3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 6/11/19
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-owned plays if we look hard enough.
Here are three such players to consider branching out for on FanDuel's main slate
Jakob Junis, P, Kansas City Royals
FanDuel Price: 6,800
A full slate of games gives us plenty of top-tier pitching options along with Coors Field in action, which should leave players in the mid-tier as lower-owned plays.
Jake Junis is on the mound for the Kansas City Royals tonight ready to take on a bad Detroit Tigers team, who have a 77 wRC+ (28th in the league) and a .148 ISO (29th in the league). The Tigers aren't good by most measures and have been a team to attack with right-handed pitchers for most of the season.
This doesn't mean that Junis is some ace pitcher, but a 20.6% strikeout rate and 4.53 xFIP aren't terrible. They aren't great numbers, but there are certainly some worse options on this slate. He comes in with five or more strikeouts in four straight starts, which is a reachable level of production tonight since the Tigers have a 26.3% strikeout rate versus righty pitchers, which is the second worst in the league.
Overall, Junis is a decent pitcher who has a great matchup tonight and comes in at a great price on top of all that.
Jason Castro, C, Minnesota Twins
FanDuel Price: 2,700
I'm not sure if anyone has said this before, but the Minnesota Twins are good this year!
Yes, the Minnesota Twins, with a first-year manager, are one of the best teams in the league and are seemingly going to be scoring 5-plus runs every single night. They have plenty of power and the DFS options in their lineup aren't too expensive. Tonight, they will be facing off against Mike Leake, who has a 4.68 SIERA overall this season, with a 4.09 xFIP, 1.77 homers per nine, and a modest 37.5% hard-contact rate versus left-handed hitters. Leak isn't a pitcher you have to be afraid of in any capacity and should actually look to stack against with the Twins' and their 5.70 implied run total.
Jason Castro should be getting the start today to maintain the platoon advantage against Leake, which is what we want to see since he is cheap and comes in with a .388 wOBA, .333 ISO, and whopping 55.4% hard-contact rate this season versus right-handed pitchers.
Randal Grichuk, OF, Toronto Blue Jays
FanDuel Price: $3,000
The Toronto Blue Jays come in with an implied run total set at 4.64 tonight and have a solid park factor in their favor visiting the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles will have John Means on the mound tonight, who is an interesting young pitching and is largely unproven. His 32.2% strikeout rate versus lefty hitters is great but that drops all the way to 16.5% versus righty hitters and the same can be said for his xFIP, going from 3.65 to 5.43. In situations like this, sticking with the proven hitter is something I lean on and in this situation, it's Randal Grichuk.
He has a 108 wRC+, .164 ISO, 37.5% hard-hit rate, and a 41.7% fly-ball rate versus left-handed pitchers this season. Those aren't All-Star level numbers, but his modest price tag reflects that and should allow him to go overlooked tonight.