A new week of baseball means a new week of props. Yesterday, Jon Gray and Dylan Bundy both went over their totals to cap off a solid first week. Unfortunately, yours truly took a couple of extra non-article props that both lost.
Glad I didn't spread the word about those ones …
Though there are some early games today, most of the action takes place at 6:30 p.m. ET or later, which are the games I'm analyzing.
MLB Player Props, Monday April 1
Here's what we got going today:
- Cubs at Braves: 7:10 p.m. ET
- Astros at Rangers: 8:05 p.m. ET
Our FantasyLabs MLB Player Props Tool leverages our projections against odds offered at various sportsbooks and grades each prop on a scale of 1 to 10. All odds as of 3:30 p.m. ET. View live odds here.
Cubs SP Kyle Hendricks
The Pick: Over 4.5 (+100) strikeouts
Kyle "The Professor" Hendricks got paid by the Cubbies this offseason and will be looking to prove his worth in his first start of the season. He's also facing a Braves team that is hoping to get off the schneid after getting swept by the Phillies.
We're not projecting Hendricks to have a huge day in the strikeout column — 5.5 on average to be precise — but that's okay. The difference between that and his implied odds is 27%, which is good for a 10-rated bet.
Astros SP Brad Peacock
The Pick: Over 5.5 (-116) strikeouts
After being stuck in the bullpen for the majority of the 2018 season, Peacock is back in the Astros' rotation. In case you didn't notice, Peacock was freaking filthy out of the pen and struck out more than 13 batters per nine.
Though that number should drop now that he's back in the rotation, it shouldn't drop too much. In 2018, Peacock posted a K/9 a hair below 11 as a starter. He can clearly mow 'em down in either role.
Today we're projecting 8.4 punch outs for Peacock, which is more than anyone else on the slate. The Rangers, and some of their players in particular (cough, cough, Joey Gallo, cough), aren't afraid of striking out, either.
With an over/under of just 5.5, there's some legit value on the over.
