MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/15/19

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Apr 15th, 2019
Franmil Reyes makes for an enticing GPP play in a dope matchup with Jeff Hoffman. Who else can pop at low ownership?

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.

Luis Castillo, P, Cincinnati Reds

FanDuel Price: $8,800

Luis Castillo is on the road and facing an always dangerous Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, which makes him a tournament-only option tonight, but he offers some appealing upside.

In his first three starts of the year, Castillo has racked up 25 strikeouts in just 19.2 innings and allowed only two earned runs. He has a 16.7% swinging-strike rate to start the year, which is the fourth-best mark in the league. He is nasty when he's on, but he does give up plenty of hard contact, shown by a 42% hard-hit rate allowed to left-handed hitters last season.

If he gets the strikeouts going, he can continue his trend of eight or punchouts in each of his three starts this season. There's a lot of volatility here, but there's a nice ceiling, as well, and if he reaches it, it'll likely come at low ownership.

Lucas Duda, 1B, Kansas City Royals

FanDuel Price: $2,000

Lucas Duda was able to hit his first home run of the season yesterday, and hopefully that is a sign of things to come for him.

The Kansas City Royals will be up against Ervin Santana, who doesn’t have a significant sample size unless we look back to 2017, when he allowed 1.44 homers per nine innings to left-handed hitters along with a 42% fly-ball rate. That can lead to plenty of home runs, which is firmly in the cards tonight for KC lefties. \

Duda at the minimum salary should make for a great choice. Last season, he had a .213 ISO and 41.8% hard-hit rate versus right-handed pitchers, giving him lots of power potential in this spot.

Franmil Reyes, OF, San Diego Padres

FanDuel Price: $3,400

Franmil Reyes comes into this game with a four-game hitting streak in tow, mashing two home runs in that span.

The San Diego Padres aren’t super expensive as a team, so stacking them for tournaments is in play. They will be up against Jeff Hoffman, who last saw significant time in the majors back in 2017, when he allowed a .400 wOBA, 1.54 homers per nine innings, and a 38% fly-ball rate to right-handed hitters. Certainly not the best numbers for Hoffman, who spent nearly all of last season in the minors.

Reyes had a strong rookie year last season, ending with a .321 wOBA, 42.3% hard-hit rate, and .202 ISO versus right-handed pitchers. That is some serious power, and he could go under-owned in a nice spot verus Hoffman.


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.