3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Tuesday 6/15/21
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.
Hyun-Jin Ryu, P, Toronto Blue Jays ($8,500)
We have a loaded 15-game slate tonight and there are so many options at pitcher, someone is bound to go overlooked.
Given the fact there are so many options on tonight's slate, finding a pitcher who will be at lower rostership rates in tournaments should be somewhat easy. There are a few options -- Mike Minor, Taijuan Walker, and Luis Castillo all could end up being popular, but other options in the mid-tier will go vastly overlooked. This is where Hyun-jin Ryu comes into play, with a sneaky good matchup. He will be taking on the New York Yankees, who are likely still perceived as a strong offense, but, in fact, are very average this season.
The Yankees come in with a 98 wRC+ (15th in the league), .158 ISO (19th), 23.3% strikeout rate (16th), 34.0% fly-ball rate (17th), and 31.4% hard-contact rate (15th) versus left-handed pitchers this season. They are, factually, a league-average offense and are not one that you truly need to fear anymore.
Ryu is a solid pitcher and comes in with a 22.0% strikeout rate, a low 4.3% walk rate, a 3.79 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), a solid 47.1% ground-ball rate, and a 59.1% medium-contact rate. Ryu is a class ground-ball pitcher who can limit the damage on a nightly basis, all while going under the radar tonight.
Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox ($3,800)
Given the nature of shortstop tonight, Xander Bogaerts could go vastly under-rostered.
Fernando Tatis Jr. ($5,000) leads the way at shortstop tonight and that shouldn't be a surprise since he is at Coors Field. Trevor Story is only $3,700, which seems far too cheap for also being at Coors Field. Considering Bogaerts is slightly more expensive than Story and there is a clear top option to pay up for at the position, the Boston Red Sox shortstop could be the one going overlooked, which is a mistake. Boston is taking on Tucker Davidson from the Braves, who has a total of 19.1 innings pitched at the major league level.
In that time, he has allowed 1.23 HR/9 to right-handed hitters, along with a 5.76 xFIP, a 9.5% strikeout rate, and a 9.5% walk rate. He has almost no sample size to draw from but even in the little time he's been in the MLB, he hasn't shown anything noteworthy. This is a spot where I'll trust Bogaerts, a proven MLB hitter, 10 times out of 10 before a young pitcher with no experience.
Tom Murphy, C, Seattle Mariners ($2,400)
This might be too "under the radar" for some people, but Tom Murphy is in a good spot tonight.
Here's the thing, the Seattle Mariners aren't a good team or a good offense. We all know this, I'm not breaking any news over here. However, they are going up against J.A. Happ, who isn't a particularly good pitcher and is struggling with home runs to right-handed hitters this season. Do I plan on fully stacking the Mariners? No. But I will be looking to Murphy, who is inexpensive and should be vastly unpopular, for some one-off power.
Murphy comes in with a borderline shocking .281 ISO, 125 wRC+, 44.1% fly-ball rate, and a 50.0% hard-contact rate versus left-handed pitchers this season. The 50% fly-ball rate is crazy and that puts him in a spot for some home run upside if the matchup allows it. Happ does allow it, with his 49.4% fly-ball rate and 37.0% hard-contact rate leading to him allowing 1.86 HR/9 to right-handed hitters this season.
