3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 8/13/19
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.
Madison Bumgarner, P, San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price: $8,600
A loaded 14-game slate that features Coors Field might have too many options to consider, leaving plenty of players at lower ownership.
There is a line in the sand tonight as there are five pitchers above $10,000, and you could look to any of them for massive strikeout upside. Right below them is Madison Bumgarner, coming in under $9,000 at home in one of the best pitcher's parks in the league. He has a modest 23.5% strikeout rate but an elite 5.0% walk rate, which is the best on the slate among qualified pitchers.
The matchup on paper versus the Oakland Athletics looks to be a tougher one, but the A's have an implied run total under 4.00 tonight. Bumgarner comes in allowing three or fewer earned runs in seven of his last 10 starts, and his price is amazing if you are looking to jam in some top-tier hitters.
Brandon Dixon, 1B, Detroit Tigers
FanDuel Price: $3,000
It's not often the Detroit Tigers are a team you look to target in DFS, but tonight could be a little be different.
The Tigers have an implied run total set at 4.96 -- which, while good in the grand scheme of things, is just the 11th-highest on the slate. That puts them in the middle ground where they should a be a team who comes in at lower ownership but is actually in a good spot given their matchup.
They are facing off against Yusei Kikuchi, who is having a tough time in his first Major League season. He is allowing 1.98 home run per nine innings to righty hitters from a 35.4% hard-hit rate this season in that split. That rate jumps up to 39.3% while on the road versus righties, which puts the Tigers in a nice spot.
Brandon Dixon comes in with a decent .179 ISO versus left-handed pitchers, but his peripheral stats of a 44.4% hard-hit rate and a 35.6% fly-ball rate are encouraging knowing that Kikuchi gives up plenty of home runs to right-handed hitters.
Todd Frazier, 3B, New York Mets
FanDuel Price: $2,900
The New York Mets are hot right now and have a positive park shift in their favor. Are they going over-looked tonight?
The Mets are all the way down at the 14th-best implied total (4.48). That generally doesn't signal an offense that is ready to score a bunch runs, but we need to take a second look. They are facing off against Max Fried, who is having some success in his first full year in the Major League. But that hasn't come without some struggles. Fried is allowing 1.39 home runs per nine innings to righty hitters this season, along with a 23.3% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio. It's set to be blazing hot in Atlanta tonight, with first-pitch temperature expected to be up at 93 degrees.
A home-run prone pitcher is good to target with a hitter who has plenty of power in this split. That hitter tonight could be Todd Frazier, who has a surprising .277 ISO and 21.4% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio versus lefty pitchers in 2019. Things seemingly line up for Frazier tonight, who comes in just under $3,000.
