MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/23/19

Mike Tauchman could go overlooked on a slate with no elite pitchers and plenty of viable hitters.

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.

Lance Lynn, P, Texas Rangers

FanDuel Price: $6,900

Lance Lynn has looked good in his last three starts, but can he keep it going against the always dangerous Oakland Athletics?

Over his last three starts, Lynn has pitched 18 2/3 innings, tallying 16 strikeouts while only allowing three earned runs. Those are some strong number from a pitcher on the back half of his career, and numbers we want to trust tonight since he comes in just under $7K.

The matchup is no doubt a tough one on paper, since the Athletics have an implied run total at 4.58 and finished last season with a .197 ISO versus right-handed pitchers. But Lynn is historically very good against right-handed hitters, which make up the majority of the Athletics lineup, only allowing a sub .300 wOBA to them each of the past two seasons.

Lynn is a ground-ball pitcher, which should help him limit the scoring in this fantastic pitcher's park.

Steven Duggar, OF, San Francisco Giants

FanDuel Price: $2,800

Duggar and the San Francisco Giants' offense are very modestly priced tonight and make a great stacking option if you are looking to jam in some hitters from Coors Field tonight.

Duggar doesn't have the biggest sample size from either last season or the start of this one, so take this all with a grain of salt, but a .226 ISO this season versus right-handed pitchers is solid and comes with a 33% hard contact rate. This is technically a positive park shift for the Giants, because even though Toronto is a middle of the road hitter's park, it's better than being at home in San Francisco. He is up against Trent Thornton, who has allowed a .413 wOBA, 2.70 homers per nine innings, and a crazy high 52% hard contract rate to left-handed hitters this season.

Thornton is a young pitcher and this is his first year in the majors, so it's a very small sample size, but nine earned runs over his last 7.2 innings pitched is something you want to be attacking tonight.

Mike Tauchman, OF, New York Yankees

FanDuel Price: $3,500

With a bevy of injuries for the New York Yankees, Mike Tauchman has found himself as an everyday outfielder in a good spot tonight on the road.

The Yankees will have a negative park shift against them tonight since they are on the road to face the Los Angeles Angels, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue since they are in a position to exceed their 4.18 implied run total.

They are up against Chris Stratton, who has allowed 14 earned runs in 18 innings pitched this season, which comes with a .410 wOBA allowed to left-handed hitters and 1.13 homers per nine innings. You might think that it's a small sample size from this season, but if we look back to 2018, Stratton still allowed a .357 wOBA and 1.41 homers per nine to left-handed hitters.

Stratton struggles against lefties, there is no question about that, so going to Tauchman or a Yankees stack tonight could prove to have plenty of home run upside.


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.