We were just one base away from a sweep on Saturday, but fortunately, we still wound up in the green. Our strong start to the weekend puts us in a great position to finish strong with Sunday's top player props. Let's meet the three men who are going to help us get to the window today.
MLB Player Props For Sunday, August 20th
Red Sox vs. Yankees
Aaron Judge has been the only Yankee showing any signs of life at the plate during this series, and he could continue his one-man-band show this afternoon as he has a great matchup.
Judge will be taking his first few at-bats against Red Sox right Josh Winckowski. Winckowski will be making his first start of the season after being a reliable multi-inning arm out of the pen.
Now Winckowski has decent counting stats, but a closer look reveals just how much he has struggled against right-handed hitters. Righties are hitting .313 against Winckowski this season and they are also slugging .510 to go along with that.
Judge is the most feared right-handed hitter in the game, as he ranks in the 100th percentile in hard-hit rate, average exit velocity, and xSLG. The majority of his gaudy numbers on the season have been put up against righties.
So, if the Red Sox choose to pitch to Judge, he could clear this total with one swing.
Brewers vs. Rangers
Mad Max was the first piece to go from the Mets around the trade deadline, as he showed plenty of that Hall of Fame stuff after a rough beginning to the season. He's carried that momentum to Texas as he holds a 1.80 ERA through his first three starts there, and a big part of his success has been his ability to rack up strikeouts.
His success with his new club has furthered his trend of going over this total. Scherzer has gone over this total in eight of his last ten starts and 56.5 percent of his last 46 starts. While that only gives us implied odds of -129, we've yet to talk about his matchup today.
Scherzer gets to face the Milwaukee Brewers, who come in sporting the 12th-highest team strikeout rate in the majors. While they have not cracked the top ten, Milwaukee still strikes out one percent above the league average.
With Scherzer seemingly finding his groove in Texas, he's a strong play to go over this total once again.
Phillies vs. Nationals
Kyle Schwarber and the Philadelphia Phillies have a juicy matchup tonight as they get to face the Nationals' Trevor Williams. Williams comes in with a 5.20 ERA, and he is somehow still due for regression.
Williams has been clobbered this season as he rarely misses bats and often finds barrels. One man whose barrel he has found a lot of in the past has been Kyle Schwarber's.
Schwarber is hitting .300 off Williams and holds a slugging percentage of .800 in 40 at-bats. Incredibly, half of his hits off Williams have been homers.
With both of these guys trending in opposite directions, it's likely that Schwarber will win the battles tonight in a big way.
