MLB

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

Tonight's short slate offers strong plays at every position. Which players could go overlooked 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.

Nathan Eovaldi, P, Boston Red Sox

FanDuel: $7,400

The Boston Red Sox are off to a slow start this season and now turn to Nathan Eovaldi on the mound tonight to get things going in the right direction.

Eovaldi is coming off a rough first start of the year against the Seattle Mariners, where he allowed six earned runs over five innings while striking out just three batters. This isn't what we saw from him last season, as he ended with a solid 22.5% strikeout rate, along with giving up only 21 earned runs in his final 60 innings pitched during the second half of the season. Numbers like that are very encouraging since he is up against the, Oakland Athletics whose current roster had a 21.5% strikeout rate versus right-handed pitchers last season. A slate that is led by Gerrit Cole, with a better strikeout rate, and Ross Stripling, with a better matchup, should keep the ownership lower on Eovald, whiel he also brings some big savings.

Corey Dickerson, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $3,600

Corey Dickerson normally hits in the middle of the lineup for the Pittsburgh Pirates and should be in a good spot to grab a few hits and produce solid fantasy points tonight.

Dickerson will be facing off against Miles Mikolas, who allowed five earned runs in five innings during his first start of the season versus the Milwaukee Brewers. This shouldn't come as a massive surprise since Mikolas is a ground-ball pitcher, with a 44.9% ground-ball rate last season versus left-handed hitters, and often pitches to contact. This should play right into the hands of Dickerson, since he ended last season with a .324 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) versus right-handed pitchers, along with a powerful .194 ISO. A multi-hit game is firmly in play tonight for Dickerson and other Pirates, who will go overlooked with the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Atlanta Braves all in good spots on this slate.

Ender Inciarte, OF, Atlanta Braves

FanDuel Price: $3,100

Ender Inciarte is naturally in a tougher spot today since this is a lefty versus lefty matchup, as he is facing off against Jon Lester, but we still want to be rostering him.

The Atlanta Braves have an implied team total set at 4.37, which is the third-highest on the main slate, along with being at home in a great hitter's park where the temperature should be around 70 degrees. The difference in hitting environments can go overlooked early in the season and with the Braves powerful offense, we know they are able to post some runs in a hurry.

But why is Inciarte the player to be targeting? Well, Lester is known for being a pitcher who is slow to home plate, making it easy for base runners to steal second. Inciarte has 16 plate appearances versus Lester in his career and has four stolen bases against him. This is a sneaky spot to attack, since Inciarte doesn't bring power upside, but does have plenty of stolen base potential in this matchup.



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.