Andrew Abbott is off to a great start for the Cincinnati Reds this season. Will he continue to pitch well against the Colorado Rockies? How will Carlos Carrasco fare against the familiar lineup of the Toronto Blue Jays? What should we expect from Francisco Lindor against the Washington Nationals?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, April 25th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Andrew Abbott is off to a great start for the Cincinnati Reds this season. Will he continue to pitch well against the Colorado Rockies? How will Carlos Carrasco fare against the familiar lineup of the Toronto Blue Jays? What should we expect from Francisco Lindor against the Washington Nationals?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, April 25th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Friday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 15-17-2
Andrew Abbott has pitched in just two games this season, but he's already struck out 16 batters. In his first start of the season, he struck out five Pittsburgh Pirates in five innings. In his second start, he struck out 11 Baltimore Orioles in six innings. Now, he gets to face the most strikeout-prone team in baseball. Why is this number set so low?
Abbott has given up two earned runs in 31 at-bats against the current Rockies' lineup, with 14 strikeouts. With the Rockies striking out in nearly half of their at-bats against him, there's nothing that suggests he'll struggle to hit this number. As long as he pitches five innings, as he's done in both starts this season, he'll blow this number away. Even if he pitches fewer than five frames, he'll still hit the more than.
This is a low number, but I'm taking the less than anyway. Carrasco has pitched in five games this season, but he's only struck out 15 batters. He's struck out more than three batters only twice, and he's yet to strike out more than five batters in a single game.
Additionally, Carrasco's numbers against the current Blue Jays lineup aren't very good. While he's struck out 10 batters in 46 at-bats, most of that damage has been against George Springer. If you remove Springer from the equation, Carrasco has just four strikeouts in 21 at-bats against this lineup. Very quietly, the Blue Jays are one of the least strikeout-prone teams in all of baseball. Don't expect much success from Carrasco tonight.
Tonight, Francisco Lindor battles Jake Irvin, a pitcher whom he has had a lot of success against throughout his career. He's 5-for-10 at the plate against him, with a double, a home run and four RBI. With Lindor batting .309 this season and recording multiple hits in four consecutive games, it's hard to imagine him suddenly struggling in what has been a great matchup for him.
Irvin has allowed 24 hits in 29.1 innings this season. He's also given up six home runs, so Lindor will have a solid opportunity to hit his sixth jack of the season tonight. Lindor has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games. Though he hasn't topped 1.5 total bases in all of those contests, his floor remains high for this game, so there's no reason to fade him.
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.
