3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 7/5/19

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

Dakota Hudson, P, St. Louis Cardinals

FanDuel Price: $8,500

We have a full slate of games with three elite pitching options available, which should put us in a spot to attack tournaments with lower owned options from the mid-tier.

With the likes of Justin Verlander, Jacob deGrom, and Clayton Kershaw pitching tonight, it can be tough to look past them knowing what you are passing up. But in tournaments, lower ownership can be a game-changer, so let's look at an option that fits that description. Dakota Hudson comes in as the fifth most expensive pitcher on the slate, but he has the sixth lowest strikeout rate (16.0%) tonight. That means there are cheaper pitchers, who have more strikeout upside than him, and more expensive pitchers who are simply just better.

This puts him in a weird spot since most DFS players would choose to spend up or down, thus, leaving him as the odd man out. But, the matchup for him tonight is what you want to be attacking since it's as soft as they come on this slate up against the San Francisco Giants, who are one of the worst teams in the league. The Giants come in with an 83 wRC+ (27th in the league), .166 ISO (24th in the league), and a 22.6% strikeout rate (19th in the league) versus right-handed pitchers.

Hudson has 16 starts under his belt this season and has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 15 of those starts, a level of consistency he should be able to recreate tonight versus this weak Giants' offense.

Domingo Santana, OF, Seattle Mariners

FanDuel Price: $3,700

A 4.41 implied run total for the Seattle Mariners is actually solid tonight and with 13 teams ahead of them on the team totals, they should be one of the lower owned options.

A couple of things are true, Domingo Santana obliterates left-handed pitching and Brett Anderson gets hit very hard by righty hitters. Santana has hits in 12 of his last 14 games and that is almost certainly going to extend tonight with his .388 wOBA, .317 ISO, and 35.8% fly-ball rate versus left-handed pitchers. He has home run upside, especially while at home this season, where he is carrying a 44.4% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio.

Anderson is carrying a 5.04 xFIP and a 46.2% hard-hit rate against right-handed hitters this season, which should make Santana a serious threat for a home run tonight.

While T-Mobile Park might not be the best hitter's park, Santana still gets it done while at home and a late-night GPP option who can hit a home run is always beneficial.

Elvis Andrus, SS, Texas Rangers

FanDuel Price: $3,700

A modest amount of power but some stolen base upside make players like Elvis Andrus intriguing tournament options.

Lacking power can cause some DFS players to turn away, but Andrus should break that mold tonight with his .342 wOBA and low 15.4% strikeout rate versus left-handed pitchers. He isn't wasting opportunities at the plate and he is putting the ball in play, which is shown by his eight multi-hit games over his last 14.

Once he reaches base, that is where his tournament upside comes from, with 19 stolen bases this season, including five in his last 11 games. He likes to run, get in position to score, and do the same thing all over when he is up at-bat the next time. He is up against Martin Perez, who is only allowing a .299 wOBA to righty hitters this season which is solid but has a 4.54 xFIP, which is truly bad.

Perez is due for some regression against righty-hitters and with Andrus' low strikeout rate, he should be able to make the most of his at-bats tonight.