MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/12/19

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Apr 12th, 2019
A loaded 12-game slate brings us some chalky plays at every position. These players can help differentiate your lineups in tournaments.

When being contrarian in daily fantasy sports, there's a fine line between taking a calculated risk and being reckless. But differentiating your lineups from everyone else is the name of the game if you plan on taking down one of those highly lucrative DFS tournaments. Whether it's because of Vegas totals, other options at a given position, or some gem you've found that everyone is overlooking, we can always find potential under-owned plays if we look hard enough.

Here are three such players to consider branching out for on FanDuel's main slate.

Drew Pomeranz, P, San Francisco Giants

FanDuel Price: $6,500

We have a loaded 12-game slate tonight and after we get past the top-tier of pitchers, there are a ton of options to consider. That means that cheaper plays like Drew Pomeranz could go overlooked.

He is at home and comes in as a -142 favorites against the Colorado Rockies, who have a massive negative park shift against them tonight. Pomeranz is off to solid start this season with 11 strikeouts in nine innings pitched, and he's only allowed four earned runs.

The Rockies were very strong against left-handed pitchers last season, but it was really only while at home in Coors Field. When they were there, they carried a .244 ISO and a .376 wOBA against southpaws. On the road those numbers dropped to a .164 ISO and a .297 wOBA. A somewhat dramatic drop-off in production being away from the best hitter's park in the league makes them a team to attack tonight.

Gio Urshela, 3B, New York Yankees


FanDuel Price: $2,500

Giovanny Urshela has been seeing plenty of playing time for the New York Yankees due to all of their injuries, and he should be among the cheapest options in the lineup tonight.

The Yankees are at home and come in with an implied run total sitting at 5.59, which is the second highest on the slate. That means we can expect plenty of fantasy production from them as they face off against Lucas Giolito, who allowed a .327 wOBA, 1.47 homers per nine innings and a 33% fly ball rate to right-handed hitters last season.

Those are some rough numbers to have going into Yankee Stadium, which is one of the best hitter's parks in the league. Urshela makes a great addition to a stack tonight and if he is hitting the ninth spot, wrap that around to the top to pair him with some of the power hitters.

Yuli Gurriel, 1B, Houston Astros

FanDuel Price: $3,000

Yulieski Gurriel and the Houston Astros are on the road to face the red-hot Seattle Mariners in what could be a sneaky high-scoring game.

Gurriel will be facing off against Wade LeBlanc, who had his struggles last season versus right-handed hitters, making him a target to stack against. LeBlanc allowed a 42% fly ball rate and a 32% hard-contact rate, which lead to 1.35 homers per nine innings to right-handed hitters last season.

That is nothing to be afraid of, and actually a spot we want to focus in on, especially since we see the Astros coming in with an implied run total at 4.77, which is a bit high since Seattle is a pitcher's park. Gurriel isn't expensive by any measure tonight, and with a few other teams at equal prices with higher implied run totals, the Astros could go overlooked.


Thomas Vecchio is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Thomas Vecchio also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TomVec629. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.