Jared Jones is off to a hot start this season. Will he strike out more than six batters for the fifth time in as many starts when the Pittsburgh Pirates take on the Milwaukee Brewers? Will Ranger Suarez continue his hot start and strike out at least six Cincinnati Reds? And will Ronald Acuna Jr. continue to have success against the Miami Marlins?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Monday, April 22's MLB games.
Monday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 16-11-1
Jared Jones is off to a hot start this season. Will he strike out more than six batters for the fifth time in as many starts when the Pittsburgh Pirates take on the Milwaukee Brewers? Will Ranger Suarez continue his hot start and strike out at least six Cincinnati Reds? And will Ronald Acuna Jr. continue to have success against the Miami Marlins?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Monday, April 22's MLB games.
Monday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 16-11-1
Jones has struck out at least seven batters in all four of his starts this season, amassing 32 total strikeouts. His start is even more impressive because he's managed to ring up batters that generally make contact. Two of his opponents, the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, rank in the top six in the Majors for fewest strikeouts.
Tonight, he faces the Brewers, a team with a strikeout problem this season. While they have the 17th-most strikeouts in the league, they've also played fewer games than nearly every team ahead of them. They strike out nine times per game, which is one of the 10-highest rates in the league. Eventually, Jones will start striking out fewer batters, but that trend won't start tonight.
Like Jones, Suarez is off to a hot start this season. The Phillies have won all four of his starts this season, and he's earned the win in three consecutive games. He pitched a complete game in his last start and didn't allow a single run while striking out eight.
Suarez doesn't have much history against the Reds' lineup, but he has struck out seven batters in 20 at-bats. The Reds have struck out the eighth-most times this season, and their strikeout rate ranks in the top five in the league. As long as Suarez goes over 5.0 innings tonight, he will strike out seven or more for the fourth time in five starts.
In Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers, Acuna Jr. went 2-of-4 at the plate and scored two runs. He's now hit safely in eight of his last nine games and has four multi-hit games during that span. He only has five extra-base hits this season, so he will likely need to record multiple hits tonight to hit this over.
Still, this is a good matchup for Acuna Jr. He's 2-of-3 against Marlins' starter Ryan Weathers in his career, and one of those hits was a double. He's also batting .300 as a whole against the Marlins' pitching staff. So even if he only manages one hit against Weathers, he should have little trouble getting a second against the bullpen.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Monday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
