MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Wednesday 5/19/21

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's is the name of the game if you plan on taking down one of those highly lucrative DFS tournaments. Whether it's because of bookmaker 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.

Garrett Richards, P, Boston Red Sox ($8,100)

There are several top aces on tonight's slate, and they should heavily impact roster construction.

On top of having five pitchers who are all over $10,000, there is no Coors Field game tonight, making the path to rostering the pitchers that much easier. It won't come as a surprise if those pitchers end up being the most rostered options on the slate, but that doesn't mean you can't look elsewhere.

For example, Garrett Richards is on the mound for the Boston Red Sox, and he should be a very under-the-radar type pitcher tonight. Richards has looked strong this season with only allowing 0.86 HR/9, a 47.6% ground-ball rate, and a 50.8% medium-contact rate.

His matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays is what should keep him at very low rostership percentages, and it's not as bad of a matchup as some might initially think. The Blue Jays hold a .288 BABIP (16th in the league), a 31.1% hard-contact rate (20th), and a low 7.7% walk rate (25th). Of course, they have plenty of power with a .175 ISO (8th), but if they don't get that going, they are an average offensive team.

If Richards can keep the ball down, he should be in a good spot to limit the damage from the Blue Jays.

Matt Beaty, 1B/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers ($2,100)

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a number of injuries right now, and that opens up playing time for Matt Beaty. Beaty should be drawn into the Dodgers' lineup tonight, and on top of having a great salary, he has a great matchup versus Merrill Kelly.

Now, it's possible that a few players from the Dodgers' lineup are popular, but Beaty shouldn't be one of them, and it makes him that much more interesting in tournaments if he brings some leverage. Regardless, Kelly is a pitcher you can attack because he is allowing a 5.27 xFIP, 1.29 HR/9, 40.0% hard-contact rate, and 13.2% strikeout rate versus left-handed hitters this season. Those are truly terrible numbers, and he's a pitcher you should be running to stack against.

Throughout his career, Beaty has shown good numbers against right-handed pitchers with a 114 wRC+, .183 ISO, solid 15.0% strikeout rate, and 39.6% hard-contact rate. There's some sneaky power potential for Beaty tonight, and with the number of home runs Kelly allows, I like Beaty's chances.

Jared Walsh, 1B, Los Angeles Angels ($3,300)

A few things are true for the Los Angeles Angels: their lineup is weaker without Mike Trout, and they shouldn't be popular tonight.

There's no doubt losing Trout for 6-8 weeks is a massive blow to the Angels, and if that is going to cause DFS players to shy away from rostering or stacking their lineup, there's an opening in tournaments.

Well, maybe not fully stacking them, but crossing all of their players off your list is not the way to go. In fact, you should be going directly to Jared Walsh, who is legitimately having a fantastic season. So far against right-handed pitchers, he has a 201 wRC+, .460 wOBA, .273 ISO, and 1.094 OPS. Hello? Those are elite-level numbers, and he has been largely overshadowed by Trout and Shohei Ohtani, although both for good reason.

He'll be up against Aaron Civale, who has a 4.18 xFIP, 1.69 HR/9, and a low 19.6% strikeout rate versus left-handed hitters this season. Civale isn't a dominant shut-down pitcher, and with the power Walsh brings, he can cruise past fantasy value tonight.