Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/29/19
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.
Jeff Samardzija, P, San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price: $6,800
A nine-game slate headlined by some aces could see a few pitchers go under-owned in tournaments. This guy should be one of them.
Jeff Samardzija is off to a good-not-great start this season, but he's still someone we can be looking to in tournaments. He is up against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will have a decent negative park shift against them since they are on the road in San Francisco, which has them coming in with an implied team total of only 4.08. That's a modest number for one of the best offenses in the league.
Samardzija has allowed four or fewer earned runs in each of his five starts this season, giving up two earned runs or fewer in three of them. He has posted seven or more strikeouts in two of his last three outings, along with coming away with the win twice in that same span. A strong point-per-dollar value is what Samardzija brings to the table tonight, and a date with the high-powered Dodgers should cause him to go overlooked in tournaments.
Nick Markakis, OF, Atlanta Braves
FanDuel Price: $3,700
The Atlanta Braves come in with an implied total set at 4.99, which is the highest on the slate. But could some of their hitters go overlooked?
The Braves are at home in what should be some of the best hitting weather on the slate, which will be an automatic boost for their bats. The matchup on paper for Nick Markakis might scare people away, but this is actually the spot to go with him, all while making your lineup unique in tournaments.
Why might it scare people away? Well, the San Diego Padres have Nick Margevicius on the mound, making this a lefty-lefty spot for Markakis. That naturally should see some people shying away from him, but if we look back to last season, we see that Markakis carried a solid .329 wOBA and only a 14.9% strikeout rate versus left-handed pitchers.
Markakis is a good hitter -- there is no question about that -- and you should look to him tonight despite the fact that he's facing a left-handed pitcher.
Daniel Murphy, 1B, Colorado Rockies
FanDuel Price: $3,000
Daniel Murphy is back from his injury and looking good with a four-game hitting streak, but is he a tournament option we should be looking towards tonight?
The Colorado Rockies come in with an implied team total set at 4.20 tonight and are on the road to take on the Milwaukee Brewers. This is technically a negative park shift for the Rockies, but Miller Park is a very good hitting environment and will likely have the roof closed tonight. Murphy and the Rockies will be facing off against Zach Davies, who finished last season allowing a .337 wOBA, 34% fly-ball rate, and a 38% fly ball rate to left-handed hitters. Giving up fly balls and hard contact in a hitter-friendly park won't end well for Davies, especially went he comes in with an 18.8% strikeout rate versus left-handed hitters.
Davies has no shutdown pitch to get hitters out easily, and with a 12% walk rate versus left-handed hitters, he can get into trouble quickly, leading to plenty of fantasy points for the Rockies and their hitters.
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.
