Major League Baseball has a packed Saturday night of action with seven games scheduled for the diamonds all across the country. There’s a very interesting mix of starting pitchers on the bump with some big names like Jacob deGrom and some rising stars like AJ Smith-Shawver. From the 14 options toeing the rubber, let’s take a look at some of my top starting pitcher prop bets for Saturday, including plays from Brady Singer, JP Sears and Robbie Ray.
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Here are my top starting pitcher prop bets for Saturday night.
Best Starting Pitcher Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
JP Sears 6+ strikeouts (+105)
Sears takes on the Rockies at Coors Field on Saturday night, and no team in the MLB has a higher strikeout rate than the Rockies so far this season. They have a 31.5% K% as a team, averaging 11.7 strikeouts per game. On Friday in their home opener, they struck out 14 times in the cold, blustery conditions.
In his first start of the season, Sears had a great outing last Sunday in Seattle. He picked up seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings while holding the M’s to two runs on five hits. He threw 91 pitches and is fully stretched out and ready to go deep into the game if the situation allows it.
In spring training he had 14 strikeouts in 21 innings and last year posted a 6.8 K/9.
Because he doesn’t have a history of racking up strikeouts, I understand why this prop is low, but getting just 6+ at plus-money seems like a great value to me. You could also roll with his outs recorded at over 17.5, but that’s only -125, so I like these odds a little better.
Robbie Ray to record a win (+215)
Lots of different things have to go right for a pitcher to get a win, which is why most of the time the odds are pretty long for it to happen. I like to include one in my starting pitcher prop bets, though, to keep things spicy. Ray is my favorite “to record a win” prop on Saturday as he makes his second start of the season and takes on his former team, the Mariners.
Ray did get the win in his first start of the season, going 5 1/3 innings against the Reds and allowing three runs on three hits with four strikeouts. He looked even sharper in spring training, going 3-0 with a 1.86 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings. He went five innings in each of his last two spring training starts and got the win in those outings as well.
On Saturday, he’ll go up against Bryce Miller. Miller took the loss in his first start of the year, giving up three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Giants took the first game of this series in a 10-9 extra-inning game on Friday. They won on a walk-off by free agent acquisition Willy Adames to improve to a surprising 6-1 on the season, while the Mariners have scuffled a bit at just 3-5 and are struggling in the rotation without George Kirby, who is still working his way back from a shoulder injury.
Starting Pitcher Race to 3 Strikeouts (Both Pitchers Must Start): Brady Singer over Elvin Rodriguez (+110)
The Reds will give the ball to Brady Singer as they look to get back in the win column after dropping four straight since Singer’s last start. It was an impressive Reds debut from Singer, who had eight strikeouts in seven innings while giving up just one hit. I highlighted Singer in my MLB targets as a good DFS play, and he makes sense to back in this race to three strikeouts as well.
He’s matched up in this game and the race to three strikeouts against Elvin Rodriguez of the Brewers. Rodriguez had three strikeouts in four innings in his first start of the season, giving up four runs in a loss to the Royals. Rodriguez spent last year in Japan, where he posted an impressive 1.80 ERA but only an 8.8 K/9. He gave up 10 runs in 10 2/3 spring training innings, so the transition back to the U.S. hasn’t been going smoothly for him.
Singer’s sinker and slider were both very effective in his last start, and he had an impressive 30.4 CSW%. Despite the fact that Rodriguez gets a head start from being the home team, I like Singer at plus-money to pick up three strikeouts before Rodriguez does on Saturday night in Milwaukee as the third of my starting pitcher prop bets.
