Framber Valdez faced the Kansas City Royals just a few weeks ago. Will he be able to replicate the solid start he had in that game? Or will the Royals get the better of him this time?
Can Dylan Cease tie his season-high in strikeouts against the Los Angeles Angels? Will Nick Martini extend his hitting streak when the lowly Colorado Rockies battle the Texas Rangers?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, May 13th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Framber Valdez faced the Kansas City Royals just a few weeks ago. Will he be able to replicate the solid start he had in that game? Or will the Royals get the better of him this time?
Can Dylan Cease tie his season-high in strikeouts against the Los Angeles Angels? Will Nick Martini extend his hitting streak when the lowly Colorado Rockies battle the Texas Rangers?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, May 13th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Tuesday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 24-28-3
On April 26th, Framber Valdez struck out five Royals, so it's not surprising to see his number set right at that tonight. However, in that game, Valdez pitched eight innings, something he's very unlikely to replicate tonight.
Valdez has great numbers against this Royals' lineup, striking out 38 batters in 115 at-bats. Yet, the Royals still have the third-fewest strikeouts this season, and they already showed that even when Valdez has his best stuff, they can make contact against him for nearly a full game.
Valdez has struck out at least five batters in three consecutive games, but he's only struck out more than one batter per inning in one of his last five starts. Even if he goes six or seven innings tonight, Valdez will still end up below this number against a pesky lineup.
Dylan Cease has struck out 48 batters in 40.1 innings this season, however, he's only struck out more than seven batters once. That performance came last Wednesday against the New York Yankees, when he struck out nine batters in 6.2 innings. It was his longest start of the season, and just the second time this year he pitched more than six innings.
Tonight, Cease faces the second-most strikeout-prone team in baseball, so it's not surprising to see his number set higher than it should be. Cease has great numbers against the Angels' lineup, striking out 23 batters in 58 at-bats.
Yet, even with those great numbers against a team that struggles to make contact, this number is set too high. For Cease to hit this number, he needs to pitch at least five innings, something he's failed to do four times this season. Cease gives up too many runs to confidently back him to go deep enough to reach or exceed this number, even against a bad team.
Nick Martini has hit safely in back-to-back games and three of his last four. In May, he's batting .300, and he has recorded at least one hit in five of his last nine games. Though he has no experience against Jack Leiter, expect Martini to put together his third three-game hitting streak of the season.
Leiter has allowed just 19 hits in 23 innings, but he's struggled against lefties this season. Lefties have a batting average .025 higher against Leiter than righties do, and both home runs Leiter has allowed this season have been to left-handed hitters.
Martini is one of the few Rockies who is a threat to get a hit every time he steps to the plate. In this matchup, I expect him to get at least one, especially since he's hitting particularly well right now.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Tuesday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
