Major League Baseball has 12 games under the lights on Wednesday night with some interesting matchups across the scoreboard. A few matchups stand out, offering some strong starting pitcher prop bets to consider. Let’s dive in and pick out a few of the best options on a variety of starting pitcher markets, including plays from Matthew Boyd, Mick Abel and Emerson Hancock.
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Best Starting Pitcher Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Matthew Boyd over 4.5 Strikeouts (+105)
Boyd and MacKenzie Gore go head-to-head in what should be a great pitching matchup in one of the two early games. The two lefties have both had impressive starts to the season, but Boyd is the one who lands in my starting pitcher prop bets this Wednesday with the over on his strikeouts at a nice juicy plus-money spot.
Boyd has 7+ strikeouts in four of his last five starts but only needs five strikeouts to go over this prop. He has done that in eight of his 11 starts this season while producing a 24.9% K% that is actually a step back from last year’s rate with the Guardians.
The Nationals have been slightly above average at strikeout suppression this season, but they rank just above the league average with a 23.8% strikeout rate against lefties. Since Boyd has done such a good job racking up strikeouts, he should be a good spot to attack this Wednesday in D.C.
Mick Abel over 4.5 strikeouts (+125)
Abel is a dynamic young pitcher to watch for the Phillies, and he’ll get his second MLB start this season after mowing down nine Pirates in six innings in his MLB debut in May. He got just a one-start cameo before heading back to Triple-A, but will get another chance Wednesday in a tougher matchup against the Blue Jays.
Ever since he joined the Phillies as the No. 15 pick in the 2020 draft, Abel’s strikeout ceiling has been very high. He’s been held back, though, by control issues and inefficiency. He went 3-12 last year in Triple-A with a 9.7 K/9 and 6.5 BB/9 but this year has gone 6-2 in 10 Triple-A starts with a 10.6 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9.
While I doubt he’s quite as dominant as he was in that first outing, he should be able to get five strikeouts either way against the Blue Jays, even though Toronto has the lowest K% in the majors.
Abel has at least six strikeouts in eight of his last nine starts for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs with 63 strikeouts in 52 innings. Allowing for the jump in competition level, I still think he’ll be able to get at least five strikeouts Wednesday night.
Emerson Hancock over 2.5 earned runs allowed (+115)
Hancock takes the mound for his 10th start of the season on Wednesday night against the Orioles. So far, he is 2-2 with a 5.64 ERA and 5.11 FIP and has given up 55 hits and 28 runs in just 44 2/3 innings. He has been better in his last few outings, allowing under 2.5 earned runs in two of his last three outings, but he continues to struggle at home and against lefties, which could put him in a tough spot against the lefty-heavy Orioles.
Hancock has a 9.53 home ERA after allowing 18 runs in 17 innings at home. Most of that damage was done by the Yankees and Tigers, but the Angels also got over 2.5 earned runs against him in a home start.
The Orioles are still 13 games below .500 but have won seven of their last nine games and are averaging 4.3 runs per game over the last two weeks. I have them as one of my top MLB stacks for the night in DFS contests, and I think they’ll be able to get at least three earned runs off Hancock.
