3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 8/14/19
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.
Dillon Peters, P, Los Angeles Angels
FanDuel Price: $7,100
A smaller six-game slate should see ownership centered around a few pitchers, but Dillon Peters shouldn't be one of them.
With the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Aaron Nola, and even Cole Hamels on this slate, dropping down a tier can be a bit of a risk, but it opens up everything in terms of roster construction. With a smaller slate, there are fewer value options, making it difficult to jam in the high-priced pitcher.
If you are willing to go down this route, Peters is a pitcher to consider due to his amazing matchup tonight. He is up against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are one of the worst teams in the league versus left-handed pitchers.
Pittsburgh comes in with a 75 wRC+ (30th in the league), a .144 ISO (29th), and a 33.9% hard-hit rate (27th) versus lefty pitchers. Those are among the worst numbers in the league and even worse than the Miami Marlins in some cases. The Marlins!
Peters only has a 20.5% strikeout rate this season, which doesn't give him a ton of upside, but the matchup is too good to pass on at his price.
Hunter Dozier, 3B, Kansas City Royals
FanDuel Price: $4,300
This might be a bit of a hot take tonight, but Hunter Dozier is going to be lower owned tonight.
From a top-down viewpoint, it just doesn't add up for the Kansas City Royals to be highly owned tonight. They are moneyline underdogs, on the road, and taking on the St. Louis Cardinals, all while coming in with the eighth-highest implied team total tonight out of 12 teams. It doesn't appear we will see many DFS players flock to the Royals, which makes them a viable tournament option.
Dozier is in the midst of his best season in the bigs, and against righty pitchers, he's boasting a .265 ISO along with a hard-hit rate and fly-ball rate both over 45%. Tonight, Dozier gets a mediocre right-hander in Dakota Hudson, and a fly-ball hitter with plenty of power is something you always like to see in your lineups, especially if he is coming in at lower ownership.
Matt Thaiss, 3B, Los Angeles Angels
FanDuel Price: $2,700
The Los Angeles Angels could be decently popular tonight, but it might be a bit different as we drop down in their lineup.
A 5.20 implied run total for the Angels is the third-highest on the slate and should be expected as they are up against Chris Archer, who is known for being a bit of a home run prone pitcher. Home runs are great and they should -- most likely -- come from the top of the lineup where the power lies. Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Shohei Ohtani, and even Albert Pujols all bring the power to get the job done at the plate, and thus, could leave the rest of their lineup lower owned.
This leaves a player like Matt Thaiss a bit overlooked since he hits in the bottom third of the lineup. His lower price tag is an added bonus tonight, but his 53.4% hard-hit rate and 40.5% fly-ball rate pose plenty of threat for Archer, who is allowing 2.22 home runs per nine innings to lefty hitters this season.
