3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Wednesday 6/9/21
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.
Griffin Canning, P, Los Angeles Angels ($7,300)
Griffin Canning isn't going to be popular tonight despite the fact that he has a great matchup.
Canning comes in with a 26.2% strikeout rate this season, which is the sixth-highest among pitchers on this slate. However, three of the pitchers who are ahead of him -- Jean Carlos Mejia, Shane McClanahan, and Alek Manoah -- have all pitched fewer innings than him, including Mejia and Manoah both with less than 10 innings pitched. Realistically, this could mean Canning has the third-highest strikeout rate among pitchers on the slate, yet he is the 11th most expensive option. If he is going to be overlooked, I like his matchup and his upside tonight.
He will be facing off against the Kansas City Royals, who come in with a 94 wRC+ (17th in the league), a .150 ISO (18th), a 36.1% fly-ball rate (14th), and a 29.3% hard-contact rate (28th) versus right-handed pitchers. The Royals are clearly an average to below-average offense versus righties and you should be very interested in attacking them with Canning.
Mike Zunino, C, Tampa Bay Rays ($2,700)
The Tampa Bay Rays have a modest 4.12 implied run total tonight and shouldn't be too popular in tournaments.
We have a full 12-game slate tonight and there are plenty of offenses on the board that should be popular but it doesn't look like the Rays will be one of them. That 4.12 implied run total has them as the 15th team on the slate and that has me very interested in their hitters for tournaments. They will be going up against Patrick Corbin, who has certainly struggled this season, particularly when it comes to allowing home runs. Corbin comes in allowing 2.40 HR/9 to right-handed hitters, along with a .404 wOBA, a 4.65 xFIP, and a 27.3% HR/FB ratio. Corbin's splits versus righty hitters are rough and that means we want to target him for some home run upside.
Mike Zunino is having one of his best seasons at the plate versus left-handed pitchers, coming in with a 224 wRC+, a .457 ISO, a 41.9% hard-contact rate, and a 58.1% fly-ball rate. It's clear that Zunino has all the power you could possibly want with this matchup, and at under $3,000, he is one of my favorite home run options on the slate.
Rougned Odor, 2B, New York Yankees ($2,200)
If the New York Yankees aren't going to be super popular tonight, you should turn to them in tournaments.
The Yankees have plenty of right-handed hitters with power in their lineup but you actually want to turn to Rougned Odor, who could be the lone lefty in the lineup. He will be going up against Randy Dobnak, who is allowing 3.38 HR/9, a 5.53 xFIP, a 31.3 HR/FB ratio, and a low 10.6% strikeout rate versus left-handed hitters this season. A pitcher who allows too many home runs and also doesn't have massive strikeout potential is always intriguing to me. If he gets in trouble on the mound, the potential upside against him is massive due to the home runs and since he can't get out of the inning on his own.
Between being traded to the Yankees and his time on the IL, Odor doesn't have a massive sample size to look at this season, so we'll look at his career numbers. He has a .217 ISO, a 36.3% hard-contact rate, and a 42.6% fly-ball rate versus righties over his career. If the Yankees aren't going to be popular, there's a high chance Odor will come in at very low rostership rates tonight, putting him in a good spot for tournaments.
