MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Tuesday 5/18/21

Cedric Mullis has been super consistent this season and shouldn't be popular tonight. Who else can you look to for tournaments?

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.

Andrew Heaney, P, Los Angeles Angels ($7,600)

Andrew Heaney is a solid pitcher with a good matchup tonight and can provide plenty of point-per-dollar value.

Let's start with the obvious. There are other pitchers on this slate who are better than Heaney, and that much should be clear. If Heaney was a top option, he wouldn't be $7,600.

With that said, Heaney has a very favorable matchup versus the Cleveland Indians tonight, and you should be looking to him in tournaments. This season, the Indians have a 78 wRC+ (27th in the league), .154 ISO (20th), 30.4% fly-ball rate (13th), and 35.2% fly-ball rate (15th). They are a really average offense, and that's it. Sure, they have a few power bats in their lineup, but Heaney is creating a 52.3% medium-contact rate this season and should be able to keep their bats under control tonight.

Cedric Mullins, OF, Baltimore Orioles ($3,300)

The Baltimore Orioles have a 4.11 implied run total on tonight's slate and shouldn't be too popular in tournaments.

That run total has the Orioles as the 12th-highest team, which is largely uninteresting in the grand scheme of things. However, the Orioles are at home in a solid hitter's park, have a favorable matchup, and have some power options in their lineup. This is why they should be a good option in tournaments, and that means you want to look towards Cedric Mullins.

Mullis has been unbelievably consistent this season with a .378 wOBA, 145 wRC+, .220 ISO, 41.3% fly-ball rate, and 44.4% hard-contact rate. My goodness. Why doesn't he have a higher salary? I'll take numbers like that any night of the week, especially when he is going up against Luis Patino, who has allowed a 44.4% fly-ball rate and 4.68 xFIP to left-handed hitters over the course of his MLB career.

Robbie Grossman, OF, Detroit Tigers ($3,000)

Robbie Grossman is having a very solid fantasy year, and no one is talking about it.

Grossman is going overlooked for the most part because the Tigers are...bad. I know, shocking news, and while you may not want to fully stack them, Grossman makes a viable one-off tonight against Justin Dunn.

With only 81.1 innings pitched in the MLB, Dunn doesn't have a massive sample size, but one thing is clear: he is flat out horrible against left-handed hitters. Throughout his career, he has allowed a .373 wOBA, 2.15 HR/9, 7.30 xFIP, 46.5% fly-ball rate, 40.6% hard-contact rate, and wait for it...a 23.6% walk rate. Yes, you read that right, a 23.6% walk rate. I don't know how else to say this, but stack lefties against Dunn.

This leads us to Grossman, who has a 119 wRC+, 17.7% walk rate, 43.7% fly-ball rate, and, most importantly, 6 stolen bases against right-handed pitchers this season. Grossman is already a player who is very patient at the plate, and if he is able to get on base, there is some clear upside for him on the basepaths tonight.

I'm loving this matchup and Grossman's ability to bring value to all lineups.