3 Under-the-Radar MLB FanDuel Plays for Friday 9/17/21

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.

German Marquez, P, Colorado Rockies ($9,200)

We have a loaded 15-game slate, and there are plenty of pitching options to sort through.

There are a number of strong pitching options, and it could cause German Marquez to go overlooked. This would be a mistake since he has a great matchup versus the Washington Nationals, a team we can look to attack on any slate.

The Nationals come in with an 88 wRC+ (24th in the league), .143 ISO (27th), 23.0% strikeout rate (20th), 32.0% hard-contact rate (17th), and 29.8% fly-ball rate (30th) versus right-handed pitchers. They are one of the worst offensive teams in the league in this split, and we should be looking to pick on them tonight.

Marquez comes in with a solid 24.2% strikeout rate, 51.2% ground-ball rate, and 3.55 xFIP. Those are truly strong numbers, and he shouldn't have any issues with the Nats.

Jesus Sanchez, OF, Miami Marlins ($2,900)

The Miami Marlins have a 4.42 implied total and likely won't be popular.

It's not a surprise the Marlins won't be popular, but they have a sneaky-good matchup versus Wil Crowe and the Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen. Crowe is allowing a .219 ISO, .355 wOBA, 5.12 xFIP, 1.55 homers per nine, 13.2% walk rate, and 40.6% fly-ball rate versus left-handed hitters this season. I'm not worried about this matchup for the Marlins, and you shouldn't be either.

We can look to Jesus Sanchez, who has a solid .240 ISO, 37.9% hard-contact rate, 35.6% fly-ball rate, and a 25.8% homer-to-fly-ball ratio against righties. When the ball is going in the air for Sanchez in this split, he is getting a home run a good amount of the time. Pair that with Crowe's fly-ball rate, and we have some contrarian homer potential with Sanchez.

Ji-Man Choi, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays ($2,500)

The Tampa Bay Rays hit multiple home runs last night, and we could see the same tonight.

This is due to the fact they are going up against Casey Mize, who is allowing a massive .280 ISO, 2.31 dingers per nine, 4.79 xFIP, 9.1% walk rate, 37.1% fly-ball rate, and 47.1% hard-contact rate versus left-handed hitters this season. I say this with little exaggeration -- Mize can't get lefty hitters out. He's terrible against them, and I want to get as many Rays' lefties in my lineups as I can tonight.

This is where Ji-Man Choi comes into play. He sports a 140 wRC+, .231 ISO, 47.7% hard-contact rate, 36.1% fly-ball rate, and a healthy 25.6% homer-per-fly-ball ratio with the platoon advantage. Choi is officially on home run watch tonight.