Jesus Luzardo has the honor of pitching against the Colorado Rockies tonight. Will he put up big numbers against the most strikeout-prone team in the league? Will Yoshinobu Yamamoto have success against an Arizona Diamondbacks lineup that has given him fits? How will Paul Goldschmidt fare against the Texas Rangers?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, May 20th.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Jesus Luzardo has the honor of pitching against the Colorado Rockies tonight. Will he put up big numbers against the most strikeout-prone team in the league? Will Yoshinobu Yamamoto have success against an Arizona Diamondbacks lineup that has given him fits? How will Paul Goldschmidt fare against the Texas Rangers?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Tuesday, May 20th.
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: 28-32-4
Any pitcher averaging more than one strikeout per inning is a must-play against the Rockies. The Rockies have struck out a league-high 462 times this season, and they've only scored 155 runs, the second-fewest in baseball. What this means is that they don't chase starters early, and capable pitchers are padding their stats against the worst lineup in the league.
Jesus Luzardo has struck out at least six batters in six of his nine starts this season. Though he hasn't struck out more than six batters since April 20th, tonight, he'll get the best matchup he can ask for. Luzardo has struck out 57 batters in 54 innings, and he's pitched at least five innings in every start this season. Five innings would get him to six strikeouts against this lineup. Considering he's pitched at least six innings in five of his starts, there's no reason to think he won't go that deep into tonight's game. If that's the case, he may end up crushing this number.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto just faced the Diamondbacks on May 8th, and he only struck out four batters in five innings. Though Yamamoto has at least six strikeouts in five of his nine starts this season, the Diamondbacks have been problematic for him throughout his career.
Though the Diamondbacks only have a .205 batting average against him in his career, they tend to make a lot of contact. In 44 at-bats, they've only struck out nine times, meaning only about one in every five hitters strikes out against Yamamoto. Yamamoto has struck out at least one hitter per inning in five of his last six starts, but with his current ratio against the Diamondbacks, he'd likely have to pitch seven innings to exceed this number. He's only gone that deep into a game once this season.
Paul Goldschmidt is batting .339 this season, tied for the fourth-best mark in the league. He's hit safely in seven of his last nine games, though he has failed to reach two total bases in three of his last five.
Tonight, he faces Patrick Corbin, a pitcher he hasn't had a lot of success against in his career. He's just 3-of-13 against Corbin with one double. But Corbin has been very hittable this season, allowing 36 hits in 37.2 innings. He's given up at least five hits in five of his seven starts, despite pitching more than 5.2 innings just twice. With how Goldschmidt has been hitting this season, I'll back him to get the better of a pitcher who has bested him often in his career, especially since that pitcher hasn't had his best stuff.
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.
