MacKenzie Gore has been a strikeout machine for the Washington Nationals this season. Tonight, he faces the Colorado Rockies - the most strikeout-prone team in the league. Is his more than a lock?
Elsewhere, Ryan Gusto will attempt to put up solid numbers against the San Diego Padres, while Brandon Lowe will attempt to get at least one hit when his Tampa Bay Rays battle the New York Yankees.
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, April 18th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
MacKenzie Gore has been a strikeout machine for the Washington Nationals this season. Tonight, he faces the Colorado Rockies - the most strikeout-prone team in the league. Is his more than a lock?
Elsewhere, Ryan Gusto will attempt to put up solid numbers against the San Diego Padres, while Brandon Lowe will attempt to get at least one hit when his Tampa Bay Rays battle the New York Yankees.
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, April 18th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Wednesday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 10-14-2
This number is set shockingly low, especially when you consider the team MacKenzie Gore is facing tonight. The Rockies have the second-most strikeouts in the league, but they're only two behind a Boston Red Sox team that has played two more games than them. The Rockies are averaging over 10 strikeouts per game, and they're about to face a pitcher who is red-hot to start the year.
Though Gore has given up some runs, he's struck out at least five batters in all four of his starts this season. In three of those four starts, he struck out at least seven. In his first start of the year, he struck out 13 batters in just six innings. Gore doesn't have much history against the Rockies' current lineup, but he has struck out seven batters in 15 at-bats. Considering all the other factors at play, that's enough of a sample size for me.
Ryan Gusto has appeared in five games this season, but he hasn't pitched very much in any of them. In his last start, he threw 72 pitches in four innings. In the four appearances before that, he never threw more than 42 pitches, and he never went deeper than three innings. He's struck out at least four batters in three of his five appearances, but he's only struck out more just once.
The Padres are currently the least strikeout-prone team in baseball, striking out 124 times in 19 games. That's an average of just 6.5 strikeouts per game. With Gusto unlikely to go past the fourth inning in this game, it's hard to imagine him clearing this number against one of the best contact teams in the league.
Brandon Lowe is batting just .239 this season, but he has recorded a hit in 12 of his 17 games. Tonight, he goes up against the Yankees, a team he's had success against in the past. While he's just 2-of-8 against starter Carlos Rodon, those two hits were a double and a home run.
Rodon has struck out a lot of batters this season, but he's struggled otherwise. He has an ERA of 5.48, and he's allowed five home runs and 14 hits in just 23 innings. In each of his last three starts, he's given up at least three hits and four earned runs. Lowe will get at least two at-bats against Rodon tonight. Based on how Rodon has been pitching, Lowe will have a great opportunity to easily clear this number.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
