Major League Baseball will have all 30 teams in action this Friday, as long as the weather cooperates. The Cubs and Dbacks get in a Wrigley matinee before the other 14 games start at 6:40 or later. It’s a nice slate of starting pitcher prop bets with lots of options on the board from a wide variety of matchups and angles to attack. From the 28 pitchers toeing the rubber to start Friday night’s games, let’s take a look my top three starting pitcher prop bets for Friday, including plays from Luis Ortiz, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Logan Webb.
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Here is a look at my top starting pitcher prop bets for this Friday night.
Best Starting Pitcher Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Luis Ortiz over 16.5 outs recorded (-115)
The Guardians visit the Pirates in one of the early matchups on the slate, and Ortiz will face his former team. He landed in Cleveland as part of the three-way trade with the Blue Jays, Pirates and Guardians this past offseason.
After a rough spring training, Ortiz was hammered in his first start of the season against the Padres, giving up seven runs. He still recorded 14 outs, though. In his next start, he was much better, getting 18 outs against the Angels and allowing just three runs. He continued to trend in the right direction with just one run allowed in his last start, recording 17 outs against the Royals in his Progressive Field debut. He racked up 10 strikeouts in that outing as well and seems to have put his rough spring fully behind him.
The Pirates’ offense is a good matchup for Ortiz, even without the potential revenge factor. Pittsburgh has averaged just 3.35 runs per game this season and has a .197 team batting average. The Pirates have flashed some power potential, but they definitely haven’t worn out opposing starting pitchers.
Whether he continues his strikeout spree or not, Ortiz should be able to go over this outs recorded line, which is why I prefer this to his strikeout total in my starting pitcher prop bets for Friday.
Logan Webb to record a win (+110)
Moving from one of the early games to the latest game on the schedule, the Giants visit the Angels in Anaheim in a West Coast matchup. Webb continues to be one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball, and getting him at plus-money to get a win on the road is one of my top starting pitcher prop bets for Friday.
In his first four starts, Webb is 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA, 2.25 FIP and 9.8 K/9. He has given up three runs or fewer in each of his four starts and earned wins in road starts against the Astros and Yankees.
The Giants are 13-6 to start the season, while the Angels are a much-improved 9-9. The Halos have dropped four straight, though, after being swept by the Rangers in Texas to start the week. Webb and the Giants should be able to get the win against lefty Tyler Anderson ($7,000) on Friday night, although starting pitchers always need help from their lineup and bullpen for a “to record a win” prop bet to hit.
If you want a longer shot to record a win, Andrew Abbott has a juicy number at +215 to record a win even though the Reds should get him good run support in Baltimore.
Starting Pitcher Race to 3 Strikeouts (Both Pitchers Must Start): Yoshinobu Yamamoto over Jacob deGrom (+110)
In the marquee matchup of the night, the Dodgers roll into Arlington in a matchup of the last two World Series champs. It should be a great series, and it starts with an extremely fun starting pitching matchup between Yamamoto and deGrom.
In this quick-hitter race to three strikeouts, deGrom has the advantage of pitching each inning first, but I love getting Yamamoto at plus-money as one of my starting pitcher prop bets for Friday. These quick-hitter races have been going well for me so far this season, and this one feels like it’s tilted towards Yamamoto by several factors.
Yamamoto has racked up 28 strikeouts over 22 innings for an 11.5 K/9 so far this season while deGrom has 13 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings for a 8.0 K/9 rate. He had much higher strikeout rates earlier in his career, but has not been punching people out this season despite being effective.
The matchup against the opposing lineup is fairly even since the Dodgers have a 22.9% strikeout rate and the Rangers come in at 21.5%. Over the last week, the Rangers had a 21.2% strikeout rate while the Dodgers had a 19.8% strikeout rate. The numbers are so close that Yamamoto’s higher K/9 rate this season is enough to give him a big enough edge to overcome deGrom’s head start in this race. This electric matchup is definitely one to watch, and picking this race to three strikeouts creates a compelling prop to follow at the start of the contest.
