3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Tuesday 9/7/21
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's is the name of the game if you plan on taking down one of those highly lucrative DFS tournaments. Whether it's because of bookmaker totals, other options at a given position, or some gem you've found who everyone is overlooking, we can always find potential under-rostered 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 ($9,300)
Max Fried has a good matchup tonight and shouldn't be as chalky as some of the other pitchers.
With a 24.3% strikeout rate, Fried clocks in as the 13th-highest strikeout rate among pitchers on tonight's slate. Considering he has the fourth-highest salary at pitcher, it could be tough for DFS players to justify rostering him. You can factually find a pitcher at a lower salary who has a higher strikeout rate, potentially bringing a higher fantasy ceiling. I get all that and it's exactly why Fried should be flying under the radar tonight.
Fried also comes in with a 6.5% walk rate, allowing only 0.96 HR/9 with a 3.51 xFIP, 49.9% ground-ball rate, and 52.9% medium-contact rate. All of those numbers are awesome and helps Fried bring a strong level of consistency to most outings. He should be able to keep that going versus the Washington Nationals tonight.
Washington comes in with an 89 wRC+ (23rd in the league), a .140 ISO (27th), a 23.1% strikeout rate, a 29.5% fly-ball rate (30th), and a 31.7% hard-contact rate (21st) versus right-handed pitchers with their current roster. The Nationals simply do not have a good offense and this presents Fried with a super soft matchup to attack.
Tyler Naquin, OF, Cincinnati Reds ($2,900)
If the Cincinnati Reds aren't going to be popular tonight I'm going to be baffled.
With a loaded 12-game slate tonight -- which includes Coors Field -- there are going to be a few teams that go overlooked, and the Red should not be one of them. The Reds are on the road to take on the Chicago Cubs, where Wrigley Field is expecting very strong wind blowing out towards right field. This is a clear boost to the lefty hitters, and we can turn to Tyler Naquin for some potential upside tonight.
Naquin comes in with a 127 wRC+, .239 ISO, 40.0% hard-contact rate, 33.3% fly-ball rate, and 21.7% HR/FB rate versus right-handed pitchers. If he is able to get the fly balls going tonight, we could easily see some home runs from him or really any of the Reds' lefties.
He will be up against Adrian Sampson, who only has 11.1 innings pitched in the MLB this season, so we'll look to his career numbers in 164.1 innings pitched. Sampson has allowed a .219 ISO, 1.67 HR/9, 4.72 xFIP, 43.3% hard-contact rate, and 38.2% fly-ball rate versus left-handed hitters in his MLB career.
Kyle Seager, 3B, Seattle Mariners ($3,500)
The Seattle Mariners and their 3.81 implied run total aren't all that exciting tonight.
I get it. So why the Mariners on a loaded 12-game slate? Well, I'm not looking to fully stack the Mariners, but searching for some one-off power upside is the route to go.
They are going up against Jake Odorizzi, who is a really average pitcher. His 4.87 xFIP, 1.13 HR/9 allowed, 12.0% walk rate and .204 ISO versus left-handed hitters is nothing to be worried about. In fact, you should be looking to attack a pitcher with those numbers, especially if those hitters aren't going to be popular.
This is where Kyle Seager comes into play and could make for the ideal tournament one-off. He is carrying a .239 ISO, 104 wRC+, 52.6% fly-ball rate, and 40.4% hard-contact rate versus right-handed pitchers this season. Sure, the Mariners might lose this game, but we care about Seager's fantasy points, which could be strong with this matchup.
