MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/5/19

Thomas Vecchio  —  @DFS_Tom Apr 5th, 2019
An eight-game slate has stacks and fades at every position, but who are some options that will go overlooked tonight?

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.

Joe Musgrove, P, Pittsburgh Pirates

FanDuel Price: $7,800

We all know that strikeouts are king in MLB DFS and frankly, Joe Musgrove doesn't really bring that, which is why he will go overlooked on this eight-game slate.

If Musgrove isn't bringing a ton of strikeouts, what is he is bringing to the table? He finished last season with a 20% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate, and a strong 46% ground ball rate, which is where he really makes his living.

Modest strikeout rate, solid ground ball rate, and a low walk rate, but what does this all add up to? Shutout potential.

There is legitimate shutout potential tonight for Musgrove since he is up against the Cincinnati Reds who have scored just 11 total runs in six games this season and have already been shutout three times. Musgrove going six or more innings, allowing no runs, and picking up the quality start points on FanDuel is looking super strong tonight, not to mention he isn't expensive at all.

Marwin Gonzalez, 3B, Minnesota Twins

FanDuel Price: $2,600

The Minnesota Twins come in with an implied run total sitting at 3.58, which is very modest on this slate, and if they are going to go under-owned in tournaments, this is the spot to attack with them.

Marwin Gonzalez and the Twins are facing off against Nick Pivetta who finished last season with a 26.8% strikeout rate, which is no doubt very strong and has him coming in as the most expensive pitcher.

Stacking against what could be the chalky pitcher on the slate can certainly be risky, but often comes in at very low ownership, something you shoot for in every tournament lineup. But low ownership isn't the only reason you want to be stacking against Pivetta. You want to roster Twins players tonight since he ended last season allowing 1.54 homers per nine innings to left-handed hitters and 1.16 homers per nine to right-handed bats.

Despite being a great strikeout pitcher, Pivetta struggles with the long ball and should be stacked against tonight.

Yasmani Grandal, C, Milwaukee Brewers

FanDuel Price: $2,900

With the catcher position now shared with first base, we often see many lineups go without a catcher since their production tends to lag behind other positions. This means actually locking a catcher into your lineups will naturally make them different, which is something you always shoot for in tournaments.

Yasmani Grandal and the Milwaukee Brewers are at home tonight and come in with an implied run total set at 4.47 against Jose Quintana, the second highest on the slate.

We know that Miller Park is a great hitting environment and very conducive for runs and fantasy points. Targeting a Brewers stack looks to be a strong option tonight, and Grandal should be added to that, with his .324 wOBA, .178 ISO, and 46% hard contact rate versus left-handed pitchers from last season. He has plenty of power versus left-handed pitchers and even if the Chicago Cubs go to their bullpen, as a switch hitter he flip to the other side of the plate and still carry a .240 ISO versus right-handers.


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.