3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for 8/27/19
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.
Jeff Samardzija, P, San Francisco Giants
FanDuel Price: $7,000
Can the Shark keep his strong second-half going, and can he be used in tournaments tonight?
The Shark, of course, is Jeff Samardzija, who comes into this game with 43 strikeouts in 48 innings pitched on this side of the All-Star break, allowing only 12 earned runs in that time and holding hitters to a .174 average. Those are some very solid numbers for the veteran pitcher, and he has a chance to continue that trend tonight versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. With a positive park factor at his back, Samardzija shouldn't face too much pressure from a fairly average Diamondbacks lineup.
Arizona comes in with an 87 wRC+ (22nd in the league), .175 ISO (21st in the league), and a 35.7% fly-ball rate versus right-handed pitchers, showing they are below average in most areas. We have a game at Coors Field tonight where the Boston Red Sox are facing a pitcher making his MLB debut for the Colorado Rockies. We want hitters in that game, and Samardzija provides enough salary relief to make that happen.
Joc Pederson, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
FanDuel Price: $3,300
It's not often we could see the Los Angeles Dodgers' offense be a lower-owned option, but tonight could be one of those times.
A full 15-game slate has every team in action tonight along with said Coors game, where the over-under is set at 13.5. Including the two teams at Coors Field, there are 10 teams ahead of the Dodgers, who own an implied run total set at 4.52 as they are on the road to take on the San Diego Padres. Whenever you can get a team like the Dodgers at potentially lower ownership, they provide massive upside due to their power up and down the lineup.
If we look to Joc Pederson tonight, we see that he has a very potent .279 ISO, 44.7% hard-hit rate, and a 23.9% home-run-to-fly-ball rate this season versus right-handed pitchers. To capitalize on that upside, we would want him to be up against a pitcher who gives up hard-contact and fly-balls to lefty hitters, and that's the case with Padres pitcher Cal Quantrill. He comes in allowing a 46.3% hard-hit rate and a 39.7% fly-ball rate in the split, putting him at risk for allowing home runs.
Jeff McNeil, 2B, New York Mets
FanDuel Price: $3,000
The New York Mets continue to surge towards the playoffs and will face a familiar opponent tonight, the Chicago Cubs.
The Mets are getting it done in all areas of the game right now, and that shouldn't stop tonight against Yu Darvish, who has had some struggles this season and is worth rostering against on this 15-game slate. While Darvish has been able to limit the walks in recent starts -- something he struggled with earlier in the year -- he is still getting hit hard and allowing home runs. Darvish is allowing 2.36 home runs per nine this season to lefty hitters.
While Citi Field might not be the best hitter's park, Darvish has shown to be very home-run prone, and we want to attack that. Jeff McNeil is vying for the National League batting title right now, but he also has plenty of power, which can be overlooked at times. Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso are the well-known power hitters for the Mets, but McNeil is holding a .221 ISO, 39.3% hard-hit rate, and a 36.1% fly-ball rate. Darvish struggles in this matchup, and McNeil can certainly get it done at the plate tonight.
