3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Tuesday 5/25/21
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.
Rich Hill, P, Tampa Bay Rays ($8,200)
If you really want to load up on hitting stacks tonight, you'll need savings, and that's where Rich Hill comes into play.
There are great pitching options on tonight's slate, there's no other way to put it. Six pitchers over $10,000 will mean you have a great option no matter who you choose. However, we also know that they should be popular, and if you are trying to get away from the chalk tonight, Hill could be the answer.
He comes in with a solid 25.4% strikeout rate, 4.16 xFIP, 41.3% ground-ball rate, and 56.8% medium-contact rate. Hill isn't an overpowering pitcher by any means, but rather, he can cruise throughout the game, limit the damage, and be a great point-per-dollar value.
He will be facing off against the Kansas City Royals, who come in with an 86 wRC+ (25th in the league), .118 ISO (29th), 32.2% fly-ball rate (23rd), and 30.4% hard-hit rate (15th) versus left-handed pitchers this season. They are legitimately a horrible offense, and it should point to Hill posting another strong fantasy performance.
Adolis Garcia, OF, Texas Rangers ($3,400)
Adolis Garcia is going to hit a home run tonight, sorry for the spoilers.
One thing is clear about Garcia: he has power on top of power on top of massive fantasy potential. His stats this season are downright staggering, and he's a home run threat every night. He comes in with a .295 ISO, 133 wRC+, 39.1% fly-ball rate, and 43.5% hard-contact rate versus left-handed pitchers. Holy smokes. You want those types of power numbers in your lineups every night, and it makes him a great one-off for tournaments due to his multi-home run potential.
He will be on road to take on Andrew Heaney, who is really just an average MLB pitcher. Okay, maybe he's slightly better than average, but it's not by much. He is allowing 2.22 HR/9, a 42.3% fly-ball rate, and a 23.3% HR/FB rate versus right-handed hitters. Heaney has allowed eight home runs in eight starts this season, seven of which have come against right-handed hitters. He gets crushed by them, plain and simple, and I want Garcia going against him tonight.
Kyle Schwarber, OF, Washington Nationals ($3,700)
If the Washington Nationals aren't going to be chalky tonight, they make a great option for tournaments.
With a 4.37 implied run total, the Nationals are the 10th-highest team on the slate and should be a clear secondary option for most people tonight. This isn't too much of a surprise because they will be going up against Tyler Mahle, who is a good pitcher but not one without his faults. Sure, he has a great 32.0% strikeout rate versus left-handed hitters this season, but he is also allowing a 45.5% fly-ball, which is bad. That fly-ball rate can come back to bite him if the opposing hitter has power.
Well, well, well. A power-hitting lefty from the Nationals is what we need? Sounds a bit like Kyle Schwarber fits that description nicely. He comes in with a .262 ISO, 38.9% hard-contact rate, and 26.9% HR/FB rate this season versus right-handed pitchers. There's plenty of power in the Nationals' lineup, and if they aren't going to be popular tonight, I have a ton of interest in them for tournaments.
