3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Tuesday 8/17/21
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 who 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.
Logan Webb, P, San Francisco Giants ($7,600)
With a number of high-powered offenses on tonight's slate, saving at pitching can help with roster construction.
There's no doubt that Corbin Burnes ($11,500) is the best pitcher on tonight's slate, and frankly, his strikeout upside is tough to match. However, Burnes has a really, really high salary tonight, and when we have a game at Coors Field, along with six other teams with implied run totals over 5.00, paying up for hitting is also going to be a major decision.
This is where Logan Webb comes into play because his salary is so affordable, and he has looked great this season. He comes in with a 26.0% strikeout rate, allowing only 0.74 HR/9 with a 60.2% ground-ball rate, 51.1% medium-contact rate, 3.39 SIERA, and 3.00 xFIP. Those are legit awesome numbers from the 24-year-old pitcher.
He also has a soft matchup against the New York Mets, who come in with an 89 wRC+ (21st in the league), .149 ISO (23rd), 24.8% strikeout rate (8th), and 35.4% fly-ball rate (20th) versus right-handed pitchers with their current roster. They don't have power, don't generate fly balls, strike out too much, and don't have power.
This is a dream matchup for Webb, who makes lineup construction very easy tonight.
Eric Haase, C, Detroit Tigers ($3,300)
The Detroit Tigers could go overlooked tonight, and as always, that would be a mistake.
With a 4.75 implied run total, the Tigers are the ninth-highest team on the slate, a clear step behind the top tier. This should cause them to be less popular than the other teams, which is a great thing because they have a big plus matchup versus Dylan Bundy. This season, Bundy has a 4.36 xFIP while allowing 2.15 HR/9, a 38.5% fly-ball rate, 38.3% hard-contact rate, and 21.1% HR/FB rate versus right-handed hitters. Those are all horrible numbers and all numbers that present upside for the Tigers' hitters.
This is where we can look to Eric Haase, who has a .218 ISO, 43.7% fly-ball rate, and 37.9% hard-contact rate versus right-handed pitchers. Haase also comes in with a 34.3% strikeout rate, so while it can be a bit of boom or bust for Haase, the home run upside is very clear for him in this matchup.
Ty France, 1B/2B, Seattle Mariners ($2,900)
Are the Seattle Mariners a viable tournament option tonight?
With a matchup against Taylor Hearn, the Mariners are a team that has some upside on tonight's 14-game slate. Hearn comes in with very average numbers overall, with a 12.3% walk rate, 24.2% strikeout rate, 1.18 HR/9, and 40.8% fly-ball rate. He's really not a pitcher you should be worried about. His splits are a bit worse against right-handed hitters, so that's where we'll look to attack him.
Ty France comes in with a solid 134 wRC+, .200 ISO, low 16.7% strikeout rate, and lower 29.3% fly-ball rate, but he also has a 20.6% HR/FB rate versus left-handed pitchers. France doesn't generate a ton of fly balls, but when he does get one in the air, they are going for home runs a good amount of the time. With a matchup against a pitcher who allows too many fly balls, France is in a spot to see one go over the fence tonight.
