3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Tuesday 4/27/21

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-rostered plays if we look hard enough.

Here are three such players to consider branching out for on FanDuel's main slate.

Chris Paddack, P, San Diego Padres ($7,700)

When Max Scherzer, Lucas Giolito, and Walker Buehler are all on the same slate, you know where people will be looking for pitching options. If that is going to be the case, we could see several pitchers going under-rostered tonight, leaving us with plenty of choices for tournaments.

Chris Paddack is a pitcher who stands out since he has flashed ace-level stuff before and has a very modest matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Paddack has been in the MLB since 2019, and in that time, he has a 25.5% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate, and 3.95 xFIP.

The Diamondbacks are a very middle-of-the-road offensive team and don't present a ton of danger to Paddack. This season, Arizona holds an 86 wRC+ (21st) versus right-handed pitchers along with a 24.8% strikeout rate (15th), 28.4% hard-contact rate (29th), and a 39.2% fly-ball rate (9th).

Paddack can succeed in this spot, and he'll likely come at low popularity.

Matt Carpenter, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals ($2,100)

With a 4.17 implied run total, the St. Louis Cardinals will likely be going overlooked on this 13-game slate.

They are going up against right-hander Zach Eflin. Over the course of his career, Eflin has allowed a .366 wOBA, 41.1% fly-ball rate, 34.8% hard-contact rate, and a 5.12 xFIP against left-handed hitters. All of that has led to him allowing 2.17 dingers per nine to lefties.

So we have a home-run prone pitcher and a team that shouldn't be too popular tonight? Yeah, looks like that should be great for tournaments.

That leads me to Matt Carpenter, who could bring some left-handed power to what is normally a very righty heavy Cardinals' lineup. He has a career .198 ISO, 41.6% fly-ball rate, and 40.1% hard-contact rate versus right-handed pitchers. That type of power at that salary is always something to look for in tournaments.

Kyle Schwarber, OF, Washington Nationals ($2,900)

Another player with clear power upside is Kyle Schwarber of the Washington Nationals.

The Nats have a solid 4.50 implied run total, but there are still several teams higher than them, so Washington shouldn't be too popular. They are taking on Trent Thornton, who gives up too many home runs, specifically to lefties, allowing 1.33 homers per nine, a 4.67 xFIP, 37.7% fly-ball rate, and a 37.3% hard-contact rate in the split over the course of his MLB career.

Schwarber is known mainly for his home run potential. His .269 career ISO is only the start, as he also holds a 41.7% fly-ball rate and a 40.7% hard-contact rate. There are plenty of great options on tonight's slate for stacking, but I'm looking to Schwarber as a solid one-off with power upside.