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Mike Marteny highlights the top FanDuel MLB DFS lineup picks for 4/4/21, and a couple of sleepers to consider while building daily rosters. | RotoBaller.
The main afternoon slate on FanDuel for our Easter Sunday features a strong eight-game slate. You never really realize just how weak some team's third pitchers are until you start digging into a slate like this. However, it also makes us realize just how many teams are loaded with great pitchers. On FanDuel, we only have to pick one pitcher, but you had better make it count. It's not like DraftKings, where I still cashed on Opening Day despite Brad Keller scoring fewer fantasy points than Helen Keller. That is impossible on FanDuel.
Fortunately, we don't have to try to figure out how to cram the Coors bats in here since that game is not on the main slate. What we do have is The Brewers trying to recover from being one-hit by Jose Berrios and the Twins yesterday and Tarik Skubal, who allowed nine homers in just 32 major league innings last year, all to righties. Trust me, we can work with this.
I'll be providing you with my daily fantasy baseball lineup picks for the FanDuel main slate on 4/4/2020. Be sure to also check out all the MLB player news, including late scratches, and the projected and confirmed daily MLB lineups for each DFS slate. You can also check out today's DraftKings MLB DFS lineup picks, and read more DFS advice and lineup picks for other sports too. Let's get to it!
FanDuel DFS Pitchers
Cash Game/GPP Anchor Play:
Aaron Civale – CLE at DET ($8,400)
Civale isn't a big strikeout guy, but Detroit still strikes out quite a bit. Civale only has 22 career starts, but he already has faced the Tigers four times. He's 3-0 with a 2.36 ERA. Civale looks a cinch to go 4-0 here against Tarik Skubal. We can't ignore the high win potential and a Detroit team that struck out an alarming 27.3% of the time last season. That was by far the worst in the majors. Detroit hasn't done much better this year. Indians pitchers whiffed 20 Detroit batters in the first two games of the series. There's more upside with Civale than any other pitcher today.
Potential Alternate Play
Domingo German – TOR at NYY ($7,700)
When we last saw German, he won 18 games with the 2019 Yankees. He was the biggest loser of the coronavirus pandemic shortening the MLB season last year. That meant that German's 63 games remaining on his suspension when 2019 ended would be served in 2020. The only problem was that the season was shortened to 60 games, meaning German could not pitch for the entire season. German's first full season in the major was a very good one. He racked up 153 strikeouts in 143 innings with an impressive 18-4 record. It certainly didn't look like German was rusty in the spring either. He gave up just two runs in 13 spring innings while striking out 17. German looks like an outstanding GPP dart throw on a slate that has very few sure things.
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FanDuel DFS Infielders
Carlos Santana– 1B, KC vs. TEX ($3,300)
The Royals have scored 25 runs in two games this season. That won't keep up, but every part of this Texas pitching staff has been horrendous - the starters, the bulllpen, everything. Santana doesn't have the power that he once had, but he's still getting on base an awful lot. Six times in ten plate appearances so far with three runs scored and three RBI. I like a lot of pieces of this Royals offense and am considering a game stack here. The two teams have combined for 39 runs in two games.
Ozzie Albies – 2B, ATL at PHI ($3,300)
The way to go after Zach Eflin is with lefties. He has allowed nearly twice the homers to lefties as righties in his career despite facing fewer of them. They are also hitting a robust .283 with a .883 OPS against Eflin. The issue is that Atlanta doesn't have many lefties. Freddie Freeman would seem the obvious choice, but he has struggled against Eflin in his career. Albies is hitless on the season thus far, but I think he ends that here.
Kris Bryant – 3B, CHC vs. PIT ($3,500)
Last year was a disappointment for Bryant and this one may shape up to be as well. I don't expect that to happen just yet though. Bryant has destroyed the Pirates in his career. He is hitting .346 with 16 homers and 50 RBI in his career against the Pirates. 13 of those have come against the Pirates at Wrigley Field, including the one last night. Until the Pirates prove that they can get him out, I'll roll the dice on Bryant.
Xander Bogaerts – SS, BOS vs. BAL ($3,700)
I'll never tire of running a hitter like Xander against a lefty that has two career starts under his belt. He gave up six runs in seven innings in those two starts, one of which was against Boston. Bogaerts is a better hitter against lefties anyway. I like almost all Boston righties today. There are a ton of pitchers worth attacking today. Zimmerman is the most green of the lot and probably the most likely to get knocked around considering that he had a rough spring as well.
FanDuel DFS Outfielders
Whit Merrifield – OF, KC vs. TEX($4,000)
Whit is the....yeah....you get it. Merrifield has two homers and six RBI in the first two games. Why is there a reason to think this continues? Jordan Lyles is 22 games under .500 in his career with an ERA over 5. It gets worse. Lyles had a bloated 7.02 ERA last season and game up an astonishing 12 homers in just 57.2 innings. He's getting worse instead of better. This is all about attacking a weak pitcher against the highest-scoring team in baseball. Yeah, it's two games, but the Royals need something to be proud of. It's been a lean couple of years.
Franmil Reyes – OF, CLE at DET ($3,200)
Tarik Skubal gave up all nine homers in his 32 innings last year to right-handed batters. The best place to target him is with a righty with a ton of power. Franmil fits that bill. I also love Jordan Luplow leading off here at a low price, but I'm chasing the homers with Franmil. Skubal did look much better in five spring starts, but Spring stats produce more pyrite than DFS gold. This is still a double whammy for Skubal. Reyes is hitting .296 lifetime against lefties and has hit six homers against the Tigers in just 49 at-bats. Even if he doesn't get to Skubal, there's a good chance he gets something off of this bullpen.
Hunter Renfroe – OF, BOS vs. BAL ($2,800)
Renfroe has elite power. That's apparent by his 97 career homers in 1,589 at-bats. 36 of those are off of lefties in just 431 at-bats. One of those was one of the two that Bruce Zimmerman gave up in his brief stint in the majors last year. Any Boston stack should be anchored by the massive power potential of Renfroe.
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