MLB
4 Under-the-Radar Daily Fantasy Baseball Plays for 7/28/16
With Philadelphia's modest implied total, Odubel Herrera may not see much ownership tonight. What other players could make for good contrarian plays?

Aaron Nola, P, Philadelphia Phillies

FanDuel Price: $8,000

Why He Will Go Overlooked:

Aaron Nola has given up at least five runs in five of his past six starts. With several aces on the slate today, don't expect him to be a popular option.

Why You Should Use Him:

While Nola has been absolutely bombed recently, nothing from his peripherals offer an understandable reason why he went from a 2.65 ERA through his first 12 starts, to a 10.61 ERA pitcher over his last seven. His strikeouts per nine innings are actually higher over his last seven starts, his groundball rate is up and his flyball rate is down, his velocity is up, and his SIERA is still a respectable 3.79 over his last seven. The only real difference is that his BABIP has jumped from .270 over his first 12 starts to an unsustainably high .453 over his past seven, while his strand rate has fallen from 71.9 percent to 44 percent, which is another indicator of extreme bad luck.

So, if Nola really hasn't been pitching as poorly as his base numbers would suggest, then we should feel comfortable taking a chance on him against the hapless Atlanta Braves, right? Well, Vegas would support that conclusion -- projecting Atlanta to score just 3.6 runs, which is the third-lowest total on the slate.

Nola has been so horrendous recently that he's far from a cash game consideration. However, there are reasons to believe he could rebound tonight against Atlanta, who ranks dead last in essentially every offensive category against righties. Give him a look in tournaments at his depressed price tag and ownership.

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