There have been plenty of fantastic individual performances recently from players who have made those bettors money that have backed their player props. Aaron Judge continues to rake for the Yankees as he hit his 25th home run in the current series against thee Royals. Elsewhere, Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber hit his sixth lead-off home run (second in the league behind Gunnar Henderson), Miles Mikolas took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Cardinals, and Pirates rookie Paul Skenes recorded another eight strikeouts while pitching into the seventh inning for the first time in his career.
What MLB player prop bets are on our radar for today? Read on for our top MLB player prop bets for Thursday, June 13.
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Thursday's Best MLB Player Prop Bets
(MLB player prop bet odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Bobby Witt Jr. Over 0.5 runs (-170)
Bobby Witt Jr. entered Wednesday leading the Royals in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.321), home runs (11), RBI (48), on-base percentage (.371), and hits (88). However, the most eye-popping statistic compared to the rest of his team is that his 56 runs scored were 13 more than the next-highest player (Maikel Garcia), and no other Royals player had scored more than 30 runs entering the day.
Witt had only scored a run once in the previous six games, and oddly, he is a much better hitter against right-handed pitchers (.335/.388/.574 slash line) than southpaws (.250/.277/.477). That is why we feel we are getting decent odds for Witt to cross the plate at least once in this series finale, especially when facing a a left-handed pitcher that has struggled on the road. Nestor Cortes has the worst WAR (0.8) and the highest ERA (3.68) of any of the Yankees starting pitchers, and through seven road starts is 0-3 with a 6.17 ERA and a .295 OBA.
We highlighted in Saturday’s player prop article that Cortes had benefited from a soft home schedule, then proceeded to be blasted for four earned runs on seven hits through 5 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. He should not find it much easier sledding when facing a Royals offense that entered Wednesday rank in the top five in the majors in scoring. Kansas City had cashed its team total Over in 11 of 16 home games (+5.75 units/32% ROI) prior to Wednesday, and we expect Witt to be a big reason it does so again tonight.
Garrett Crochet Over 8.5 strikeouts (+125)
Few games exemplified Seattle’s offense and approach to the plate this season more than Monday’s 8-4 series-opening win over the White Sox, as it scored five of its eight runs in an 8-4 win off home runs. However, the home-run reliant Mariners have also been prone to strikeouts, and that is especially the case against southpaws, as they entered Wednesday with the second-highest strikeout rate (26.1%) in that split in the majors.
White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet has been one of the lone bright spots for a team that will likely end the season as one of the worst in recent memory. Crochet ranks in the 95th percentile or better in xBA and xERA, which suggests he is likely to go deep in this game once again. In addition, his eye-popping 34.3% strikeout rate ranks in the 96th percentile, and he is in the 86th percentile in whiffs, which means he should miss plenty of the free-swinging Mariners bats.
Crochet has struck out 10 or more batters in two of his last three starts, and has had fewer than six strikeouts just once in the previous nine. Considering Seattle has five players in its projected starting lineup that has struck out in at least 24.6% of their at-bats against lefties, Crochet has a clear path to another double-digit strikeout day.
Garrett Crochet continues to dominate:
6 IP 3 H 1 ER 2 BB 10 K
17 whiffs and 35 CSW%Top __ SP in dynasty?
pic.twitter.com/TsnVd7bISi— Andrew DeCeglie (@Andrew_FBB) June 8, 2024
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.