3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/5/21

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.

Dustin May, P, Los Angeles Dodgers ($6,800)

It's very clear that Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher on tonight's slate, but there are other viable options at pitcher.

No one is doubting that deGrom will likely be the most popular pitcher on tonight's slate since, well, he is very clearly the top option. After him, the pitching options are a bit jumbled but Dustin May could be an answer in the mid-tier. He will be on the road to take on the Oakland Athletics, who despite their power can strike out a good amount. If we look back to last season and the Athletics' current roster, they held a 25.2% strikeout rate versus right-handed pitchers, which was the eighth-worst in the league.

While May only has a 20.8% strikeout rate in his time at the Major League level, he has shown the ability to limit the potential damage from opposing lineups. He has a very solid 50.8% ground ball rate and induces medium contact 50.2% of the time over his two seasons in the majors. He doesn't have the strikeout potential deGrom has but the point-per-dollar value is strong for May tonight.

James McCann, C, New York Mets ($2,500)

The New York Mets finally get to make their season debut tonight and happen to be in a great spot.

While the Mets are -215 road favorites, that is due to Jacob deGrom being on the mound tonight, not necessarily their offensive power. That is shown by the fact they have a 4.35 implied run total, which is the seventh-highest on the slate. With 14 teams on tonight's slate, having the seventh-highest run total doesn't really jump off the page. This should make some of the Mets' players less popular in tournaments, namely, James McCann. Considering you don't actually have to roster a catcher -- which is a lower-scoring fantasy position -- McCann shouldn't be popular, to begin with.

However, he has a fantastic matchup versus Matt Moore, who last pitched a significant amount of innings in the MLB back in 2018. During that year, he allowed a .390 wOBA, 1.64 HR/9, and a 45.7% hard-contact rate to right-handed hitters. Those are some rough numbers to see if you are a Phillies fan and happen to line up nicely for McCann, who is coming off a season where he posted a .286 ISO and a 236 wRC+ versus left-handed pitchers.

Mitch Haniger, OF, Seattle Mariners ($3,000)

By no means are the Seattle Mariners a great baseball team, but they have some excellent options in DFS tonight.

A 3.90 run total for the Mariners isn't going to move the needle for most people, which should make them go under-the-radar in tournaments. They will be facing off against Carlos Rodon, who only pitched a total of 45.1 innings in 2019 and 2020 combined. So, we'll look back to 2018 when he pitched 120.2 innings, giving us a much better sample size. In that year, he held a 5.44 xFIP, 10% walk rate, and a 45.2% fly-ball rate versus right-handed hitters. None of that is encouraging, which should lead you to attack him with righty hitters from the Mariners.

This is where Mitch Haniger comes into play for tournaments. While he held a rough 29.0% strikeout rate versus left-handed pitchers last season, he held a .263 ISO, a 144 wRC+, and a 28.6% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio. The power is very much there for Haniger, who is looking to be the definition of a tournament play. The strikeouts are there but the power is always lurking as well.