3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/18/18

Bryce Harper, OF, Washington Nationals

FanDuel Price: $5,400

Bryce Harper is reminding us what he's capable of when he's healthy, making him someone to always consider, regardless of matchup. And don't think that just because it's Harper that he can't go low-owned -- yesterday he was only in 6.11% of lineups.

Tonight, Harper is in a lefty-lefty spot against Steven Matz, so he should once again get passed up in most lineups. Matz has performed well this year, but he surprisingly has just a career 17.7% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate against lefty bats. This could just be small sample size noise (56 2/3 innings), and Matz does have strong batted-ball numbers against them, but it's enough to figure we don't need to be scared off by this matchup.

As you might expect, Harper isn't as strong against southpaws, but since the start of 2015 he's owned a respectable .369 wOBA and .205 ISO. And keep in mind that Matz is unlikely to go much past 5 innings anyway, throwing under 90 pitches in two of his three outings. That means Harper should get his share of at-bats against a beatable New York Mets bullpen that the Washington Nationals lit up on Monday night.

Particularly on a seven-game slate with limited hitting hot spots, it never hurts to bet on an elite talent like Harper as a contrarian play.