MLB

3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Friday 6/18/21

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.

Alex Cobb, P, Los Angeles Angels ($7,500)

If you are looking to load up on hitters at Coors Field, you will need some salary savings at pitcher.

Alex Cobb provides just that, and he checks a lot of boxes tonight. Cobb comes in with a 28.0% strikeout rate and 60.0% ground-ball rate. The ground-balls are great to begin with, but add in a strong strikeout rate, and you are in a spot for a very solid outing from him against the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers have a league-high 26.9% strikeout rate versus righty pitchers along with a middling (and 18th-ranked) .303 wOBA. Yeah, I'll take a pitcher in this matchup any day of the week, and Cobb is a quality low-salary play tonight.

Carlos Santana, 1B, Kansas City Royals ($3,000)

We have a loaded 15-game slate, so there are going to be plenty of teams who go overlooked. With so many teams to choose from -- including a game at Coors Field -- we should see rostership percentages spread out, which is great for tournaments.

The Kansas City Royals shouldn't be too popular on tonight's slate, but they have a matchup worth attacking against Nick Pivetta. This season, Pivetta has a 4.51 xFIP, 13.8% walk rate, and 45.3% fly-ball rate versus left-handed hitters.

Carlos Santana has some power and could be a player to target as a one-off in tournaments. He comes in with a .170 ISO, 103 wRC+, 17.9% walk rate, and 45.1% fly-ball rate versus right-handed pitchers. Santana's power potential lines up nicely versus Pivetta, who is struggling with fly balls.

Billy McKinney, OF, New York Mets ($2,600)

The New York Mets have a modest 4.41 implied total tonight and shouldn't be a go-to stack.

While I'm not racing to fully stack the Mets, they have a few one-offs you can turn to. Billy McKinney is a player to keep an eye on tonight since he is boasting a .255 ISO, 112 wRC+, and 42.5% fly-ball rate versus righty pitchers this season. With a salary under $3,000, that is some significant power upside, and he could easily exceed value with one swing.

McKinney will be up against Erick Fedde, who is a very average MLB pitcher. Fedde hasn't stayed in the majors that long over the past few seasons, so we'll look at his career numbers versus left-handed hitters. Fedde has allowed 1.24 homers per nine and owns a 4.49 xFIP in the split.

McKinney is an under-the-radar play who could pop.