MLB Player Props Today: Cole, Strider, Plus a PrizePicks Prediction
What kind of performances can we expect on Friday from Gerrit Cole, Spencer Strider, and Bryson Stott? Follow along as our MLB betting expert, Nick Galaida, breaks down three of his favorite MLB prop bets and DFS pick’em predictions for today – Friday, August 25, 2023. Get all of Nick’s picks, including more baseball props, at ScoresandOdds.
Happy Friday! MLB fans will be treated to a 15-game slate to begin their weekend, with each of today’s contests starting at 6:40 p.m. EST or later. There are plenty of exciting names on the bump today, including Cy Young hopefuls Framber Valdez, Gerrit Cole, Spencer Strider, and Logan Webb.
Across the last few weeks, we are 61-40-2 (60.4%) in this article. Since May 1, we are 158-122-9 on non-Home Run props and 2-6 on Home Run recommendations. We are now 94-47-5 (66.7%) on pitcher prop recommendations for the season. There is plenty of opportunity once again on the player prop market today – below are three prop leans for August 25!
MLB Props Results – Wager Type
HITTERPROPS
Dinger Tuesday: 4-11-1
Hitter: 109-105-5
Stolen Base: 0-2
PITCHERPROPS
Hits Allowed: 3-2
Outs Recorded: 32-17
Strikeout: 58-28-3
Walk: 1-0
Earned Runs Allowed: 0-0-1
MISCELLANEOUSPROPS
1st Inning: 0-4
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MLB Player Props Today
Gerrit Cole u7.5 Strikeouts (-152), FanDuel
Gerrit Cole has a seemingly favorable matchup tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays, which rank 19th in strikeout percentage against right-handed pitching this month. Yet, Cole has only eclipsed this market number in one of his last five outings. During that time period, Cole owns a pedestrian 21.5% strikeout rate and has struggled to generate many swings-and-misses outside of the zone. His O-Swing% and SwStr% is lower across his last five starts compared to his season numbers, which is not good. He is also allowing more contact on pitches in the zone and outside of the zone since July 28, which has contributed to his lower strikeout totals. Factoring in that the Rays saw Cole on August 2 – there is a clear path to an under here. It wouldn’t be surprising to see this market number at 6.5 everywhere by the time first pitch rolls around.
Spencer Strider o8.5 Strikeouts (-135), DraftKings
During the month of August, the San Francisco Giants rank 20th in strikeout percentage against right-handed pitching. During that time period, they rank 25th in contact percentage on pitches outside of the zone and 17th in contact percentage on pitches inside the strike zone. The Giants have also taken the 8th-most called strikes of any team in baseball this month. There are some concerns in this matchup, given that Spencer Strider faced this offense only seven days ago – but a proximity matchup is usually a bigger advantage for offenses that are more aggressive at the plate than the Giants. Do not overinvest here, but the smart lean is to the over in this spot.
MLBDFS Pick’em
Bryson Stott Less Than 0.5 Hitter Strikeouts, PrizePicks
Since August 8, Bryson Stott has struck out in only 8.3% of his total plate appearances. On the season, he ranks in the 89th percentile in strikeout rate and the 95th percentile in whiff percentage. Today, Stott will face Miles Mikolas, who ranks in the 10th percentile in strikeout rate, 2nd percentile in whiff rate, and 34th percentile in chase rate in 2023. Facing left-handed batters, Mikolas has struck out only 17.5% of total batters faced. This is a good matchup for Stott to start the weekend.
