3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 8/1/19
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.
Max Fried, P, Atlanta Braves
FanDuel Price: $7,500
With only six games on the slate and two elite pitchers in action, can we fade Gerrit Cole and Clayton Kershaw and look for lower-owned options elsewhere?
It's clear that Cole and Kershaw are the best pitchers by a wide margin tonight, but with only a six-game slate, there could be a lack of value options to fill out your lineup. If you want to take a significant amount of savings, look to Max Fried, who is under $8,000 tonight and offers consistency, though he lacks a bit of upside.
Fried is carrying a 23% strikeout rate this season, which is fairly average and ranks just eighth on this slate. If you are looking for 10-plus strikeouts and massive upside, Fried simply isn't that pitcher.
What he can bring is point-per-dollar value and the ability to limit damage -- all while opening up salary for the rest of your lineup. He comes in with four wins in his last six outings, with two quality starts and five games of six or more strikeouts in that span. Some might see that as very average, which is why he should come in at lower ownership tonight. The strikeouts will come from Cole and Kershaw on this slate, but the ability to stack whoever you want comes with Fried.
Chance Sisco, C, Baltimore Orioles
FanDuel Price: $2,600
A matchup between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays might not be the most exciting game from a real-life baseball perspective, but it has some fantasy options to consider.
Toronto will have Trent Thornton on the mound tonight. He is struggling in his first year in the Major Leagues and is a pitcher we can attack. Thornton is holding a rough 4.64 xFIP, 10.0% walk rate, 37.5% hard-hit rate, and an 18.9% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio this season versus lefty hitters. Those numbers should be exciting for a DFS player, since we want to target them for potential upside, which has been a trend for Thornton, who has allowed four or more earned runs in four of his last five starts.
This game is in Baltimore, which is a solid park for offense, putting Orioles' hitters in a spot to score some runs. One hitter who should be lower owned tonight is catcher Chance Sisco, who comes in at $2,600. The salary relief will help you get up to one of the elite pitchers, if you are looking to do that. Sisco has held his own versus righty pitchers this season, posting a rather impressive .253 ISO, 45.6% hard-hit rate, and 40.4% fly-ball rate, albeit, from a smaller sample size.
Kevin Kiermaier, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
FanDuel Price: $2,800
The Tampa Bay Rays are loving the positive park shift they have visiting Fenway. Will their offense continue scoring runs tonight?
The Boston Red Sox will have Andrew Cashner on the mound, and he comes in with a 4.85 xFIP this season, the 15th-worst of any starting pitcher in the Major Leagues. Cashner is not a pitcher to be afraid of as he's carrying a 4.72 xFIP and 18.4% strikeout rate against left-handed hitters. With the hitter-friendly confines of Fenway Park, we should be looking to stack against Cashner.
Kevin Kiermaier was activated off the IL yesterday and was able to go deep in his first game. We don't want to chase that production; rather go after the power numbers that Kiermaier has against righty pitchers this year. He comes in with .231 ISO, decent 37.1% hard-hit rate, and a 16.9% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio in the split in 2019.
