MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 9/23/19

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Sep 23rd, 2019
Alex Young has been solid for the Diamondbacks down the stretch. Is he a pitcher worth rostering tonight at a lower price tag?

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

Alex Young, P, Arizona Diamondbacks

FanDuel Price: $7,500

A small five-game slate can make tournaments interesting when it comes to ownership percentages, but Alex Young could be a pitcher to go overlooked tonight.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are at home and facing the St. Louis Cardinals, who are in the midst of a playoff hunt and needing to pick up every win they can.

This is going to be a tougher matchup for the Cards than they might realize, though, since Young has looked very strong in his recent stretch of starts. Over his last six starts, he has allowed three or fewer earned runs in each, all while posting a 24.4% strikeout rate and 4.14 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA). The prospect still has plenty to prove, but the Cardinals' lineup isn't all that dangerous and should be fine to attack on tonight's slate.

St. Louis comes in with a 22.2% strikeout rate (21st in the league), a .172 team ISO (20th), a 96 wRC+ (18th), and a 34.9% fly-ball rate (16th) versus right-handed pitchers this season. That is as average as you can possibly find on this slate and despite the fact they are pushing towards the playoffs, they don't have a strong offense.

If you are looking to be different in tournaments tonight, Young could be the pitcher to make your lineup unique and help mitigate ownership.

Brandon Lowe, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays

FanDuel Price: $2,900

Brandon Lowe is back from a nearly three-month absence and hopefully ready to get the offense going again.

Lowe played yesterday, which was his first game since July 2nd, and could be a player at lower ownership tonight, along with being worth the sub-$3K salary. He has a much smaller sample size this season since he missed so much time but is still holding a .265 ISO, 43.0% hard-hit rate, and a 45.9% fly-ball rate versus right-handed pitchers.

There is plenty of power with Lowe, and despite this game being in Tampa Bay -- which is a pitcher's park -- we could be seeing a home run tonight. Overall, I like the Tampa Bay Rays as a stack tonight, and let's take a look at why.

Tampa Bay is facing the Boston Red Sox, who will have a Jhoulys Chacin on the mound, a pitcher worth attacking every single time he is on the slate. Chacin comes in with a horrible 6.16 xFIP versus lefties this season, along with allowing 1.70 home runs per nine innings and a 51.0% hard-hit rate. Yikes. That is a truly terrible stat line and should be attacked with a hitter like Lowe.

Rio Ruiz, 3B, Baltimore Orioles

FanDuel Price: $2,400

The Baltimore Orioles aren't going to be breaking any offensive records this season, but they have plenty of fantasy value tonight.

They are on the road to take on Clay Buchholz, who is allowing 1.91 home runs per nine innings to lefties this season, along with a modest 35.8% hard-hit rate and 37.2% fly-ball rate. The latter two stats aren't horrible, but it seems that Buchholz is getting BABIP'd to death with a .322 in this split.

Buchholz is allowing a barreled ball on 12.3% of hits this season, which is in the bottom 3% for pitchers, per BaseballSavant.com. This could be one of the ideal spots to attack on this slate, but everyone should know that, right?

Yes. A small five-game slate and a bad pitcher should bring ownership here, but what if we pivot to the bottom part of the lineup? It's no secret that the players in the bottom-third of the lineup are always lower owned, which is why Rio Ruiz is interesting tonight. This season, 10 of his 11 home runs are against righty pitchers, which comes from his surprisingly strong 39.0% hard-hit rate and 38.9% fly-ball rate. Not a ton of power, but he's getting the ball in the air and now faces a pitcher who is very home run prone.