Like most Thursdays, there aren’t many games today. Only seven take place, but there are still a couple of predictions worth considering.
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks plays for Thursday, April 20.
Thursday's Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
PrizePicks record: 2-4
Kodai Senga Over 6 Strikeouts
The Ghost Fork King has arrived. Kodai Senga’s patented pitch has stymied batters early on, likely because they’ve never seen something like it before. It’s most similar to a splitter, but has some unique characteristics. He has struggled to locate at times, but he’s accumulated plenty of strikeouts along the way.
Like most Thursdays, there aren’t many games today. Only seven take place, but there are still a couple of predictions worth considering.
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks plays for Thursday, April 20.
Thursday's Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
PrizePicks record: 2-4
Kodai Senga Over 6 Strikeouts
The Ghost Fork King has arrived. Kodai Senga’s patented pitch has stymied batters early on, likely because they’ve never seen something like it before. It’s most similar to a splitter, but has some unique characteristics. He has struggled to locate at times, but he’s accumulated plenty of strikeouts along the way.
Senga ranks in the top 82% in K% and has had eight, six, and seven punchouts in his first three starts. Now, he faces a Giants team that has the worst O-Contact%, which translates to them having the highest strikeout rate (27%) against right-handed pitching. That Ghost Fork will undoubtedly have these San Francisco hitters chasing, so the strikeouts should continue coming Senga’s way tonight.
Sean Manaea Under 17.5 Outs
The Giants have built up Manaea’s pitch count slowly to start the year. He was actually featured out of the bullpen in his first appearance of the year and threw only 76 pitches in his opening start. Following that successful start against the Royals, Manaea struggled to find the zone in his last outing versus the Tigers and was pulled early in the fourth inning with 82 pitches.
Now he faces the Mets, who boast a strong righty platoon lineup when facing southpaws. They haven’t quite showed it yet, but I think they find a way to get Manaea out of the game before he gets through six. Tommy Pham, Eduardo Escobar, and Francisco Lindor have all hit him hard in the past, going a combined 13-30 with four homers and two doubles. Look for them to lead the charge in getting him out of the game early.
Patrick Sandoval Under 5 Hits Allowed
The Yankees are beat up right now and that lineup doesn’t look nearly as threatening without Giancarlo Stanton in the fold. We’re obviously working with a limited sample size early on this year, but the Bronx Bombers have the worst batting average (.186) against left-handed pitching. All three lefty starters to face them have stayed under this. Sandoval’s teammate Jose Suarez, who is also a southpaw, limited the Yanks to just three hits two days back.
Out of his 27 starts last year, there were only nine instances where he allowed six or more hits, and he has stayed under this in two of three so far this year. Sandoval isn’t typically one to work very deep into games either, and batters know to be patient when they face him with how many walks he gives up. I don’t see him giving up more than five hits today in the Bronx.
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Tyler Gentile is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Tyler, follow him @808Paperboi.
