3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 5/1/18

Clayton Kershaw, P, Los Angeles Dodgers

FanDuel Price: $11,100

It feels a little weird to label Clayton Kershaw as going under-the-radar, but this may, in fact, be the rare occasion where Kershaw goes lower-owned. It's no secret Kershaw has dealt with reduced velocity in 2018, and with elite alternatives like Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Noah Syndergaard, and Justin Verlander all going, many will happily avoid the issue entirely tonight. The truth is that Kershaw's strikeout rate is down from last year (26.9% rate), which is still plenty good, but pales in comparison to these other four.

This is Kershaw, though, so if anyone is going to figure this thing out, it's him. Velocity or not, he's still produced a solid 12.0% swinging-strike rate, and has everything else working, boasting a 3.20 SIERA, 5.8% walk rate, and 28.6% hard-hit rate against. And it's not like he hasn't shown a high ceiling in 2018, dropping 64 FanDuel points on the same Arizona Diamondbacks team he'll face tonight. The Diamondbacks only have a 3.28 implied team total -- one of the lowest on the board -- and hold a 24.8% strikeout rate as a team.

Given the high-level competition and velocity concerns, Kershaw will have his work cut out for him to emerge with the highest pitching score of the slate. But if we can take advantage of recency bias in tournaments, that's a chance worth taking on a talent like Kershaw.