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MLB Best Bets: Top Home Run Props for Thursday 7/31/25

MLB Best Bets: Top Home Run Props for Thursday 7/31/25

Published:

By: Garion Thorne

Home runs. Long balls. Bleacher reachers. Whatever you want to call them, people love watching and betting on home runs during baseball games. So much so, we’ve got a whole article dedicated to just that.

It’s a suuuuuuper light schedule in MLB on Thursday, as most teams prepare for the upcoming trade deadline at 6:00 p.m. ET. But a trade deadline can’t hit home runs, so you know we’re still going to find at least a couple props for this evening’s sparse action on the diamond.

Top Home Run Props on DraftKings Sportsbook

Austin Hays 1+ Home Run (+350)

Carlos Carrasco making his first start for the Braves at Great American Ball Park seems like elder abuse. The 38-year-old was traded to a pitching-desperate Atlanta squad earlier this week after making eight appearances for the Yankees back in April and May. Needless to say, those outings didn’t go all that well. Not only did Carrasco pitch to an inflated 5.91 ERA, but the veteran RHP surrendered a whopping 1.97 opponent home runs per nine. Most of that damage was done by right-handed hitters, as Carrasco gave up a stunning .740 slugging percentage within the split. Hays may not be the first person that comes to mind when thinking of righty power bats, but the outfielder is one of very few Reds’ players hitting for any sort of pop in the month of July. For the season as a whole, Hays also sports a respectable 12.2% barrel rate and a career-high .422 expected wOBA on batted ball events.

Randy Arozarena 1+ Home Run (+450)

Obviously you could just take Cal Raleigh (+230) to hit a home run tonight, if we’re discussing Mariners, but where’s the sense of adventure in that? Arozarena’s actually been the superior power hitter throughout July, leading Seattle in home runs (11) and ISO (.383) in the month. That four-week hot streak has also made Arozarena’s season-long numbers look fantastic, with the veteran now in possession of a 91st percentile hard hit rate (52.0%). Still, the most compelling aspect of this prop is the presence of Kumar Rocker. The former third-overall pick has struggled to an almost unfathomable degree when pitching away from Texas in 2025, as the rookie owns a 9.91 ERA on the road. Rocker’s also conceded eight of his nine total home runs within the split, which translates into 2.73 opponent long balls per nine. Woof.

Garion is a Toronto-based writer who has been playing fantasy sports since elementary school. With a particular affinity for advanced statistics and sabermetrics, he’s been covering DFS Baseball, Football and Basketball for DraftKings dating back to 2018. Prior to that, Garion’s work could be found at FNTSY, SportsGrid, HoopsHype, The New York Daily News and Sportsnet.ca. Still, he is a Dolphins fan, so his decision-making can be questioned from time-to-time.
Disclaimer

All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.