There are five day games today, including a matchup between the San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers. How will Tigers starter Reese Olson fare in that game? Later, will Kumar Rocker follow up his excellent start from last Thursday with another solid performance against the Athletics? What should we expect from Alex Bregman when his Boston Red Sox face the Seattle Mariners?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Wednesday, April 23rd.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
There are five day games today, including a matchup between the San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers. How will Tigers starter Reese Olson fare in that game? Later, will Kumar Rocker follow up his excellent start from last Thursday with another solid performance against the Athletics? What should we expect from Alex Bregman when his Boston Red Sox face the Seattle Mariners?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Wednesday, April 23rd.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Wednesday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 13-16-2
Reese Olson has struck out five batters in three of his four starts, despite pitching more than five innings just once all season. However, Olson has a 4.50 ERA, and he's yet to throw more than 94 pitches in a game, so he will likely have his work cut out for him tonight against the Padres.
The Padres have the best batting average in the league, and they've struck out the fewest times. Considering Olson has given up 21 hits in 20 innings, the Padres should have no trouble making contact, whether that's to get hits or make fielders get putouts. Olson has been consistent, but the Padres have been a nightmare for everyone, so even this low number is too high.
On Thursday, Kumar Rocker struck out eight Los Angeles Angels in seven innings for his most impressive start of the season. Before that game, he'd struck out just six total batters in three starts, and he'd failed to pitch more than 3.1 innings in two of those three games. Was Thursday's start a turning point? Or simply an outlier?
To me, this seems like an outlier. Nothing Rocker has done this season suggests he'll have another performance like Thursday against one of the least strikeout-prone teams in baseball. The Athletics currently have the second-fewest strikeouts in the league. Additionally, Rocker hasn't been good against them in his career. In 18 at-bats, this Athletics lineup has a batting average of .389 and has struck out just twice.
Last night, Alex Bregman hit two doubles, as he ended a streak of four consecutive games with fewer than 1.5 total bases. After that performance, I'm backing him to have another solid night against a starting pitcher who has allowed 12 hits in just 5.2 innings.
Bregman is batting .302 this year, with nine doubles and four home runs. He's only faced Emerson Hancock once, and he struck out. But if Hancock's previous performances indicate what to expect from him tonight, Bregman and the rest of the Red Sox lineup are in for a huge night. Bregman has struggled a bit in the back half of April, but he also went 5-for-5 on April 15th. This is the type of matchup where he could have similar success.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Wednesday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
