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MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions: Friday (4/5)

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There are 13 MLB games today, including six that will start in the afternoon on the East Coast. How will Aaron Judge hit in the New York Yankees' home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays? Will Tarik Skubal have another dominant pitching performance against the Oakland A's? And will Erick Fedde manage to hit his low-strikeout total against the pesky Kansas City Royals?

Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, April 5th's MLB action.

Friday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions

This Season: 6-2-1

Tarik Skubal Over 8 strikeouts

Skubal's first start of the season was impressive, as he struck out six Chicago White Sox batters in 6.0 innings. What makes this even more impressive is that the White Sox have only struck out 51 times in six games, so throwing one strikeout per inning against them is no easy task.

Skubal gets a good matchup tonight against the A's. The lineup has struck out 70 times in seven games, and Skubal struck out 10 batters in a 7.0-inning start against them at the end of last season. That was during a stretch where Skubal struck out eight or more batters in four consecutive games. He's a strikeout pitcher, and the A's aren't good enough to chase him early. If he goes 6.0 innings in this game, he will strike out close to 10 batters.

Erick Fedde Under 3.5 strikeouts

In his first start of the season, Fedde struck out seven batters in 4 and 2/3 innings. The start ended a streak of six consecutive starts where he struck out fewer than one batter per inning. That streak is likely to start up again tonight.

It's a little too early in the season to look solely at trends, but the Royals have struck out only 55 times in seven games. Fedde has very little experience against this lineup, and throughout his career, he's shown that he's not much of a strikeout pitcher. Perhaps his performance against the Detroit Tigers in March will get this number to rise to 4 or 4.5 before the game begins. But even if it doesn't, the under is going to hit.

Aaron Judge Over 1.5 Total Bases

Judge has just five hits this season, but three of those five have been for extra bases. He's yet to have a multi-hit game, but the odds say that if he does manage to record a hit, it will be enough to cover this total bases prop.

Tonight, he faces Yusei Kikuchi, a pitcher he is batting just .200 against in his career. However, two of his four hits against Kikuchi have been home runs. This is the Yankees' home opener, and though Judge has been slightly better on the road than at home over the last two seasons, being in a familiar environment against a familiar pitcher is exactly what he'll need to get his bat to come to life.

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.

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