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The top daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on May 17th, 2022. Jon Anderson’s MLB DFS analysis and sleepers for building optimal DFS rosters.
It's Tuesday, which means we have maximum baseball action ready to happen. All-in-all today we have 18 games as three doubleheaders are going down. Two of these double-headers actually have their game two on the night slate, which is confusing quite a few things. You will have to keep an ear to the ground to make sure those starting pitchers don't get shuffled around.
We've got your free DFS picks here, Jon Anderson bringing it to you today. This article will provide my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for FanDuel and DraftKings on 5/17/2022 and the main slate 7:05 PM ET.
You can also read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports. It's also essential to monitor injury news and today's MLB starting lineups. Let's isolate some of the best plays and win some money tonight!
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DraftKings, FanDuel Pitchers - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Logan Gilbert ($10,200 DraftKings, $10,100 FanDuel) vs. Blue Jays
The only other pitcher here that is comparable to Giolito in terms of reliability is Gilbert, but he draws the tough matchup with the Blue Jays. Gilbert has a strong 27.5% K% this season with a 9% BB% - a bit up from what we'd like to see but still okay.
The biggest thing Gilbert has done this year is avoided hard contact. He's given up just a 5% barrel rate and an elite 51 PA/HR. It will be harder to replicate those numbers against this Blue Jays juggernaut, but I think he's capable of putting up some really solid numbers here on a slate where we don't expect much pitcher scoring.
Jameson Taillon ($9,300 DraftKings, $9,200 FanDuel) vs. Orioles
The strikeouts are down a bit on Taillon (19.4% - down more than three points from last season), but he hasn't been walking anybody (2.3% BB%). The home run stuff has improved from a year ago as well (43 PA/HR), and this is a solid matchup against the O's. He's actually struggled a bit in his two starts against Baltimore, but I'm not the type to read into two starts of anything. It's much lower confidence with Taillon than with the first two names, but he's in play.
Keegan Thompson ($6,800 DraftKings, $7,000 FanDuel) vs. Pirates
The punt option of the night will be Thompson. The question on him is how many pitches he will throw. He has been mainly operating in a long-relief role, but he did reach a season-high 49 pitches five days ago against the Cardinals. If he can throw 65 pitches here, I think he could do enough damage to matter for these price tags. He has a 21% K%, a 9% BB%, and a 57% GB% this year. It's certainly possible that he breezes through five innings against this bad Pirates offense and does enough to earn the win and get you a dozen points on DraftKings and a better total on FanDuel with the win bonus meaning more. Very low ceiling, but not the worst option in the world for what it costs.
Lucas Giolito ($8,500 DraftKings, $10,300 FanDuel) vs. Royals
UPDATE: Giolito will instead make his start on Wednesday, tomorrow night.
He is scheduled to make the night start tonight, but that is subject to change for right now - keep a close eye. If he does make the start, he would have to be the top play. Despite the stint on the COVID IL, he would be on basically normal rest (six days), and the righty has been awesome this year. He has a 35.6% K% with a 7.7% BB%. The only trouble he's gotten himself into is via the long ball (20.8 PA/HR, a really bad figure for 2022 standards) - but the advantage is that the Royals really aren't hitting many homers. Giolito is the obvious SP1 in this spot if he's indeed the starter.
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DraftKings, FanDuel Infielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Brandon Belt ($4,500 DraftKings, $3,700 FanDuel) vs. Chad Kuhl
Giants are in Coors and the game is on the slate again, which means we have to focus in there. Hitters have gone for 1.90 DraftKings points per plate appearance in Coors this year, well above the league average of 1.58. The dead ball has made Coors an even better place to hit relative to the league, so you always want to have some Coors bats in your cash lineup - especially when they're under-priced like Belt is here.
Brandon Crawford ($4,000 DraftKings, $3,300 FanDuel) vs. Kuhl
I mean the price came down $400 from yesterday on DraftKings, so that's pretty strange! Crawford has certainly not been good this year (1.48 DraftKings points per PA) only exceeding 20 points at a 6% clip - but look, he's cheap in Coors. You can't take the one-month sample and not play him at $4,000 in this spot!
Gleyber Torres ($4,100 DraftKings, $2,600 FanDuel) vs. Spencer Watkins
Torres looks to be primed for a bounce-back 2022 season with an expected slugging near .600. That's great news against Watkins, who is arguably the most stack-worthy starter on the board.
Josh Donaldson ($3,900 DraftKings, $3,100 FanDuel) vs. Watkins
Donaldson has come to life after a slow start to the year, he has his barrel rate above 12% now after rit was below 5% in late April. Just another Yankee player to add to the list here - and he's cheap!
Xander Bogaerts ($4,800 DraftKings, $3,500 FanDuel) vs. Jose Urquidy
It has been a bit of a struggle for Urquidy this season with a 12.4% barrel rate and a bad 16% K%. He's always had a bit of reverse-splits in his game, which is good news for the right-handers here like Bogaerts. Xander has been the beneficiary of some BABIP luck, but really that's nothing to run away from. The Red Sox are in a great spot here and I think Bogaerts will soak up some points with all these great hitters around Bogaerts.
DraftKings, FanDuel Outfielders - MLB DFS Lineup Picks
Aaron Judge ($6,100 DraftKings, $3,500 FanDuel) vs. Watkins
Judge tops the home run projection boards tonight, which makes sense since he's leading the league in the category! The Orioles don't have much good pitching, and Watkins certainly isn't that himself. He'sg given up an 11% barrel rate with just an 11% strikeout rate this year, so this is a feast spot for the Judge and the Yankees.
J.D. Martinez ($4,400 DraftKings, $4,500 FanDuel) vs. Urquidy
J.D. himself is having just another fine season with a batting average above .300 and four homers to go with the elite 16% barrel rate.
LaMonte Wade Jr. ($3,100 DraftKings, $2,900 FanDuel) vs. Kuhl
Same as Belt. The only issue is that the Giants are quick to play the matchups. Last night, Wade was removed before the end of the game in favor of Austin Slater after he was about to face a southpaw. That isn't super likely to happen again tonight, but it's a distinct possibility and it does hurt his cause.
Rafael Ortega ($2,700 DraftKings, $2,300 FanDuel) vs. JT Brubaker
Brubaker isn't the worst pitcher in the world, that is true, but Ortega should be leading off in this spot. The Pirates have been a great pitching staff to pick on this year, and that's not changing tonight. Any lead-off hitter for these prices is interesting, and Ortega is especially so here.
DraftKings, FanDuel MLB DFS Stacks
Giants vs. Kuhl
The obvious stack is the Giants. The prices just aren't high enough to fade in Coors - even if you're worried about ownership.
Yankees vs. Watkins
Watkins is certainly the most exploitable pitcher to target, and the Yankees are one of the highest upside offenses in the league as they lead the league in barrels by a good margin.
Braves vs. Houser
Houser has been up-and-down over the last few seasons, but I like the Braves stack as a low-ownership play here. They haven't really had a bust-out game in a bit, and Houser isn't an obvious pitcher to stack against - but I think the ceiling is very high and you should be able to get some low percentages on these players.
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