MLB Daily Strikeout Leader Projections | Expert Bets for MLB Player Props (Friday, May 17)

MLB Daily Strikeout Leader Projections | Expert Bets for MLB Player Props (Friday, May 17) article feature image
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Getty Images. Pictured: Paul Skenes and Kyle Harrison

A prop market that has grown in popularity and offered at FanDuel is the daily strikeout leader. The sportsbook lists odds for every starting pitcher on a given day and you can bet on who will finish with the most strikeouts on the slate.

Keep in mind, much like sports such as golf with leaderboards, dead-heat rules do apply. So if a pitcher you bet on ties with another pitcher, your odds are cut in half.

For today's slate, Royals flamethrower Cole Ragans is the favorite at +430. While my model agrees that Ragans should be the favorite, +430 is too low and offers no real value in my model.

Behind Ragans are Zack Wheeler of the Phillies (+500), Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (+700) and Freddy Peralta of the Brewers (+850).

My model shows value on two pitchers, and they coincidentally bookend today's slate: Pirates rookie phenom Paul Skenes at +1700 and fellow rookie Kyle Harrison of the Giants at +1500.

This makes for kind of a fun setup with the Pirates starting today's slate against the Cubs at 2:20 p.m. ET and the Giants facing the Rockies at 10:15 p.m. ET. There's a scenario where Skenes sets the tone with a 10 or 11 strikeout performance and then later tonight, the only person left who can catch him is Harrison.

Skenes is somewhat self-explanatory. I was surprised to see him offered at +1700 considering his massive upside.

For Harrison, he has sneaky value in that he has a ton of upside against the Rockies at sea level. They typically strike out at a much higher rate on the road.

Below, you can find my projections for the daily strikeout leader today, Friday, May 17th.

About the Author
Sean is The Action Network's Director of Predictive Analytics. He was named the No. 1 fantasy football draft ranker of 2019 by FantasyPros, where he's also finished as the top in-season ranker in three of the past five seasons

Follow Sean Koerner @The_Oddsmaker on Twitter/X.

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