3 Under-the-Radar Daily Fantasy Baseball Plays for 4/20/17
Wade Miley, SP, Baltimore Orioles
FanDuel Price: $7,400
Why He Will Go Overlooked:
Small slates are fun to play as they often have a few guys who see large ownership. At the pitching position, Thursday should be no different.
Noah Syndergaard mans the mound for the New York Mets, Stephen Strasburg takes the hill, and James Paxton is coming off back-to-back 61- and 55-FanDuel-point outings. Those three will be highly owned.
Wade Miley, on the other hand, showcases a chance to pivot. Despite a strong first two starts on the year in which he fired a combined 11 innings with a 2.45 ERA, Miley's SIERA (4.08) suggest he's maybe been a bit lucky. He's also facing the Cincinnati Reds in their home park, and the Reds currently sport a healthy implied team total of 4.43 runs, one of the highest of the day.
Why You Should Use Him:
Miley's quick start shouldn't be ignored -- and there's a lot of potential for upside in this start. While he is still giving out far too many free passes (15.2% walk rate), he's striking out hitters at a healthy 28.3% clip to help offset those walks. That strikeout rate is up 9.0% over last season (19.3%).
The Reds have been strong against left-handed pitching in 2017 (.372 wOBA), ranking fifth-best, but Miley has been fairly effective in limiting hard contact this year. Miley has allowed hard-hit rate of 32.0%, and he's allowed only two extra base hits out of 46 batters faced this year (one double, one home run).
While this is certainly a tough matchup, Miley's teammate, Ubaldo Jimenez, just went into Great American Ballpark Wednesday and spun a gem. If Miley can follow suit -- and he has been strengthened by increased velocity of nearly 2 miles per hours over last season -- there's a chance for big upside here at potentially low ownership rates.
