How will Triston McKenzie fare in his second start against the Kansas City Royals? Will Bailey Ober have success in his second start against the Seattle Mariners? And can Rafael Devers keep up his excellent hitting against the San Diego Padres?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, June 28.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
How will Triston McKenzie fare in his second start against the Kansas City Royals? Will Bailey Ober have success in his second start against the Seattle Mariners? And can Rafael Devers keep up his excellent hitting against the San Diego Padres?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday, June 28.
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: 58-43-3
The Royals are one of the best teams in the league regarding avoiding strikeouts. They have the fifth-fewest strikeouts in the league and the third-fewest strikeouts per game. And yet, Triston McKenzie's number is far too low tonight.
On June 4th, McKenzie struck out seven Royals in 5.1 innings. Setting his number 3.5 lower than a real-life performance because of statistics is absurd. McKenzie may go under this number. The Royals are good at making contact and McKenzie has struck out just 71 batters in 73.1 innings. But he's also struck out at least four batters in 11 of his last 12 starts.
Bailey Ober has struck out 83 batters in 82.0 innings. Tonight he faces one of the most strikeout-prone teams in the league. He already has one seven-strikeout performance against the Mariners this season. He rang up that many batters despite pitching only 5.0 innings.
While Ober has been inconsistent, he has taken advantage of good matchups. In back-to-back starts against the Oakland A's, he struck out a combined 18 batters in 15.1 innings of work. One additional key piece of information is that Ober has struck out more batters in his second start against all three teams he's faced twice this season. So, it's not like he gets easier for hitters to hit off of the more they see him.
Padres starter Randy Vasquez has given up 68 hits in 47.2 innings. Even better news for Rafael Devers and the rest of the Boston Red Sox lineup is that Vasquez doesn't walk many batters. That means he gives hitters multiple pitches to hit every time they step to the plate.
Devers is batting .285 to lead all Red Sox batters this season. Against the Toronto Blue Jays, he recorded two multi-hit games, going 5-for-8 in the series with two home runs and a double. Devers has seven multi-hit games this month. Considering his opponent tonight, it wouldn't be shocking to see him make it eight. But even if he doesn't record multiple hits, half of his hits this month are for extra bases, so one swing could hit this more than.
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.
