Categories: Daily Fantasy Baseball PickseBookfeatured

Daily Fantasy MLB Hitter Stacks for FanDuel and DraftKings- 5/21/16

Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other stacking targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article and our updates articles but here we will look at other dudes to consider.

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Stacking in DFS MLB is such an important concept if you’re looking to take down a big tournament on FanDuel or DraftKings. It’s also a good way to diversify cash games because the variance in baseball can mean wild swings (ahem) in the scoring on a particular slate. The concept is easy. You want to pile players from one or two teams into your lineups because those guys compound scores by helping each other score runs when the going is good.

Stack Targets

Early Slate

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Pat Dean(Twins)

If you're looking for some serious firepower then this is the stack for you. The Blue Jays rank 8th in the league in home runs hit off of left-handed pitchers, and they've got plenty of guys who know how to crush bad pitching. Speaking of bad pitching, let's take a look at Pat Dean, who will be making his first big league start this afternoon. Although he's got a K/9 of 7.88 right now, prior to being called up to the majors he didn't have a K/9 much above 5 since he was in single A all the way back in 2011. This is big for the Blue Jays, who have a tendency to strikeout at a rate above the league average. For this particular stack I like the usual suspects in Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, and Jose Bautista, and these three guys can be paired with either Justin Smoak or Russell Martin (depending on who's hitting in a more advantageous lineup spot, although I tend to lean Smoak since Martin has been pretty bad this season). Target Field is a slightly above average hitters park, so look for the Blue Jays to score some runs there today.

Seattle Mariners vs. John Lamb(Reds)

This is definitely one of those perfect storm type of matchup's where everything seems to be in place for the Mariners to light up the scoreboard today. One of the best hitters parks in all of baseball? Check. A big league pitcher who has an xFIP of 5.49, an ERA of 5.79 and is allowing right-handed hitters to have an OPS of .961 against him? Check. The team that leads the majors in home runs hit off of left-handed pitchers and ranks in the top 10 in OPS, WOBA, and wRC+? Check. To stack the Mariners, I'm definitely taking guys like Nelson Cruz (1.044 OPS vs lefties) and Chris Iannetta (1.068 OPS vs lefties). To round out this stack, I'd take a look at Ketel Marte (better vs lefties and hits lead-off) and Dae-Ho Lee (already has 3 HR's off lefties in just 37 PA). You can consider grabbing Cano if you've got the extra cash, but I'd stick with trying to exploit the left-handed pitching matchup by stacking right-handed hitters.

Late Slate

Houston Astros vs. Cesar Ramos(Astros)

This stack is going to be kind of expensive, but if you want to stack the late slate this is without a doubt your best option. Houston has been struggling a bit this season, but they still have guys who can crush left-handed pitching, which makes it nice to see Cesar Ramos on the bump tonight. Ramos has been about as bad as it gets against right-handed hitters this season where he is the not so proud owner of a 3.65 K/9 (which is just horrendous), a 4.92 xFIP, and a wOBA against of .402. All of these numbers suggest that Ramos is going to get roughed up a bit tonight, and I certainly have to agree. I would for sure grab Jose Altuve (1.236 OPS vs lefties), George Springer (.916 OPS vs lefties), and Evan Gattis (1.024 OPS vs lefties) as these guys all absolutely crush southpaws. From there you can either go expensive for a guy like Carlos Correa ( who is really struggling vs lefties this season but is well-above average for his career) or you can go for cheap upside with Tyler White (has 4 HR's vs lefties in just 38 PA this season). I tend to lean Correa just because I don't think his struggles can continue, but if you're looking to go a bit more affordable then White is your guy.

So yeah, baseball season! And we've got some goodies you can take with you. At the end of the post, we have our MLB eBook that you really ought to check out before setting even a single daily fantasy MLB lineup. It's free, below.