3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Wednesday 7/7/21
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.
Luis Garcia, P, Houston Astros ($9,700)
In the context of the overall slate, Luis Garcia is in a bit of a weird spot tonight.
By that I mean his salary is in a weird spot since it's easy to justify spending up for Zack Wheeler ($11,200) or simply dropping down and finding some salary savings. Both Alex Wood ($8,300) and Chris Paddack ($7,600) are in good matchups while being cheaper than Garcia. He is the second-most expensive pitcher on the slate and it feels like it's no man's land. But, this is a good thing since we are trying to find a player that will be going to be overlooked.
Garcia comes in with a solid 27.4% strikeout rate, a 3.82 SIERA, a 49.5% medium-contact rate, and a 9.6% HR/FB ratio. The right-hander has been solid all season long and has shown a consistent floor of fantasy points you should look to have in any of your lineups, especially since he isn't going to be popular in tournaments tonight.
Trey Mancini, 1B, Baltimore Orioles ($3,300)
The Baltimore Orioles are likely going to be undervalued tonight and that makes me more interested in them.
We know the Orioles aren't good, and when they are +158 home underdogs, it's likely that they will come in at very low roster percentages tonight. They are going up against Hyun-jin Ryu, who is a good pitcher that is having a bad year. He comes in allowing 1.35 HR/9, which is his worst since 2017. He has a 19.4% strikeout rate, which is his worst since 2016, and he has an 8.7% barrel rate, which is the worst of his career. So yeah, I'm looking to the Orioles tonight since the home run upside is clearly there for them versus Ryu.
This is where we can turn to Trey Mancini, who comes in with a .280 ISO, 145 wRC+, 19.5% strikeout rate, and a 28.6% HR/FB ratio versus left-handed pitchers this season. Mancini has brought the power all year and given the fact he is at home -- which is a great hitters' park -- he has clear home run potential tonight.
Jake Fraley, OF, Seattle Mariners ($2,700)
Don't sleep on the Seattle Mariners tonight.
They are at home and going up against Domingo German, who has looked terrible as of late. He started the season strong but that has disappeared over the last month or so. Here is his game log recently: 4.1 IP and 7 ER, 4 IP and 4 ER, 4 IP and 3 ER, 3 IP and 3 ER. What about that is good? Nothing. Why are we not considering the Mariners a bit more tonight? German is carrying a 4.52 xFIP, 1.82 HR/9, a 46.7% fly-ball rate, and a 42.5% hard-contact rate versus left-handed hitters this season.
Does this mean we target all the lefties on the Mariners tonight? If so, I'll look to Jake Fraley, who is very affordable and comes in with a .306 ISO, 178 wRC+, 43.8% fly-ball rate, and a 28.6% HR/FB ratio versus right-handed pitchers. Those are some serious power numbers for a player who is under $3,000.
