Nick Martinez is fresh off a seven-strikeout performance against the Houston Astros. How will he fare against the Atlanta Braves tonight? Will Paul Skenes strike out more than six batters for the first time in three starts when he faces the Miami Marlins? And will Shohei Ohtani continue his great hitting against Kyle Hendricks and the Chicago Cubs?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Monday, September 9th.
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Nick Martinez is fresh off a seven-strikeout performance against the Houston Astros. How will he fare against the Atlanta Braves tonight? Will Paul Skenes strike out more than six batters for the first time in three starts when he faces the Miami Marlins? And will Shohei Ohtani continue his great hitting against Kyle Hendricks and the Chicago Cubs?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Monday, September 9th.
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Monday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 101-76-7
Martinez's recent performances are confusing. He's struck out more than three batters just once in his last four starts, and that performance came against the Astros, the team with the fourth-fewest strikeouts in the league this season.
Though Martinez has been far from consistent this season, we like him to get at least four strikeouts tonight against the Braves. The Braves have the seventh-most strikeouts in the league, and Martinez has struck out ten of them in 38 attempts in his career. If he hits that ratio tonight, he only needs to pitch 4.0-5.0 innings and he's done that in six of his last seven starts.
Skenes has struck out exactly six batters in each of his last two starts. He pitched only 5.0 innings in each of those games, which were his two shortest performances since the All-Star break. Tonight, he faces a lineup that has struck out the 14th-most times in the league. While the lineup's talent doesn't give Skenes an obvious advantage, Skenes' own talent does.
Skenes has struck out at least six batters in 15 of his last 16 starts. That means that his floor is just a half-strikeout lower than this line. Are you really going to bet on him going under this total when he's pretty much guaranteed at least six strikeouts tonight? Skenes has struck out 142 batters in 114.0 innings this season. If he pitches at least 5.0 tonight, he should hit this over.
Tonight, Ohtani faces Hendricks, a pitcher with a 6.60 ERA who has allowed 130 hits and 20 home runs in 107.2 innings. Ohtani is also 2-of-3 in his career against Hendricks with one double and one home run. Based on Ohtani's history and Hendricks' struggles this season, he could hit this over with just one swing of the bat.
Ohtani hit just .235 in August, but he's off to a better start in September. He already has three multi-hit games this month, and he has belted two home runs. His hitting is matchup-based right now, and he's not going to get many matchups that are better than the one he’ll face tonight.
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
