3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Thursday 5/13/21

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 that 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.

Zach Plesac, P, Cleveland Indians ($8,400)

The pitching options on tonight's slate are very interesting and paying up doesn't seem like a clear benefit.

There are three pitchers with higher salaries than Zach Plesac tonight, and they are all fine options -- simply fine, no true ace, and no one you need to out of your way to roster.

Since that is the case, I'll take a bit of savings with Plesac and use that to afford more hitters from the game at Coors Field. Plesac has been solid this season with a 3.83 xFIP, 55.4% ground-ball rate, and a 61.2% medium-contact rate. He is only carrying a 19.3% strikeout rate, which can limit his upside, but he is still well worth the roster spot in this matchup.

He will be going up against the Seattle Mariners, who comes in with a 93 wRC+ (21st in the league), a 30.2% hard-contact rate (22nd), and a 25.8% strikeout rate (8th). While there might be some hype around the Mariners with their top prospect, Jarred Kelenic, being called up, this is still a soft matchup for Plesac.

Adam Duvall, OF, Miami Marlins ($2,700)

The Miami Marlins don't jump off the page as a great offensive team, but that doesn't mean they don't have viable fantasy options.

You may not want to fully stack the Marlins but picking and choosing your spots for a one-off hitter could, such as Adam Duvall. Over the course of his career, he has been very solid at hitting right-handed pitchers, showing he has very even splits. He has a career .193 ISO, a massive 51.0% fly-ball rate, and a 37.3% hard-contact rate. Sure he also has a 35.6% strikeout rate, which is terrible, but the power is certainly there. Duvall is a bit of an all-or-nothing hitter, but that is great for tournaments.

He will be up against Merrill Kelly, who has a career 4.30 xFIP, 1.68 HR/9, 40.8% hard-contact rate, and 39.4% fly-ball rate versus right-handed hitters. I love this matchup for Duvall, and given how affordable his salary is, you can still pay up for some hitters from the Coors Field game.

Mitch Moreland, 1B, Oakland Athletics ($2,500)

With a 4.37 implied run total, the Oakland Athletics could go overlooked on tonight's slate.

There are five teams with higher implied run totals than the Athletics, two of which are at Coors Field. It shouldn't come as a surprise that all of those teams could be more popular than the Athletics, and that should make them very interesting in tournaments tonight.

They are on the road to take on the Boston Red Sox, who will have Garrett Richards on the mound. Since 2018, Richards has allowed 1.4 HR/9, a 10.2% walk rate, and a 36.5% hard-contact rate to left-handed hitters. Those are truly middle-of-the-road numbers and nothing to shy away from.

Mitch Moreland has plenty of power against right-handed pitchers, and since 2018, he has a .241 ISO, a 116 wRC+, a 39.5% fly-ball rate, and a 35.3% hard-contact rate. Since many of the Athletics hitters are affordable tonight, Moreland could be a key part of a stack, bringing home run upside.