Thursdays are usually light around the MLB as teams get either a much-needed day off or travel to the sites of their respective weekend series. This limits the amount of options bettors have to choose from when trying to find an advantage on player prop bets. With that in mind, here are our best MLB player prop bets for Thursday’s slate, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Teddy Ricketson’s 2024 MLB Player Prop record: 52-37-5
Wednesday recap (2-1): Chicago White Sox starter Garrett Crochet only pitched five innings but showed why sometimes it is good to sacrifice odds and take an alternate strikeout line. His strikeout prop was 6.5, but we took 6+, and he finished with six, hitting the bet. Kansas City Royals starter Alec Marsh struck out seven over five innings to complete his strikeout prop. The lone miss of the day was the over on Ranger Suarez’s outs recorded. He notched his eighth win of the season but was pulled after 83 pitches in five innings, falling short of the 19 outs needed to hit the bet we took.
MLB player prop bets: Thursday, May 16
Tyler Glasnow, 8+ strikeouts (-220)
Glasnow will make his 10th start of the season on Thursday and his first against the Cincinnati Reds. The Cincy lineup averages the fifth-most strikeouts per game (9.30) and will be on the road in Los Angeles. Glasnow has struck out 73 batters in 57 innings of work this season, including back-to-back games with 10 strikeouts. He has punched out at least eight batters in four consecutive starts and five of his last six appearances.
J.D. Martinez, over 0.5 hits (-220)
Martinez is hitting .295 this season and has a great matchup on Thursday against Philadelphia Phillies starter Taijuan Walker. The New York Mets designated hitter heads into this game 7-14 against Walker in his career with a double and home run. Martinez picked up two hits on Wednesday and has at least one base knock in four of his last five games.
Jared Jones, 6+ strikeouts (-185)
Jones will take the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates for the ninth time this season. It will be his second start against the Chicago Cubs, and in the first, he pitched six innings and struck out only four. Jones struck out 10 the outing before and started the season with five straight starts with at least seven punchouts. Chicago did a good job against him a week ago, but I think Jones bounces back and gets a little revenge on Thursday by striking out at least six.