MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 4/17/19

Thomas Vecchio  —  @Tom_Vecchio1 Apr 17th, 2019
With so many teams sporting high implied totals on Wednesday, Tommy Pham could go overlooked in a great matchup against David Hess and the Orioles.

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.

Trevor Williams, P, Pittsburgh Penguins

FanDuel Price: $7,900

Trevor Williams comes in at a very reasonable price tag tonight and is up against the Detroit Tigers, who only have an implied run total set at 4.22.

In his three starts this season, Williams has 12 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings pitched, while only allowing five earned runs. He has the ability to replicate those numbers tonight since the Tigers current roster is one of the weakest in the league and should not be feared offensively.

Last season, this group had an 85 wRC+ versus right-handed pitchers, which was fourth-worst in the league, along with a .155 ISO, which was the sixth-worst in the league. Williams only comes in with a 17.8% strikeout rate this season, which isn't super high, so the upside is limited in some capacity, but getting the quality start and the win are firmly in play here.

Tommy Pham, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

FanDuel Price: $3,900

Tommy Pham and the Tampa Bay Rays come in with an implied team total set at 5.42, setting them up for plenty of scoring tonight.

The high implied total is no surprise against David Hess, who allowed a .352 wOBA and a whopping 2.55 homers per nine innings to left-handed hitters last season. Those homers come from the fact he allowed a 45% fly-ball rate and a 34% hard contact rate.

Even with Tampa Bay being a solid pitcher's park, Hess is in a spot to get hit hard by a surprisingly good Rays team. Pham comes in with the platoon advantage tonight and he should be at the top of the list with his .352 wOBA and .193 ISO versus right-handed pitchers from last season. Pham also brings a bit of stolen base upside, something that is super valuable in tournaments.

Johan Camargo, OF, Atlanta Braves

FanDuel Price: $2,800

The Atlanta Braves are at home and come in with an implied run total set a 4.99, which should make them a popular team tonight, but how can we get different with some options in their lineup?

We all know the Braves have some stars at the top of their lineup, Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna, and Freddie Freeman to name a few, but that is also where the ownership goes on most nights. If we look towards Johan Camargo and the bottom part of the lineup, the ownership should be lower, while also providing plenty of salary relief.

Camargo comes in with six RBI, five hits, and three doubles in his last three games, which is a nice hot streak, and he's in a spot to continue that tonight. He has the platoon advantage against Zack Godley, who allowed a 39% hard contact rate and a .324 wOBA to left-handed hitters last season. Camargo is under $3K tonight but still comes in with a .346 wOBA and .173 ISO versus right-handed pitchers last season, which shouldn't be going overlooked on this 10-game slate.


Thomas Vecchio is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Thomas Vecchio also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username TomVec629. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.