3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Wednesday 9/29/21

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.

Max Fried, P, Atlanta Braves ($9,000)

Max Fried is flat-out amazing this season.

I get it, Fried doesn't jump off the page as Max Scherzer or Gerrit Cole on this slate, but he still has plenty of fantasy potential. When I said Fried has been flat-out amazing this season, it's without any hesitation both in real life baseball and MLB DFS.

Over his last 10 starts, Fried has posted 34 FanDuel points or more in nine of those starts. That is from his 23.7% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate, 0.85 HR/9 allowed, a 3.46 xFIP, a 51.5% ground-ball rate, and a 54.1% medium-contact rate this season. Those are elite-level numbers from Fried this season, and he can do that again tonight versus the Philadelphia Phillies.

This season, the Phillies come in with a 94 wRC+ (17th in the league), .171 ISO (11th), 22.3% strikeout rate (24th), 31.3% hard-contact rate (26th), and 35.9% fly-ball rate (18th) versus right-handed pitchers this season. They have some power in their lineup, but it's not as dangerous as it might seem. Fried should be able to cruise through this matchup and post another strong fantasy performance.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B/SS, Miami Marlins ($3,300)

With a 3.32 implied run total, no one is going to be on the Miami Marlins tonight.

We all know the Marlins aren't a great team, but they are facing Taijuan Walker, who isn't a great pitcher. Over his last five starts, Walker has allowed nine home runs, an areat he's been struggling with in the second half of the season. He comes in with a 4.79 xFIP while allowing 1.34 HR/9, a 10.7% walk rate, and a 45.2% fly-ball rate versus left-handed hitters this season. None of that is something you should be afraid of, and you should be looking to attack Walker tonight.

We turn to Jazz Chisholm, who has hit 13 of his 17 home runs against righties this season from his .183 ISO, 103 wRC+, 33.0% hard-contact rate, and 19.7% HR/FB rate. You may not want to fully stack the Marlins, but Walker is very home run prone this year.

Carlos Santana, 1B, Kansas City Royals ($2,400)

The Kansas City Royals have a solid matchup tonight and shouldn't be too popular.

Going up against Zach Plesac, the Royals could be a nice secondary team to target tonight for some home run potential. Plesac comes in with a 4.92 xFIP, a low 16.4% strikeout rate, 0.99 HR/9, and a 36.8% fly-ball rate. Plesac doesn't strike out a ton of hitters and should be giving up more home runs than he currently is, making him a nice target.

Carlos Santana has a crazy 15.4% walk rate against right-handed pitchers, along with a 43.6% fly-ball rate and 34.0% hard-contact rate, and he's hit 15 of his 19 homers in this split. This is clearly the matchup we want for Santana, who is very affordable and shouldn't be too popular.