3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 5/3/19
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.
Kevin Gausman, P, Atlanta Braves
FanDuel Price: $8,100
Allowing five earned runs in each of his last two starts should have Kevin Gausman going under-owned in tournaments today, making him a viable tournament option.
There is no doubt that Gausman hit a bit of a rough patch recently with those 10 earned runs in 10.1 innings pitched, considering he allowed a total of six earned runs in his first three starts combined this season. The good news for Gausman is that he is up against a very weak Miami Marlins team, whose current roster carried an 87 wRC+ versus right-handed pitchers last season, which was the third worst in the league. They also ranked dead-last with a .119 ISO. The Marlins simply have no power in their lineup, and with this being a positive park shift for Gausman, he is in a spot to get back on track to where he was in his first three starts of the year.
When there are seven pitchers priced $9K or above tonight, many options in the mid-tier could overlooked, putting Gausman in a great spot for tournaments.
Niko Goodrum, OF, Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Price: $3,100
The Detroit Tigers come in with a solid 4.38 implied run total tonight, which is the 10th highest on the slate, showing they are just a step below some of the top teams and in a great spot for tournaments.
Detroit is up against Jorge Lopez, who has allowed four earned runs in four of his six starts this season and if we look back to last year, it was much of the same for him. In 2018, he allowed 1.38 homers per nine innings, a 42.9% hard contact rate and a dangerous 38.5% fly ball rate to left-handed hitters.
Allowing hard contact and fly balls in combination won't likely end well for Lopez, which is why we want to look at the Tigers as a stacking option tonight. Niko Goodrum was solid versus right-handed pitchers last season with a .215 ISO, 38.8% hard contact rate, but a 30.0% strikeout rate. It appears that Goodrum swings for the fences but can often come up with nothing.
All gas no breaks, boom or bust, whatever you want to call it, Goodrum fits that description. But, if he is able to get a hold of one, it should go far, as he is in the 88th percentile for xSLG this season.
Nick Williams, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
FanDuel Price: $2,100
The Philadelphia Phillies come in with an implied team total set at 5.34 tonight, which could make them chalky, so how can we find some lower owned options in their lineup?
Nick Williams comes in just above the minimum salary tonight and will have the platoon advantage against Jeremy Hellickson, who allowed 1.09 homers per nine innings and a 31% fly ball rate to left-handed hitters last season.
The Phillies have plenty of expensive hitters in their lineup, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper, and Rhys Hoskins, to name a few, so if you want to jam them into a lineup, you will need the salary relief from Williams. It also helps that he had a .191 ISO and .335 wOBA versus right-handed pitchers last season. He certainly isn't an amazing hitter, but he can get it done and doesn't need to do a ton to pay off or exceed his salary based expectations tonight.
The Phillies offer a nice pivot away from the Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, and Arizona Diamondbacks, who should all be higher owned tonight.
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.
