joc Pederson (12.0% barrel rate, .370 expected wOBA), LaMonte Wade Jr (.364 expected wOBA, 9.5% barrel rate), and Patrick Bailey (10.6% barrel rate) deserve to be mixed in with their power and batted ball metrics.

Colorado Rockies

Ranking third with a 5.13 expected run total, the Rockies could be an overlooked option at Coors Field even in a great spot versus Sean Manaea and his glaring splits against right-handed bats (4.49 xFIP, .348 wOBA).

With his profile in mind, optimal Colorado stacks should prioritize several options in the top and middle of their order including Ezequiel Tovar (8.3% barrel rate), Kris Bryant (.340 expected wOBA, 6.1% barrel rate), Elehuris Montero (6.2% barrel rate), and Brendan Rodgers (9.2% barrel rate).

Houston Astros

Outside of Coors Field, fantasy players have an intriguing spot to pivot to MLB's fifth ranked offense and a mouth-watering matchup against Jordan Lyles.

Due to Lyles' neutral overall splits (5.42 xFIP against RHH, 5.27 xFIP against LHH), Houston stacks can group together their top power bats from either side of the plate including Yordan Alvarez (.437 expected wOBA, 17.5% barrel rate), Kyle Tucker (.389 expected wOBA, 10.3% barrel rate), Alex Bregman (.347 expected wOBA, .265 expected average), Jose Altuve (.344 expected wOBA, 9.4% barrel rate), and Chas McCormick (.346 expected wOBA, 11.0% barrel rate).

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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.