Top 3 MLB Player Prop Bets & Picks: Saturday (4/26)
The final Saturday MLB slate in April allows bettors many opportunities to make money early, with 10 of the 17 games being played in the afternoon window.
With our three player prop wagers, we are backing a former ace who looks like he is in for a bounce-back season while fading a former Cy Young Award candidate. And with our only batter prop of the day, we are investing in the Chicago Cubs’ torrid offensive start to the season.
Read on for our top MLB player prop bets for Saturday, April 26.
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Saturday's Best MLB Player Prop Bets
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Kevin Gausman Over 5.5 Strikeouts (-115)
Blue Jays righty Kevin Gausman is coming off the most disappointing season of his career. In 2024, he pitched to a 106 ERA+ in 181 innings while his strikeout rate plummeted from 31.1% to 21.4%.
While Gausman finished with a 4.71 xERA last year, he has that number at a much more respectable 3.48 this season. Additionally, his stuff has been electric of late, posting a 29.3% strikeout rate over his last three starts, with six-plus strikeouts in each.
The Yankees entered this series with the second-worst strikeout rate (25.1%) among all American League teams, which keeps Gausman’s floor still very high for another elite strikeout performance.
Dansby Swanson Over 0.5 Runs Scored (+135)
The Cubs are MLB’s highest-scoring team by a wide margin, scoring 167 runs, and Dansby Swanson entered the series opener against the Phillies as one of four Cubs players with at least 16 runs scored.
Swanson has had solid career success against Phillies southpaw Jesus Luzardo, as he has slashed .300/.563/.400. His six walks compared to two strikeouts against Luzardo suggest he sees the ball well out of the lefty’s hand. Also, Swanson has more than enough protection behind him in the lineup to drive him in, especially since Chicago leads the majors in wRC+, batting average, slugging, and ISO against lefties.
Framber Valdez Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-145)
In his second start of the season, a home start against the Giants, Framber Valdez recorded a season-high nine strikeouts. Since then, his strikeout total has dropped in four consecutive starts, culminating with a season-low two-strikeout performance against the Padres.
Granted, San Diego’s lineup at the time of that start had the lowest strikeout rate (17.5%) in the majors, so racking up K’s against them was always going to be a difficult task. However, in his three-strikeout performance against the Cardinals in the previous outing, Valdez only generated seven whiffs on 89 pitches.
It is concerning that Valdez is finishing with these low strikeout totals despite throwing at least 87 pitches in all five starts. There is an opportunity for a bounce-back in this start as Kansas City has the 12th-highest strikeout rate against left-handed pitchers this season (24.5%).
Still, while Valdez has struck out 24 current Royals hitters in a combined 72 at-bats in their careers, the fact that he is not missing many bats lately has me looking past his prior success against them.
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.