This article is part of our FanDuel MLB series.
The weekday schedule appears to be settling in with fewer day games and larger main slate player pools. Tuesday features 10 games, and as of submission only Tampa and Baltimore hadn't made their pitching plans clear. We have Coors Field available to us, and a whopping nine left-handed pitchers to create plus matchups.
Pitching
There's no shortage of top pitching options, with five arms priced north of $9,000, and at least the top three have soft matchups on paper. If you're paying up, I side with Corbin Burnes ($10,800) against the Pirates. Pittsburgh has a respectable .322 wOBA in the early going, but fan 25.3 percent of the time with only a .121 ISO. There's familiarity too given the divisional opponent. Burnes fanned 13 Bucs in 11.1 innings last season, allowing a .289 wOBA.
Max Fried ($7,400) stands out among the middle-tier pitching options. His price is down due to some poor results, but he's simply been unlucky. He's allowing only a 23.7 percent hard-hit rate, hasn't allowed a homer, and his .395 BABIP surely is due to trend downward. That all adds up to his 5.73 ERA not matching his 3.00 xFIP. The Dodgers are always scary to bet against, but they've got only a .256 wOBA and .058 ISO to date. Here's hoping Fried brings his A-game and matches Walker Buehler.
Cole Irvin at $7,100 is certainly in play against oft-targeted Baltimore, but if you're looking to pay down and differentiate, consider contrarian options in Jon Gray ($6,900) or Reiver Sanmartin ($6,500). I question how long Gray can go having not thrown a bullpen since being sidelined by a blister, but the Mariners aren't mashing, posting only a .314 wOBA and .148 ISO against righties. Gray is also in a high-profile spot as he attempts to match Robbie Ray. The Padres meanwhile have been pretty free swinging, striking out 24.9 percent of the time. They've been better against lefties, but Sanmartin gets the benefit of being new and having not been seen by this lineup, and he flashed his potential in his last outing against the Dodgers.
Top Targets
Nick Castellanos ($4,100) looks like a bargain as much as he does a top target, as the price doesn't seem elevated considering he's playing in Coors Field. He's facing Kyle Freeland and posted a .393 wOBA and .285 ISO against lefties last year.
I think this slate sets up to splurge on pitching and seek value among the bats, but if you want to take the other path, It seems reasonable to stay in Colorado. C.J. Cron ($4,300) is shockingly the highest-priced bat Tuesday, and Ryan McMahon ($3,900) isn't far behind. Cron boasts a .441 wOBA, 168 wRC+ and .481 ISO, while McMahon sits at .441/169/.286. Deploy as your budget allows.
Atlanta has been woeful as a whole, as you can discern by Matt Olson ($3,900) having only two RBI all year... on his two solo homers. He brings as stable a floor as you'll find Tuesday, though. He's reached base in all but one game to date, thanks in part to eight walks. Olson also has just a 6.7 percent soft contact rate.
Value Bats
The Rays have a plethora of bats with positive splits against lefties and are facing Justin Steele, but with temps in the low 40s in Chicago on Tuesday night, I don't want to load up too much on their lineup. That said, Randy Arozarena ($2,800) is priced low enough to garner interest thanks to upside not often seen at this cost. He's posted a .393 wOBA and 157 wRC+ since the start of last year against lefties.
Jorge Polanco ($3,100) went deep Monday afternoon, and his early-season splits suggest more success Tuesday as he carries a .411 wOBA, 176 wRC+, .333 ISO into a matchup with Carlos Hernandez, who allowed six hits and four runs across 20 batters faced in his opener.
Oakland is still a bottom feeder despite early positive returns. So are the Orioles, so we should be able to find ample value in a game that could be void of stable pitching. Trey Mancini ($2,500) hasn't found his power stroke, but still has a .399 wOBA and 166 wRC+ against lefties in the early going, with Cole Irvin on the bump for the A's.
Stacks to Consider
Red Sox at Blue Jays (Yusei Kikuchi): J.D. Martinez ($3,700), Xander Bogaerts ($3,500), Enrique Hernandez ($3,400)
Loyal readers know I'm always willing to pick on Kikuchi, moreso than most others. He's feast or famine nightly, so stacking bats against him is largely a GPP strategy. Hernandez seems to be our surprising anchor, having posted a .367 wOBA and .239 ISO against lefties since the start of 2021. Bogaerts went .357/.153 and Martinez .348/.210 in that same span. We don't want to lean too heavily on BvP, but Bogaerts is 3-for-6 with two HRs and Martinez 2-for-6 with two HRs against Kikuchi in their careers.
Brewers vs Pirates (JT Brubaker): Christian Yelich ($2,900), Willy Adames ($2,900), Rowdy Tellez ($2,400)
Brubaker has a 9.82 ERA and 6.46 xFIP, has been victimized equally by righties and lefties, and faces a Brewers squad with no player priced north of $3,000. The entire lineup could feature in the Value Bats section above. Yelich can anchor despite his lack of power, he's only been shut out twice to date and has gone for 2x value or better in every other outing. Adames has led the Brewers with a .381 wOBA and .249 ISO against righties since the start of last year, and Tellez isn't far behind, sitting at .355 and .231.
