MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 9/19/19

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Sep 19th, 2019
Will Blue Jays rookie Anthony Kay be a lower-owned option on this four-game slate? If so, should you roll him out in GPPs?

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.

Anthony Kay, P, Toronto Blue Jays

FanDuel Price: $6,300

A small four-game slate makes things interesting from a tournament perspective. Let's jump in.

The Toronto Blue Jays are on the road to take on the Baltimore Orioles in what is a rather uninteresting baseball from a real-life viewpoint, but there is some fantasy value here. Toronto will have Wilmer Font opening the game, but then young prospect Anthony Kay will pitch next. Kay should be in line to get a decent amount of fantasy points and potentially the win. He has only two appearances this season, going 4.1 innings and 5.2 innings, which is interesting in this matchup. The Orioles aren't a good team by any means and always worth attacking thanks to their 24.1% strikeout rate versus left-handed pitchers.

As mentioned above, Kay has a very, very small sample size, but he has posted 10 strikeouts in those 10 innings pitched, which gives him some nice point-per-dollar upside tonight.

Ryan O'Hearn, 1B, Kansas City Royals

FanDuel Price: $2,300

The Kansas City Royals have an implied run total sitting at 3.92, so they shouldn't be too highly owned, even with only four games.

Small slates are always interesting since you have to make a distinct decision to go against the grain and hunt for lower ownership. The Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, and Toronto Blue Jays should be the highest-owned offenses tonight, leaving the Royals as a great tournament option. They will be up against Kyle Gibson, who is returning to the rotation and is a pitcher worth attacking. Gibson is allowing 1.32 home runs per nine innings to lefty hitters, along with a 36.0% hard-hit rate and a 19.6% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio.

Ryan O'Hearn offers a nice bit of salary relief on a slate where we don't have a ton, and he also has some having home run upside with his .184 ISO and 43.9% hard-hit rate versus righty pitchers this season. A player who is nearly the minimum salary and has the potential to hit a home run is something you want.

Jake Cave, OF, Minnesota Twins

FanDuel Price: $2,400

Despite this being a lefty-lefty matchup, Jake Cave is in a good spot and likely won't be too highly-owned.

Cave has only 66 games played this season and has managed to post a .293 ISO and 58.3% hard-hit rate versus lefty pitchers this year. A same-sided matchup is not something you normally want to attack, but the lack of options on this slate has us looking at Cave, who has legit power in this split. But that power doesn't come without some downside, as he has a 40.9% strikeout rate versus southpaws, which is flat out horrible.

He might be a boom-or-bust player, but we could see the boom tonight, as he is up against Mike Montgomery, who is allowing 2.08 home runs per nine innings to lefties this season from a 30.8% home-run-to-fly-ball ratio.