How will Cole Ragans fare when the Kansas City Royals take on the Colorado Rockies? Will Slade Cecconi strike out at least four batters in his third start against the San Diego Padres this season? And will Shohei Ohtani erase last night's three-strikeout performance with a solid outing against the Milwaukee Brewers?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, July 5th's MLB games.
This Season: 63-47-3
How will Cole Ragans fare when the Kansas City Royals take on the Colorado Rockies? Will Slade Cecconi strike out at least four batters in his third start against the San Diego Padres this season? And will Shohei Ohtani erase last night's three-strikeout performance with a solid outing against the Milwaukee Brewers?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, July 5th's MLB games.
This Season: 63-47-3
Friday’s Best PrizePicks Player Predictions
Ragans has struck out 126 batters in 102.2 innings this season. In his last start, he struck out six Cleveland Guardians, which is impressive considering the Guardians have the fourth-fewest strikeouts this season. In his start before that one, he struck out 11 Miami Marlins.
Ragans essentially has no experience against the Rockies lineup. Therefore, we are just looking at what he has done this season against other teams. He struck out seven Oakland A's in both of his starts against them, and he struck out nine Seattle Mariners. Those are the only two teams that have more strikeouts than the Rockies this season. Ragans needs to get to eight tonight, and he has shown that even if he misses that number, he gets very close against strikeout-prone teams.
Cecconi has faced the Padres twice this season. He has pitched 4.1 innings in each start, striking out four and three batters. Therefore, this is a prop that could realistically go either way. However, we are backing the under for a few reasons.
First, Cecconi only has 48 strikeouts in 57.1 innings. Second, the Padres have the fewest strikeouts per game this season. And third, it's very unlikely Cecconi pitches a full 5.0 innings tonight. Cecconi enters this game with a 5.81 ERA. Look for him to get chased early tonight against a very good contact team.
Ohtani has gone under 1.5 total bases in three of his last four games. Yesterday, he finished 0-of-3 at the plate with three strikeouts. It was a terrible performance, but one that he is unlikely to replicate again against Aaron Civale tonight.
Ohtani has only faced Civale three times, and his only hit is a single. But Civale has allowed 93 hits in 87.0 innings this season. Additionally, he's given up 16 home runs, which means Ohtani has a great chance of hitting his 28th home run tonight. Ohtani's last performance was disappointing, but he's one of the best hitters in baseball. Against a middling pitcher, take his over.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
